Last year, a gambling expansion package that included the legalization of online gambling, among other things, made a significant progress in Pennsylvania’s Legislature. The package was approved in the House and required a Senate vote.
The Senate did not act on the effort in November, as expected and hoped, but lawmakers indicated that they would build on the gained momentum to give the green light to sweeping reforms and expansion of the state’s gambling industry by the end of 2017’s first quarter.
What started as a year of big hopes and expectations for proponents of the online gambling effort, grew into another year of no actual progress. Part of a larger legislative package, aimed at solving Pennsylvania’s budget riddle, the gambling expansion push has fallen into a stalemate and latest news from the Keystone State indicate that it will not be very soon before lawmakers are ready to act.
Pennsylvania’s Budget Conundrum
With the state being almost two months into its new financial year, legislators have the challenging task to find appropriate revenue sources to balance the $32-billion budget they had approved earlier this year. The state needs approximately $2.2 billion to cover spending from the previous financial year and upcoming bills from the current one.
In July, the state Senate approved what media has been referring to as a borrow-and-tax plan that provides for the necessary finances to be secured through hikes in certain taxes and through borrowing the amount of $1.3 billion from future Pennsylvania proceeds from a 1998 multi-state agreement with the nation’s tobacco industry. Expanded gambling with provisions for the legalization of online gaming options and daily fantasy sports was also included in the budget plan.
However, the House, which is currently in a summer recess, showed clear discontent with the proposed solution to the state’s budget riddle, particularly with the tax increase and borrowing portions.
It became clear that House GOP legislators began working on an alternative plan on Monday, one that would try to avoid namely tax hikes and borrowing. Pennsylvanian news outlet PennLive reported on Friday that House Republicans from the Appropriations Committee are considering to propose the use “unnecessary cash reserves” from special state funds to fill the money gap.
There has not been mention of gambling in the latest news stories related to the House’s budget deficit reduction plan. But hopes are that members of the lower chamber of the state’s Legislature would include the effort.
It was reported on Friday that talks on said budget plan would continue next week. In other words, no House vote is likely to take place before September 11, when lawmakers are set to return from their summer recess.
The House’s refusal to reconvene before the aforementioned date and try to negotiate a solution to the budget issue with the Senate met vocal criticism from lawmakers. Earlier this month, Pennsylvanian Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati called the whole situation the state Legislature has been locked in “an embarrassment.”
If and when the House comes up with its version of a plan for the state’s ailing budget and if gambling is included in that version of a plan, there will likely be further clashes between lawmakers from the two chambers. The House and the Senate have generally been split on how exactly the gambling industry should be expanded and if they continue refusing compromise, this will not bode well for gambling expansion proponents.
The Video Gaming Terminals Dispute
The gaming machines have turned into the biggest point of contention between the House and the Senate. The House has long been supporting the idea for the addition of 40,000 such machines in pubs, clubs, and truck stops around the state. It is believed that the move could generate up to $400 million in new revenue for Pennsylvania’s coffers.
However, the Senate has repeatedly refused to include the measure to its gambling expansion package, arguing that VGTs would actually cannibalize revenue from land-based casinos instead of producing new revenue.
The lack of accord on that particular matter could eventually see the whole gambling expansion effort fall apart for yet another year.
The state Senate is set to hear on the VGTs proposal on September 19 and hopes are that growing frustration with the lack of overall solution for the budget deficit would eventually urge lawmakers into making certain concessions for the common good.
