gambling

The family that owns northeastern Pennsylvania's Mount Airy Casino Resort won the rights Thursday to build a mini-casino on the opposite side of the state along the Ohio border, an area that has tried for years to land a casino project.

Southwestern Pennsylvania will soon have another casino.

Pennsylvania recently legalized online gambling with a new law that also provides for 10 mini-casinos and standalone gaming terminals throughout the state.

This expansion will take some time to be implemented.

A Moody’s credit rating agency report shows Pennsylvania’s recent gambling expansion may not be that great for casinos, and could run the risk of making the commonwealth less attractive to the industry. 

The state's new gambling expansion law is already triggering debate in communities across the commonwealth about whether they should try luring one of 10 new mini-casinos allowed under the law, or ban them.

Pennsylvania's governor has approved legislation authorizing a major expansion of gambling in what's already the nation's second-largest commercial casino state.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Monday he's signed a bill that will make the state the fourth to allow online gambling. The measure also will allow the state's current 10 casinos to apply for the right to operate satellite casinos and put video gambling terminals inside truck stops. It also would allow gambling parlors in airports.

This week the state Senate is expected to consider a budget proposal that’s already been approved by the House, and leaders say the borrowing-heavy plan might be the only avenue to finding consensus.

But disagreements remain on a key component of the revenue package: how to expand gambling.

Many House members have long wanted to legalize remote video gaming terminals—or VGTs— in bars and taverns. They argue illegal terminals already exist, and should be regulated.

A lawmaker accused of using his political influence to benefit an illegal gambling ring pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges.

Democratic state Rep. Marc Gergely entered pleas in Pittsburgh to counts of conspiracy and accepting an illegal campaign contribution. Felony counts were withdrawn. The seven-term lawmaker, who remains in office, is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 6.

A state House panel is considering a plan to help fill significant budget gaps that have been left open for gambling revenue.

The Gaming Committee held a public hearing Monday on a longstanding proposal to legalize video gambling terminals in bars and other businesses.

The bill being discussed is House Bill 1010, which would allow up to 35,000 terminals in bars, social clubs, and other such businesses.

Proponents say it could earn $100 million in its first year, and $500 million annually once it’s fully implemented.

When playing the slots in Pennsylvania, casinos and gamblers aren't the only ones making money.

The state collects 54 cents for every dollar a player loses in a slot machine.

The state uses most of that money, about 34 cents, for reducing property taxes. The state's horse racing industry gets 11 cents and 5 cents goes to a state economic development trust fund. The remaining 4 cents is split among the communities that host the casino.

Pennsylvania’s current budget has a $100 million hole state lawmakers intended to fill with some kind of gaming revenue.

That money never came through.

Even so, Gov. Tom Wolf’s spending plan for next fiscal year optimistically calls for $150 million to be filled with even more unspecified gaming money, and lawmakers don’t seem close to a consensus on what to do. 

The gaming conversation at the Capitol often revolves around whether to legalize and tax online gambling.

The operators of southwestern Pennsylvania’s two casinos have both been fined by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control board.

Washington Trotting Association, which operates the Meadows Casino in Washington County, was fined $40,000 after allowing two men who have placed themselves on the state’s self-exclusion list to access the casino and gamble at table games and slot machines.

Doug Harbach is communications director of the Gaming Control Board and said more than 9,700 people have placed themselves on the self-exclusion list.

Pennsylvania House Republicans tried again to solve the state's 5-month-old budget stalemate with a spending plan of their own on Tuesday, a day after a bipartisan Senate vote that approved a rival approach supported by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Pittsburghers spent more than 18 percent more on local casino table games this year over last, according to new figures released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Pennsylvanians and tourists pulled the slots levers fewer times last month than in February of 2012, according to a report from the state’s Gaming Control Board.

Of the ten Pennsylvania casinos operating in both months, revenue was 11.5% lower this year. Even counting a casino that opened last March, Valley Forge Casino Resort, the state’s income fell 9.2% to $196 million.

Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey said the decrease probably resulted from a few contributing factors.