Editorial: Don't add to the trouble

In their rush to balance the Pennsylvania budget by adding blackjack and other table games to slots casinos, state lawmakers are running the risk of creating new pitfalls for the already problem-plagued gambling industry.

A plan to earmark a special tax on table games that city-based legislators would dole out to neighborhood groups in Philadelphia is fraught with trouble. It's an example of a well-intentioned idea that could easily turn bad.

State Rep. Michael O'Brien (D., Phila.) proposed the additional 1 percent levy on table-game revenues to compensate neighborhoods for the traffic, crime, and other hassles associated with having a casino as a neighbor.

So far, so good.

In other counties hosting casinos, the money would go directly to local government. But for the city's estimated $1.2 million a year, O'Brien proposes a fund overseen by a board of seven political appointees controlled by him and two other state legislators whose districts include the SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos. That's not good, at all.

There are potential constitutional concerns, according to Democracy Rising PA activist Tim Potts. He cites court rulings that declare it's illegal for lawmakers to direct such spending.

Constitutional or not, there's certainly a perception problem in having lawmakers direct hefty sums to nonprofit neighborhood groups.

Former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo is in a federal prison because he dipped into the coffers of a community group to which he directed millions of dollars.

No matter how aboveboard the table-games levy attempts to be, it would further erode public confidence. It's what O'Brien's South Philadelphia colleague, State Sen. Larry Farnese, described as the "impression of political influence."

Beyond that concern, the fund itself should be directed toward citywide needs. If the casino districts pull more police, for instance, then Mayor Nutter should be free to use the levy to bolster public safety elsewhere.

It's not too late to fix the O'Brien proposal, as Farnese vows to do in the Senate.

Rather than expanding gambling, though, lawmakers should focus solely on the reforms needed to insulate slots casinos from politics and criminal influences, and to strengthen ethical safeguards in regulation.

Those reforms - now folded into the table-games legislation - should be given time to work. After all, it was the rush to legalize gambling in late-night deliberations in 2004 that triggered many of the slots casino problems.

Had the legislature acted more carefully, licenses wouldn't have gone to felons, the revolving-door between industry and the state Gaming Control Board would have been locked, and political giving by casino interests would be blocked once and for all.

Does Harrisburg ever learn?