Vol. 4, No. 10, October 2007
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Keystone table games?
They say it’s a matter of “when,” and not “if.” As soon as West Virginia legalized table games by local option at its racinos (not to mention the proximity of Atlantic City’s full-blown casinos to eastern Pennsylvania), some lawmakers saw the handwriting on the wall—sooner or later, the Keystone State’s all-slot casinos would need table games to compete with their neighbors in the adjacent state.
Last month, Bill DeWeese, the state House majority leader and highest-ranking Democrat in the state legislature, revealed that he is one of them.
DeWeese told fellow lawmakers at a committee meeting in Washington County, home to the Meadows racetrack and casino—the closest Pennsylvania slot facility to the West Virginia line—that the legislature must begin to at least debate the issue of legalizing table games, although it may be too soon to expect them to win approval.
Pennsylvania track owners have begun to lobby lawmakers for tables, and even gaming opponents concede that tables are a fait accompli. “I do think they’re coming,” said state Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, a gaming opponent on DeWeese’s House Gaming Oversight Committee. “I’m not a fan of the industry, but it’s a matter of doing it smart, making it a win-win.”
DeWeese, for his part, says he is trying to respond to the initial positive results of slot gambling in the state by getting the ball rolling on expansion of gaming options. “I’m just trying to generate momentum, to put heat and light on the issue,” he said at the meeting. “It’s very important that the conversation take place.”
