Slots Sales Dispute Could Hold Up Pa. Casinos
A dispute over whether slot-machine distributors should be allowed to operate statewide or regionally is threatening to delay the opening of Pennsylvania's first slots parlors this fall, the state's top gambling regulator warned.
Tad Decker, the chairman of the seven-member Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, said licensing the first slots parlors at racetracks may have to be pushed back from this fall until late 2007 unless the impasse is resolved in the next couple of weeks.
"I think gaming will eventually get off the ground, but I just think that gaming could be substantially delayed if we can't get these regulations in place," Decker told reporters after a board meeting in the Capitol on Thursday.
The disagreement between two board members - one Democrat and one Republican appointee - is now a year old. Each man's stance reflects that of the lawmaker who picked him and the fight could wind up reopening old, partisan wounds over gambling in the Legislature. The gaming board is under pressure to approve regulations for distributors because its two-year exemption from the normal state review process expires on July 5. If it fails to act by then, Decker says the process could take another year or more.
June 18, 2006
Posted By Bob Hartman
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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