Pa. casino regulators ask for bigger budget

With table games set to come online this summer at Pennsylvania’s casinos, Governor Ed Rendell is calling for more money for casino regulators. Rendell is proposing at 10 percent hike in the budget for the state’s Gaming Control Board.

With table games set to come online this summer at Pennsylvania’s casinos, Governor Ed Rendell is calling for more money for casino regulators. Rendell is proposing at 10 percent hike in the budget for the state’s Gaming Control Board.
Scott Detrow reports from Harrisburg.

Gaming Control Board Chairman Gregory Fajt says his agency will hire 54 new employees to regulate table games, which will likely start appearing at Pennsylvania’s casinos by late May or early June.

Fajt argues slot machines are relatively easy to administer, since each unit is plugged into a central computer system that can tell casino workers and the Gaming Board and State Police employees who regulate them exactly how much money is being spent.

Fajt: That will not be the case with table games. There will have to be manual counts. There will have to be supervision of those counts. Our folks, the CCRs, are going to have to walk with the cash to the count room to verify the count.

The Board will increase the number of on-site compliance representatives from seven to ten, once blackjack, poker, craps and roulette is available at casinos.

The state’s general fund is counting on $181 million in revenue this year from the fees doled out by casinos applying for table games licenses.