Pennsylvania Slots Could Open by End of the Year

State gambling regulators on Wednesday voted to allow slot-machine distributors to operate statewide, settling an internal dispute that had threatened to stall plans for Pennsylvania's first slots parlors to open this year.

Tad Decker, the chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, said he believes the board is now on track to approve slots parlors at the state's six licensed horse-racing tracks by the end of September. Four tracks could open slots parlors by the end of the year, he said.

"I believe we just took a major step forward for gambling in Pennsylvania," said Decker, who did not appear at the meeting, but listened in by telephone.

The vote was felt in the gambling industry, buoying shares of track owner Penn National Gaming Inc. and several slot-machine manufacturers, including the country's largest, International Game Technology. It came during a much-anticipated and packed meeting in the Capitol that was interrupted briefly when three members of a Philadelphia-based group that opposes casinos spoke aloud, objecting to the board's policy against allowing public comment during its meetings.

Political fortunes are riding on the timely opening of slots parlors, since one-third of the gambling revenue is intended for tax cuts for millions of homeowners and people who pay Philadelphia's wage tax.

June 29, 2006
Posted By Susan Torres
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com    Previous Page | Internet Gambling | Top Online Casinos | Submit News!