South Philly residents who take bus trips to Atlantic City or drive to Delaware just to play those one-armed bandits soon might not have to travel far at all.
At Philadelphia Park in Bensalem on Monday, Gov. Ed Rendell signed a much-anticipated bill legalizing slot-machine gambling in Pennsylvania.
The state eventually will have about 61,000 slot machines situated in 12 slot parlors — seven at horseracing tracks and two located within Philadelphia, as well as at two hotel and casino resorts.
The revenue gained though gambling will fund a $1-billion cut in property taxes and city wage taxes.
State Sen. Vincent Fumo was one of the main architects of the bill, which passed the Senate on Friday.
"In the past 30 years, I don’t believe we have done anything that will change Pennsylvania economically and culturally as much as the process we have set in motion," Fumo stated in a release. The senator also pushed for Philadelphia to realize reductions in the wage tax, rather than in property taxes.
The state House of Representatives passed a compromised version of the bill on Monday.
A newly created State Gaming Control Board will oversee gaming licenses, which the state will own, and parlor operations.
The board will have seven members — three appointed by the governor and one appointed by each of the leaders of the four legislative caucuses.
Included in the new law is funding to develop mechanisms that will be able to detect anomalies in the machines themselves, along with other anti-corruption measures.
One stipulation is that public officials are limited to just a 1-percent financial interest in a gambling operation.
"This has been a long, hard road," Fumo stated. "But we are bringing change of great magnitude to the commonwealth, and I think it is appropriate that we spent a year researching, negotiating and crafting this legislation."
