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Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is making efforts to get slot
machines at state racetracks as soon as possible. The board has
been granted the responsibility/burden of distributing 14 slot
machine licenses to various groups that are attempting to establish
slot machine parlors. As a response to the length of time it takes
to hand out the permanent licenses, they have made plans to create
and deliver temporary slot licenses. This would put slot machines
in Pennsylvania’s racetracks as early as Labor Day.
Before that happens, however, the board must
hold a meeting about how slot machine suppliers are allowed to sell
their products in the state. If this meeting does not end in
clarity, the issuing of temporary licenses will be delayed.
Unfortunately, things do not look promising, as the seven members of
the board cannot agree on whether the state should be divided into
supplier regions. But, according to spokesperson Nicholas Hays,
“The board continues to work to try to resolve the issue.”
The law that legalized slot machine gambling
in Pennsylvania possessed a clause mandating the states 14 coming
slots parlors purchase all slot machines from state suppliers; as
opposed to manufacturers. Bally Gaming Inc., Gtech Corp., and
Konami Gaming Inc., are among the businesses looking to set up shop
in Pennsylvania.
Though most of the big slots gambling
questions will be decided on by the gaming control board, the board
must still answer to the state Independent Regulatory Review
Commission (IRRC). The board has until July 5 to complete all final
drafts of the new rules. Should they miss the deadline, the IRRC
will subject them to yet another level of scrutiny. The board was
given two years, since July 5, 2004, the day Governor Rendell signed
the bill into law, to draft all rules without the approval of the
IRRC.
A lot rides on time during this process of
quickly ushering slot machine gambling into the state of
Pennsylvania. A 90-day waiting period has been set in place by law
to separate the licensing of suppliers and a board vote on license
applications for slots parlors.
Hays fears the process could be dragged out by
months, or even a year, if the IRRC becomes involved in
regulations. Reporters learned from Tad Decker, board chairman, a
“substantial delay” would be the direct result of IRRC involvement.
President and CEO of Mohegan Sun at Pocono
Downs, Robert Soper, and other racetrack operators in his shoes are
growing increasingly frustrated in the face of more potential
delays. Soper’s racetrack is one of seven promised to receive a
conditional license to operate slot machines. According to Soper,
Pocono Downs had depended on receiving slot machine profits starting
this coming fall.
Soper said, “We are frustrated, but at the
same time hopeful.”
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