Slotsa luck
For years, popular Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey resisted all efforts to expand gambling in the Keystone State. The conservative Democrat was a man of conviction and principle. Nothing wrong with that.
Times have changed, however. There’s a new political climate. Another popular Democratic governor, gambling proponent Ed Rendell, is the steward of the state, and the legislature is controlled by Republicans, including a working majority of gambling supporters.
Monday’s agreement between Rendell, House Speaker John Perzel and labor unions to finance the proposed expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in part from revenue from a proposed slot-machine parlor in Philadelphia, though grossly overdue, should be lauded. Progressive-thinking leaders and members of the state House and Senate should put legislation authorizing slot machines on the fast track.
One slot-machine parlor in Center City is a good start, but why stop there?
The region’s population and discretionary dollars are large enough to expect mini-casinos to flourish in several locations in Philadelphia — perhaps on the long-vacant Byberry campus — and its suburbs, including Philadelphia Park in Bensalem. It’s time to take a chance.
Pennsylvania’s powers-that-be must strike while the iron is hot. Seize the moment. When opportunity knocks, answer it — and embrace it.
There are millions of suckers out there who have no problem paying a voluntary tax — i.e., tax revenue from money lost to slots and table games at casinos in Atlantic City and Delaware.
Why should the people of Pennsylvania continue to dump millions of their dollars in neighboring states when they could do it right here?
Note to Pennsylvania’s prudes: If gambling is a sin to be avoided at all costs, why, then, won’t you push to outlaw the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets?
Let the good times roll.
Yo, Jersey, the party’s over. It’s time we milked our own cash cow. ••