| After months of no real
progress from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, they have,
finally, provided something to talk about. The stalemate over the
slot machine supplier issues has been resolved. The bigger news is
that clearing the supplier “clog” frees the passage that will allow
slot machine licenses to be distributed by the fall.
Jeff Coy, the board member from Shippensburg,
issued the deciding vote. He finally gave up on his hopes of
dividing the state into supplier regions and agreed to allow slot
machine suppliers to provide service to racetracks, casinos, and
slots parlors all across the state. For those that do not
understand the slot machine supplier concept, for a lack of a better
word, they are the middlemen between slot machine manufactures and
the slots venues.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board wasted
no time in issuing the first 12 supplier license. The forward
momentum of the board did not come a moment to soon. Part of the
slots law requires a 90 day waiting period between the issuing of
slots supplier licenses and slot machine licenses.
Tad Decker, Chairman of the gaming board,
proudly called the resolution of the impasse a “major step forward
for gaming in Pennsylvania.”
Slot machines in the fall are not the only
thing to look forward to. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell promised
property-tax relief in a recent bill. Slot machine revenues are a
crucial part of that plan.
The board’s ability to reach an agreement over
supplier regulations possibly came due to the complications that
would have further delayed the process if the resolution had not
been reached by July 5th. After this date, the state
Independent Regulatory Review Commission would be authorized to
approve or disapprove of any new slots agreement reached by the
gaming control board. The board was given two years to work, free
of the commission’s interferences.
Board member Coy, claims his decision to
finally let go of the supplier region clause, which he had been
holding out for, was influenced by his review of the approved
applicants. Coy noted that they were diverse groups ranging from
all quarters of Pennsylvania. His original intension with the
regional division of slot machine suppliers was to ensure the
creation of new jobs all across the state. Though his reasoning may
be truthful, there is some certainty that the fear of bureaucratic
interference from the Independent Regulatory Review Commission
partly motivated his sudden flexibility.
At the moment, a few lawmakers are well
engaged in trying to completely eliminate slot machine suppliers
from the state’s Slots Law. A bill has already been cleared by the
Senate.
Critics of
slot machine suppliers say the clause only exists as money pipe for
the politically well connected. Many still hold this opinion even
though the most politically notable of the supplier applicants were
denied licensing.
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