Leaders in the state General Assembly have struck a deal to legalize table games as Gov. Rendell threatened yesterday to lay off 995 employees unless that legislation is approved by Friday.
The big question now: Can those legislative leaders convince their members in the state House and Senate to vote for the deal?
Two sticking points in the legislative tussle between the House and Senate have been resolved, according to documents obtained yesterday by the Daily News.
_ Local taxes - An estimated $3.6 million per year in "local share" taxes from table games at two planned casinos in Philadelphia would go to the city government instead of being distributed as grants by the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).
_ Resort casino licenses - One license for a "resort" casino would be added in 2017, as long as two other resort casinos are already open. The new resort license can't be within 30 miles of any other casino in the state.
The state gaming law, passed in 2004, created licenses for seven casinos at horse-racing tracks, five stand-alone casinos and two smaller resort licenses.
Democratic leaders in the House circulated a memo to their members yesterday, saying they "anticipate finalizing this legislation sometime midweek and hope to have the bill signed by the governor by week's end."
Money from table-games taxes was counted on in a state budget agreement in October that ended a 101-day legislative standoff.
Rendell, frustrated since then that legislators could not iron out their differences, vowed yesterday to enact the layoffs unless the table-games legislation, anticipated to bring in $250 million, is approved by Friday. That included 333 workers at the Department of Public Welfare, 299 at the Department of Corrections and 112 at the state police.
The deal leaves unchanged a proposed $16.5 million table-games fee for racetrack and stand-alone casinos and $7.5 million for resort casinos.
The tax rate on table-game revenue will start at 16 percent, with 14 percent for the state and 1 percent each going to the casino's host city and county. That rate drops to 14 percent in 2011, with 12 percent to the state and 1 percent each to the city and county.
Because Philadelphia is both a city and a county, it gets the entire 2 percent in local taxes.
Mayor Nutter objected last month to a provision pushed by local legislators, including state Rep. Mike O'Brien and state Sen. Larry Farnese, to have DCED distribute half of the local taxes citywide as grants and the other half distributed to businesses and nonprofit agencies within 1.5 miles of the city's two casinos.
SugarHouse is being built on the Delaware riverfront in Fishtown; Foxwoods is planned for the riverfront in South Philly.
