HARRISBURG Slot machine bill needs reforming

Two senators are changing their votes because the bill is being expanded.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- While state House leaders spoke optimistically about the slot-machine compromise they had crafted, the prospects for final passage of the measure dimmed Wednesday as senators who previously voted to expand gambling said the House bill allows too much gambling and provides too few safeguards.
Two senators who supplied crucial votes to pass a more modest slots proposal in the Senate three weeks ago indicated that they would oppose any expansion beyond the eight racetrack-based slots parlors envisioned in the Senate bill.
Sen. Robert Thompson said he supported the Senate proposal because it would limit slots to eight existing or future racetracks where gambling already is permitted.
"I'm sticking with that philosophy going forward," the Chester County Republican said. "This is a change from what was originally proposed and goes beyond what I can support."
Sen. Jane Earll, R-Erie, who also was among the six Republicans who voted with a united Democratic minority to pass the Senate bill, has said she is not inclined to support additional tracks because they could erode revenue at competing tracks. Earll did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Wednesday.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill, R-Lebanon, said the loss of Thompson's and Earll's votes would leave gambling proponents one vote shy of the 26 they would need, so there is no need even to convene the Senate to consider the House bill.
"I don't see how somebody who voted against a limited slots package comes on board, with [the House bill] being broader," said the spokesman, Erik Arneson.
Four tracks
Four tracks now operate in the state -- Philadelphia Park in Bensalem; Penn National Race Course near Harrisburg; Pocono Downs near Wilkes-Barre; and The Meadows in southwestern Pennsylvania -- a Chester track is licensed but not yet open, and three other licenses have not been issued.
The Senate bill would limit slots to those eight tracks, generating more than $750 million a year once they are fully operational. The House plan would allow slots at 11 locations -- nine racetracks and two other venues in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh -- to raise more than $1 billion for statewide property-tax relief.
A spokesman for Sen. Robert M. Tomlinson, R-Bucks, the sponsor of the Senate bill, held out hope that other Republicans might be persuaded to support the House measure because of the relatively generous property-tax relief it would provide.
"We remain optimistic that the House is going to pass a version that is going to be able to come back and get bipartisan support" in the Senate, said Jim Cawley, Tomlinson's chief of staff, who said his boss did not participate in the House discussions but was regularly briefed on the content.
A written version of the House proposal had yet to be released by late Wednesday afternoon, although leaders of both parties provided similar descriptions of the major points.