Hundreds of gamblers with quarters burning holes in their pockets lined up for three hours in a cold drizzle this morning waiting for the state's first slot machine casino to open.
At 10 a.m., confetti canons fired from the roof of the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and the enthusiastic crowd flowed in. The casino in this small town a few miles east of Wilkes-Barre is the first of what are expected to be 14 casinos authorized in 2004.
On hand was Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, who said she and Gov. Ed Rendell had worked several years to make casinos a reality in the state.
"People's lives will be better" because some of the tax revenue is designed to offset property taxes for the elderly," Ms. Knoll said.
Huh? What? Elderly? Isn't that what the lottery is supposed to do? What about the rest of us that were promised that our property taxes would be cut by 30%. I'll be one of the elderly by the time we get any real property tax reform around here. I'll give you 50:1 that taxes go up before they go down. That's a SAFE BET!
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
1 comment:
Pennsylvanians better be prepared to gamble a lot to meet the proposed numbers:
State's take: 34% - estimated revenue = $1.02 Billion
Casino Owner's take: 48% - estimated revenue = $1.44 Billion
Horse Racing Purses take: 9% - estimated revenue = $270 Million
New Economic Development take: 5% - estimated revenue = $150 Million
Local Host and County Governments take: 4% - estimated revenue = $120 Million
Total revenue = $3 Billion
Total payout = 10 to 1 Odds
Amount needed to be wagered to generate $3 billion in revenue = $30 Billion
Amount every Pennsylvania household must wager per year in order to see an average of $339 reduction in property taxes = $6,289
(PA 2000 Census of 4.77 million households divided by $30 billion)
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