Slots in PA made lobbyists cash

September 17

In Pennsylvania,  a rather large group of lobbyists representing over 30 businesses and individuals made a reported $575,000 over a three-month period to help shape the final version of Pennsylvania's new slot machine law, state Senate records show.

The lobbying leading up to the passage of the bill July 4 produced a number of favorable changes for those seeking to influence the negotiations, in particular the horse industry.

The law creates a rather high minimum number of days that new tracks are allowed to have races. In particular, it allows the owner of Pocono Downs to benefit from slots at two tracks, and provides millions of dollars for capital improvements on top of the tracks' share of the gambling proceeds.

The state expects slots, once fully up and running, to generate about $3 billion a year, with 33 percent being used to reduce local property taxes, 9 percent earmarked for the horse industry and another 9 percent for public projects and the host municipalities. The remainder of the proceeds will go to the tracks and casinos.

The General Assembly legalized as many as 61,000 slot machines at seven racetracks, five independently standing casinos and two resorts through a 145-page bill that bypassed many of the conventional processes by which legislation is introduced, amended and debated.

Penn National successfully beat back a provision that would have forced it to divest itself completely of Pocono Downs, preserving the right for gambling licensees to keep a one-third interest in another license -- which for Penn National is potentially worth millions.