By Dick Miller
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Pennsylvania is in the running for “most legally sinful state” in America.
How do we get to that dubious status?
Begin with enough legislators who lack intestinal fortitude to make moral judgments. Three of the last six governors promoted legalize gambling as a way to pay for necessary state services.
“Hauling in money from gambling is an easy out for politicians. It lets them avoid making tough calls – either holding back spending or collecting more money through taxes,” editorialized the Harrisburg Patriot-News last week.
The path to self-righteousness through taxation of sinful practices began in 1972. Then PA Democrat Governor Milton Shapp pushed through legislation establishing the PA state lottery. Organized crime had always paid 600 to one on a number comprised of the last three digits of US Treasury daily deposits as published in the Wall Street Journal. The state lottery only paid 500 to one, but playing your number in a storefront with a green keystone logo was, after all, legal.
No one questioned numbers run by the Mob. Even after a Pittsburgh TV personality rigged a state lottery payout, the government sponsored numbers game continued to gain popularity. Today, organized crime has to look elsewhere for profits.
Craps, roulette, baccarat, black jack and other table games run by mobsters and held in secret locations lost appeal when PA Governor Ed Rendell, another liberal Democrat, maneuvered legalize casinos through the legislatures in 2004. Aligning legalized gambling with enhancement of horseracing may have been the difference in getting public acceptance.
The state designated three casinos as stand-alone, two in Philadelphia and one in Pittsburgh. Two luxury tourist attractions got smaller casinos. All other locations are combined with horse racing tracks. Some casino income goes towards larger racing prizes, and now attracts the best horses.
Rendell was fond of saying “when I was (Philly) Mayor I would go down to the Walt Whitman Bridge and listen to the swishing sound of all that money headed to Atlantic City.” New Jersey had been the first eastern state to legalize gambling and the casinos there benefited from surrounding state visitors.
If the casinos wanted action in the Keystone State, they had to be prepared to pay. Final figures have not been announced for fiscal year 2013 ending this past June 30. In the three previous years, the state grabbed $5.4 billion from casino gambling taxes, more than Nevada and New Jersey combined.
According to the state Gaming Control Board, for every dollar produced as revenues from slot machines, 55 cents is returned to Pennsylvania divided in the following manner: property tax relief, 34 cents; horse racing industry, 12 cents; local and government share, four cents, and economic development and tourism fund, five cents. The split for table games tilts more to the casinos.
Gaming companies retain 86%, local and county governments get two percent and the state budget general fund reaps 12%.
Also according to the Patriot-News, Pennsylvania’s lottery sells $3.7 billion in tickets, netting $1 billion for senior citizens programs every year.
Current Republican Gov. Tom Corbett now wants to expand gambling again. The state Senate has already passed a bill that would allow bars to host small games of chance similar to the rip-off tickets now permitted in social and fraternal clubs. The House might vote on the same measure in mid-November but is under intense lobbying pressure from the clubs.
In addition, Corbett pushes to legalize keno and would offer 2,000 licenses to taverns and restaurants. No studies exist that show voters want to expand gambling, but Corbett wants to use the taxes for more programs for senior citizens.
BOTTOM LINE: Many Republican lawmakers refused to vote for Rendell’s gambling initiatives, claiming they were morally opposed to gambling. Will they adjust their moral compass now that a Republican governor is asking?
After paying $50 million each for a gaming license, will casinos permit keno on every street corner in every town without opposition?
