Don’t start counting all the loot that’s expected to roll into Pennsylvania’s new slots parlors this summer when they start offering table games.
They might have company.
Delaware is about to raise the stakes, so to speak. Again.
The ever-increasing war to remove every last dime from would-be gamblers’ pockets has been slowly but surely ratcheting up in recent years. First it was Atlantic City looking to be the Las Vegas of the East Coast. Then Delaware got into the act. Pennsylvania, tired of seeing money bleed out of almost every border, and also desperate for a way to tame out of control property taxes, jumped in with slots parlors a couple of years ago. Atlantic City has been feeling the hit ever since. Delaware decided to fight back by trying to legalize sports betting. A court blocked that attempt, leaving bettors only able to take part in parlay bets on three games at a time. To cure their most recent budget woes, the Pa. legislature has finally signed off on table games.
Soon players will be able to sit at tables at Harrah’s in Chester and play poker, roulette and craps.
That has not gone unnoticed in nearby Delaware. Pols down I-95 have now introduced their own version of table games. It could be taken up in the Delaware House this week. Backers of the move say it will create 750 jobs, permitting table games at the state’s three existing casinos, Dover Downs, Delaware Park and Harrington.
Harrah’s has said the addition of table games will mean another 300 jobs on the Chester waterfront. This Saturday they will hold a job fair tied to table games.
All of which makes you wonder where all this gambling is going to wind up. Are we now destined to cure every budget ill, every unfunded program, with another game of chance?
I think you can pretty much bet on it.
They might have company.
Delaware is about to raise the stakes, so to speak. Again.
The ever-increasing war to remove every last dime from would-be gamblers’ pockets has been slowly but surely ratcheting up in recent years. First it was Atlantic City looking to be the Las Vegas of the East Coast. Then Delaware got into the act. Pennsylvania, tired of seeing money bleed out of almost every border, and also desperate for a way to tame out of control property taxes, jumped in with slots parlors a couple of years ago. Atlantic City has been feeling the hit ever since. Delaware decided to fight back by trying to legalize sports betting. A court blocked that attempt, leaving bettors only able to take part in parlay bets on three games at a time. To cure their most recent budget woes, the Pa. legislature has finally signed off on table games.
Soon players will be able to sit at tables at Harrah’s in Chester and play poker, roulette and craps.
That has not gone unnoticed in nearby Delaware. Pols down I-95 have now introduced their own version of table games. It could be taken up in the Delaware House this week. Backers of the move say it will create 750 jobs, permitting table games at the state’s three existing casinos, Dover Downs, Delaware Park and Harrington.
Harrah’s has said the addition of table games will mean another 300 jobs on the Chester waterfront. This Saturday they will hold a job fair tied to table games.
All of which makes you wonder where all this gambling is going to wind up. Are we now destined to cure every budget ill, every unfunded program, with another game of chance?
I think you can pretty much bet on it.
Comments