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July 06, 2004

Penguins plan slots-for-arena swap

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell yesterday signed into law a bill authorizing up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 gambling parlors, which would give Pennsylvania more slot machines than any state other than Nevada. Most of the state's proceeds are slotted to be used to fund $1 billion in property-tax cuts - effectively shifting the tax burden from the rich to the poor, since the wealthy are more likely to own property and less likely to play the one-armed bandits.

You could care less about the poor in Pennsylvania, though - what you want to know is: What does this mean for the Pittsburgh Penguins? As you'll recall, the team was hoping to snag some of the slots-tax proceeds to help fund a new arena. Now, with that money targeted for property-tax cuts, the team has a new plan: give them one of the 14 slots parlor licenses, and they'll build an arena with the profits. (The slots law allows parlor operators to keep 48 percent of revenues.)

State legislators, who will appoint the commission that awards the slots licenses, seemed generally favorable to this plan, with state senator Sean Logan, a vocal arena-funding opponent, telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "I think that's a great idea. Having a venue like that, where they could have shows, hockey games and other events connected with the slots parlor ... if the Penguins and Mario Lemieux are serious, that's something we all should look into." Because, you know, it worked out so well for Edwin Edwards and Eddie DeBartolo.

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