Pennsylvania legislature kills gambling expansion

Tuesday, March 9, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the vote essentially eliminates any chance for additional legalized gaming while Gov. Tom Ridge is in office through January 2003. Ridge has insisted on a referendum before he would consider signing any gaming bill.

"If gambling isn't dead, it is in a pretty deep coma, and I don't see it coming out," Senate leader Robert Jubelirer was quoted as saying in the Inquirer.

The vote was a blow to the horse-racing industry, which wanted to add slots at its tracks. The tracks have lost business to Delaware and West Virginia, where slots are legal. The tavern industry wanted video poker to boost sales. And Mayor Edward Rendell saw riverboat gaming as a way to raise money for Philadelphia schools.

Opponents, including church groups and community activists, had warned the expansion of gambling would lead to a plague of social ills.

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