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Pennsylvania Bill Leads to Slots Explosion

PENNSYLVANIA – As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer: "If lawmakers approve slots gambling this week, as appears increasingly likely, there eventually could be 61,000 slot machines at 14 gambling halls in Pennsylvania - making it second only to Nevada in one-armed bandits in the nation.

"Then [Thomas] Pepon and his wife, Bonnie, can stop making that long drive from Western Pennsylvania to Dover Downs in Delaware.

"…The Pepons could be a poster couple for Rendell's slots plan. Even before the Democratic governor took office last year, he was pressing his case for capturing money that Pennsylvanians gamble in other states.

"Rendell's plan would take $3 billion of gamblers' money annually - but not all from couples such as the Pepons.

"…Gambling proponents counter that gamblers reflect the population as a whole and that slots parlors do more good than harm.

"…Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.), who helped draft the slots bill, did commission a market study to see where the state should place slots parlors. But that study did not examine the demographics of who gambles…"

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