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Pennsylvania Gambling Bill Likely to Stay

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania -- The state's top lawyer said Monday it appears that Gov. Ed Rendell legally vetoed a bill that would have barred public officials from owning interests in gambling companies.

"Despite Republican claims that Rendell mistakenly vetoed a defunct version of the bill and that the real bill became law without the governor's signature, state Attorney General Gerald Pappert's comment in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is seen as an important clarification for the state's new gambling board, which will hold its first meeting today.

"The Republican attorney general's comment, while not binding, 'adds a high degree of cachet to the argument' that the gambling board will operate under the provisions of Pennsylvania's slot machine law as approved last July -- without the fixes called for in legislation approved last month by the General Assembly, said G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster County.

"Lawmakers had voted to eliminate the controversial provision of the slots law that allows public officials to own up to 1 percent of a gambling enterprise. The legislation also repealed a requirement approved in July that slot machine manufacturers sell only through Pennsylvania distributors and that gave the attorney general more jurisdiction over slots law violations.

"…Rendell vetoed Senate Bill 1209 on Nov. 30.

"Republicans had said the governor actually vetoed an earlier version of the legislation with a different printer's number…"

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