Monday, June 19, 2006
Could We Get Lucky With Gambling?
Under what is surely intense prodding by the Governor, the Gaming Board is trying to resolve its seemingly endless squabbling over how many supplier districts to create before the June 28 deadline. After that, a new state group will assume responsibility and likely push back any slots license awards by a year or more.
For many track owners, especially those who have paid a bundle in anticipation of slots at the tracks, the delay will be incredibly expensive. For the applicants for the slots license in Pittsburgh who have undoubtedly already spent millions preparing their proposals and doing the public relations work necessary to get a license, a year or more of further delay will be horrific. And the Penguins deadline will arrive with no casino money to build a new arena.
The writers of the gaming legislation have only themselves to blame. Why on earth was it necessary to include the supplier middleman role? Casinos can buy their machines perfectly well from the manufacturer or existing suppliers. But no, the legislators wanted to extract another few dollars from the process and allow some friends to make money. This greed might end up biting them big time if the Gaming Board doesn’t resolve the problem in the next few days.
But the supplier kerfuffle is of a piece with the wrangling over who will get the slots license in Pittsburgh. Instead of having a bidding process with the proceeds going to the community where the casino is located, we are now caught up in a mindless debate over which development plan is better.
Obviously, all the bickering at the Board and the squabbling in Pittsburgh do not bode well for the future of the slots industry in Pennsylvania.
Just maybe we could get lucky enough for the whole slots idea to pass into oblivion so that we could start to focus on real solutions to our state’s problems. The dangling of hoped for slots revenues as a way to fund schools, promote economic development and pay off City and Authority debt has caused us to lose sight of an important reality. The money must come from somewhere and most of it will come from Pennsylvanians who will have less to spend on other things. The hidden costs will eventually show up in slower growth and fewer jobs outside the casino industry.
And that does not take into account the massive social costs gaming inevitably brings.
Since the idea of gaming is so attractive to the Governor and the legislature, they are not going to let it die. What they need to do is revisit the gaming law. Get rid of the in-state supplier nonsense. Require an open auction for the licenses. And set aside at least 10 percent of the net casino take to cover the additional social and criminal justice costs that are almost certainly going to arise out of the presence of slots gaming.
For many track owners, especially those who have paid a bundle in anticipation of slots at the tracks, the delay will be incredibly expensive. For the applicants for the slots license in Pittsburgh who have undoubtedly already spent millions preparing their proposals and doing the public relations work necessary to get a license, a year or more of further delay will be horrific. And the Penguins deadline will arrive with no casino money to build a new arena.
The writers of the gaming legislation have only themselves to blame. Why on earth was it necessary to include the supplier middleman role? Casinos can buy their machines perfectly well from the manufacturer or existing suppliers. But no, the legislators wanted to extract another few dollars from the process and allow some friends to make money. This greed might end up biting them big time if the Gaming Board doesn’t resolve the problem in the next few days.
But the supplier kerfuffle is of a piece with the wrangling over who will get the slots license in Pittsburgh. Instead of having a bidding process with the proceeds going to the community where the casino is located, we are now caught up in a mindless debate over which development plan is better.
Obviously, all the bickering at the Board and the squabbling in Pittsburgh do not bode well for the future of the slots industry in Pennsylvania.
Just maybe we could get lucky enough for the whole slots idea to pass into oblivion so that we could start to focus on real solutions to our state’s problems. The dangling of hoped for slots revenues as a way to fund schools, promote economic development and pay off City and Authority debt has caused us to lose sight of an important reality. The money must come from somewhere and most of it will come from Pennsylvanians who will have less to spend on other things. The hidden costs will eventually show up in slower growth and fewer jobs outside the casino industry.
And that does not take into account the massive social costs gaming inevitably brings.
Since the idea of gaming is so attractive to the Governor and the legislature, they are not going to let it die. What they need to do is revisit the gaming law. Get rid of the in-state supplier nonsense. Require an open auction for the licenses. And set aside at least 10 percent of the net casino take to cover the additional social and criminal justice costs that are almost certainly going to arise out of the presence of slots gaming.
