Lebanon County legislator votes against table games bill

Continuing her opposition to expanded gaming, state Rep. RoseMarie Swanger (R-Lebanon) voted to oppose the General Assembly’s conference committee report on Senate Bill 711, which introduces table games into Pennsylvania’s casinos. The bill passed primarily along party lines and now goes to Gov. Ed Rendell, who is expected to sign it into law.

“Supporters of this legislation have completely forgotten the mistakes made more than five years ago when slots legislation was rushed through the General Assembly,” Swanger said. “They have taken Senate Bill 711, a piece of legislation originally designed to address the errors in Act 71 of 2004, and rushed Pennsylvania into the table games business with no regard for much-needed gaming reform.

“The bill fails to address the Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement (BIE), which remains supervised by the Gaming Control Board, and its conducting background checks on licensees, a clear conflict of interest. These checks should be conducted by either the Office of Attorney General or the State Police. Additionally, expanded gaming negatively impacts our local fire companies and emergency responders who hope to raise funds through small games of chance and need our support.”

Swanger places the blame for flaws in the bill clearly on House Democrats.

“House Republicans attempted to amend the bill to redirect a portion of table games revenue and address the broken promise of significant property tax relief made years ago by the Rendell Administration,” she added. “That effort was killed by a party line vote on the House floor.

“Also there and in committee, attempts were made to allow local municipalities to decide by referendum whether or not they wanted table games in their community. House Democrats took the lead on taking that decision out of the hands of their constituents.”

Swanger is a member of the House Gaming Oversight Committee.

Rep. RoseMarie Swanger
102nd District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
(717) 277-2101

(717) 787-2686

Contact:  Scott B. Little

slittle@pahousegop.com

(717) 260-6137

Member Site:  RepSwanger.com

Caucus Site:  PAHouseGOP.com