Supplier issue splits gambling board

Friday, Oct. 21, 2005 | 7:27 a.m.

A frustrated board chairman Tad Decker said after the votes that he will continue to try to broker a compromise on whether slot-machine manufacturers must work through one statewide supplier, or whether manufacturers must deliver their machines through two suppliers that work in separate regions of the state.

"Frankly, in my opinion, it doesn't make a snowball's difference," said Decker, predicting that distribution realities will force large manufacturers to work through suppliers in different parts of the state anyway.

The impasse reflects the unwieldy voting structure of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which gives each of the board's four legislative appointees the power to veto a matter before the seven-member panel, rendering a majority useless.

It also weighs down the board's effort to license slots parlors as soon as possible to start bringing in the $1 billion in gambling-financed property tax cuts promised by Gov. Ed Rendell.

With increasing hurdles to overcome, including staffing the new agency and the impasse over supplier regulations, Decker gradually has adjusted his original prediction that the first slots parlors could be licensed this year.

On Thursday, he suggested that the latest setback could mean slots parlors will not open until May or June.

Senate Republican appointee Kenneth McCabe vetoed the two-region plan, saying it may be illegal and that he did not think it would create the number of jobs that the House Democratic appointee, Jeffrey Coy, predicts it will. Decker voted for both plans, as did three other board members.

"I don't care how this gets solved, I want it solved," said Decker, who was appointed by Rendell.

Rendell has suggested that he would sign legislation that removes the supplier requirement in the original slots law, although senior legislative aides say there are no immediate plans to advance such a bill.

Rendell's press secretary Kate Philips said Thursday that the governor believes for now that the board can reach a compromise without legislative action.

Thursday's votes were the first on the supplier regulations after Decker had put off votes at several earlier meetings because of the monthslong dispute. Suppliers must be licensed at least 90 days before the board can license casinos at racetracks, but without finished regulations, suppliers cannot even apply for a license.