House to look at slots amendments
The state House is expected to debate Senate-passed amendments to Pennsylvania's slot machine law early next month.
"We will take several days to see exactly what is in the package of amendments," Steve Miskin, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, said yesterday.
"While the Senate shared general concepts about the slots amendments, we in the House were not part of the drafting of the legislation and not part of negotiations."
Without debate, the Senate voted 50-0 Tuesday in favor of Senate Bill 862, which calls for 31 amendments to the slots law passed in July 2004.
Chief among them is a provision giving the state Legislature sole authority to decide whether to ban smoking at the 14 casinos coming to the state. This amendment takes away the power of counties or municipalities to ban it at casinos in their localities.
Legislators said gambling revenue at Delaware racetrack/casinos has decreased since those facilities enacted smoking bans.
Another major amendment makes the use of slot machine supplier/distributors optional, instead of mandatory, as it is now. State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, has called suppliers a needless layer of middlemen and wants to make their use optional.
Another amendment eliminates a provision that allows public officials to own up to 1 percent of a casino or gambling company.
If the House agrees with the 31 changes made by the Senate, the bill will go to Gov. Ed Rendell for his signature.
"We will take several days to see exactly what is in the package of amendments," Steve Miskin, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, said yesterday.
"While the Senate shared general concepts about the slots amendments, we in the House were not part of the drafting of the legislation and not part of negotiations."
Without debate, the Senate voted 50-0 Tuesday in favor of Senate Bill 862, which calls for 31 amendments to the slots law passed in July 2004.
Chief among them is a provision giving the state Legislature sole authority to decide whether to ban smoking at the 14 casinos coming to the state. This amendment takes away the power of counties or municipalities to ban it at casinos in their localities.
Legislators said gambling revenue at Delaware racetrack/casinos has decreased since those facilities enacted smoking bans.
Another major amendment makes the use of slot machine supplier/distributors optional, instead of mandatory, as it is now. State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, has called suppliers a needless layer of middlemen and wants to make their use optional.
Another amendment eliminates a provision that allows public officials to own up to 1 percent of a casino or gambling company.
If the House agrees with the 31 changes made by the Senate, the bill will go to Gov. Ed Rendell for his signature.
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