Rendell Says Approval of Table Games Will Have to Wait

by KYW's Tony Romeo

The state budget deal announced last Friday means table games at Pennsylvania casinos are now on the fast track. But Governor Rendell says gaming law reforms will have to be enacted first.

At a Senate hearing on one bill to legalize table games last week, Allegheny County Republican Senator Jane Orie expressed concerns that table games legislation will advance while a bill to make reforms to the state gaming law - including the reinstatement of a ban on political contributions by gaming interests - remains bottled up in the House:

“And my understanding is that the House has no agreement to this reform, and some of us believe that there was a negotiated reform on this - and there is no negotiated reform.”

But when the budget deal that calls for legalizing table games was announced last Friday, Governor Rendell vowed that gaming reform will be done first:

“It has to be passed first, because that is essential to us taking the next step into table games.”

The Senate majority leader, Chester Republican Dominic Pileggi, agreed that gaming reform will have to come first.