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Dept of non-surprises: PA House Democrats to push - again - for slot machines in bars ... and lottery providers!
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Dept of non-surprises: PA House Democrats to push again for slot machines in bars ... and lottery providers!
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| Photo | Isaiah Thompson |
| It's "entertainment," babe: coming to a bar near you. (He sure looks happy). |
You know what natural gas and gamblers have in common?
Our elected officials will as dig deep, and at whatever cost to society, to exploit both as long as they can subsidize a tax here, or line a local slush fund there.
The difference? You can't can't make oil from scratch. Gamblers, on the other hand, can be created.
About a week ago (in a move that's received virtually no press, anywhere), Pennsylvania House Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fayette) announced that he will be introducing legislation to legalize "video poker" games in Pennsylvania, resurrecting a push last year to let every no, I need capital letters for this EVERY BAR IN THE STATE to host up to five "video poker" machines (slot machines, that is).
He is also calling and this hasn't been reported anywhere for slot machines to be allowed at places where lottery tickets are sold. Pro-gambling officials will deny that video poker machines are substantively different from slot machines. They are misinformed, as well as misleading the public, and I challenge any supporter of this legislation to prove otherwise.
The Fayette County lawmaker said clubs would be able to operate up to seven machines, licensed liquor establishment such as taverns and restaurants could operate up to five, and lottery sales agents could operate up to three machines. Machines operated by lottery sales agents would have to be located outside the general public's view and not accessible to people under age 21.
Mahoney said under his measure, the state could impose a maximum $1,000-per-year licensing fee per video poker machine. From that amount, $100 would go to the host municipality, $100 to the host school district and $50 to a nonprofit or community organization of the licensee's selection. Groups eligible for the $50-per-year funding would include fire and police departments, libraries and other nonprofit organizations.
The remainder of the licensing fee would be placed in the state's General Fund.
Think about it: slot machines in every bar in the state. That's as many as 60,000 or more new slot machines in Pennsylvania. The impact not just on gamblers, but on gamblers-to-be, on the down-and-out, and even on people who don't and will never gamble is hard to imagine. These slots won't even be at casinos. They'll be in our bars, right in our neighborhoods.
This isn't just some new law. It's a fundamental transformation of the nature of this state. It's Vegas, baby.
Mahoney, of course, is simply acting as the conduit of a plan long in the works. The casinos having won most of the favors they wanted, the state's powerful bar and tavern lobby (the PA Tavern Association) feels like it's their turn.
But this proposal to allow slots with lottery ticket sales? That's new.
Note the requirement that "Machines operated by lottery sales agents would have to be located outside the general public's view."
That's presumably supposed to be for the protection of the "general public" yet it also "protects" the gambler, doesn't it: from having to stop gambling, from being seen, from being interrupted by external stimuli (slot machines are designed to draw the player into a state of mind in which they will not stop playing until they're broke).
And it protects the gambling industry from being seen for what it is: predatory.
This is what you get when the right wing has completely won the argument over taxes, that is they have convinced the public that all taxes are bad and will have to come out of their pockets. In reality, of course, there are progressive ways to tax, wherein the rich and richer get to pay the large bulk of it, but they are rarely discussed. So maybe a better way to put it is that the idea of progressive taxation has been put in a dark corner out of view. Out of sight, out of mind, out of existence.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper and Dustyn Christofes, philly news now. philly news now said: Dept of non-suprises: PA House Democrats to push again for slot machines in bars . . and lottery providers!: ... http://bit.ly/bHbr21 [...]
You know what else natural gas and gamblers have in common? Isaac Thomas iz unnaturally fixated on both.
Personally I believe as a country we would all be better off if we had a less progressive tax and the rich volunteered to give more to charitable causes. I think part of the problem, however, is that the rich have less to give and what they do give is not really helping folks who have needs unless they are in the really low income catagory. What the rich should do is get involved with helping the people they see on a daily basis who have a need. If they don't know anyone who has a need then I think it is time for them to broaden their social circles a little bit. Maybe , they would learn why Democrats are Democrats. I am currently Republican, do to the fact that, on most issues I tend to agree somewhat more with them. I do believe in the trickle down economics somewhat, but even though the rich get richer and the hand-me-downs, may be better at goodwill, you can't pay your taxes or put gas in your car with discarded stuff. I think when the economy is this bad, gambling becomes more tempting. Gambling creates more economic problems for communities than it solves.
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