11/10/16
by News Department on 11/10/16Change is wanted in casino money...
State lawmakers legalized casinos in PA, in 2004 and some people are now asking if a decade old law, that partners casinos with horse racing, should be changed and if money from PA casinos could be better spent.
When state lawmakers legalized casinos more than a decade ago, they promised casinos would generate a lot of money that would, among other things, lower property taxes. Some of the state’s share of the casino money did help homeowners save a bit on their property taxes and some of it goes to local governments for community projects. But many people don’t realize a chunk of that casino money also helps subsidize Pennsylvania’s private horse racing industry.
Last year alone, nearly a quarter billion of the state’s shares of the casino dollars went to horse race tracks.
State lawmakers insist the reason that promise fell short is because they had originally planned for the construction of more casinos, which would have generated that extra tax relief.
