Pennsylvania school districts reject slot revenues

Wednesday, June 1, 2005

An overwhelming majority of public school districts in Pennsylvania have rejected Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell�s plan to use slot machine revenues to lower property taxes.

Rendell backed legislation to authorize up to 61,000 slot machines in hopes of generating $1 billion in gaming revenues a year. The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut purchased a race track when the bill was passed and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, also from Connecticut, is interested in the emerging market.

In response to the lack of support among schools, Rendell said he would have to come up with a new approach to distributing the $1 billion.

Get the Story:
Majority of school districts say no to Act 72 (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 5/30)
Rendell criticizes school boards (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 6/1)
Taxes & slots: Now what? (The Lancaster New Era 6/1)
Rendell disappointed with Act 72 outcome (AP 6/1)
Slots Plan in Pennsylvania Suffers a Blow (The New York Times 6/1)