As lawmakers scramble to replace Pennsylvania’s host-community casino tax after the state Supreme Court struck it down, at least one operator has assured its host communities that payments will continue.
After last week’s Supreme Court decision striking down the host-community provision of Pennsylvania’s gaming law—which required casinos to pay 2 percent of gross slot revenue or $10 million, whichever is greater, to each host community—officials of Pittsburgh publicly called on the Rivers Casino to continue making payments voluntarily.
After last Thursday’s American Gaming Association “Get to Know Gaming” roundtable event at the SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia, the Rivers owner said his company will do just that. Greg Carlin, CEO of Rush Gaming—owner of both Rivers and SugarHouse—told the Philadelphia Inquirer his company will maintain payments to its host communities even if lawmakers don’t pass a substitute host-community measure before the current session ends next month.
“We’ve said to the people in Pittsburgh and in Philadelphia, we’re not looking to reduce our payment,” Carlin told the newspaper. “We’re happy with the status quo. We’re going to work collaboratively with all the interested parties to try to figure out a solution… We’ve let both cities know that we’re committed to the status quo and we’re not looking to reduce our payments.”
The state Supreme Court struck down the host-community provision as unconstitutional after a challenge from Mount Airy Resort filed on the basis of the uniformity clause in the state constitution, which requires that “all taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects.” Because of the 2 percent-or-$10 million provision, larger casino operations were paying a larger sum to host communities and smaller operations were forced to write “true-up” checks at the end of each year to make up the $10 million.
Time is running out if the host-community provision is to be replaced this session. There are only six meetings of the legislature left, and the court imposed a four-month deadline to replace the host-community provision.
The state House Gaming Oversight Committee has scheduled a hearing on the host-community tax for tomorrow. Committee Chairman John Payne told the Inquirer last week that the quickest way to fix the problem would be for the state Senate to amend one of the gaming bills already passed by the House, which include his own bill, which would legalize online gaming and other expansion measures.
The city of Bethlehem also requested a voluntary host payment from Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. There has been no announcement that the status quo will be maintained by owner Las Vegas Sands. Bethlehem’s host-community slot tax accounts for 12 percent of the city’s annual budget.
