Legislation that passed the PA Senate yesterday would settle the host fee issue for municipalities by mandating a $10 million annual payment from category 1 and category 2 facilities.  This would be based on a 20% tax on the $50 million license fee for the casino in order to generate $10 million annually for the municipality according to the fiscal note on the bill.

This would be a change from the language that was struck down by a September court case where casinos were to pay 2%, or $10 million, whichever was greater, to their host municipality from their gross terminal revenues.  Based on this proposal, the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh would be paying $10 million to the City of Pittsburgh and will continue to pay 2% of gross terminal revenue to Allegheny County as per the original structure of Act 71 of 2004 (the county portion of the host fee was not challenged on uniformity as was the municipal share, but its language was stricken by the court decision as well).

As noted Monday tomorrow is the final day for a host fee fix following an extension by the Supreme Court in January.