Pennsylvania proposal will legalize Video Poker / Cherry Masters

Rendell mulls video poker revenue

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BY ROBERT SWIFT
STAFF WRITER
rswift@timesshamrock.com

Published: Wednesday, February 4, 2009 4:11 AM EST

HARRISBURG — Video poker machines would see the legal light of day under a new Rendell administration plan to help families pay college costs.

The proposal would legalize video poker machines in bars, taverns, restaurants and private clubs with liquor licenses. The move would end decades of a shadowy, illegal existence for that form of gambling. If enacted, this law would mark the second major expansion of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania in five years, following the 2004 vote to legalize slots casinos.

The administration wants to use millions of dollars of anticipated video poker revenue to help students attending the 14 state-owned universities, including Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg in Northeast Pennsylvania, and community colleges, starting this fall if state lawmakers approve.

Officials say an expansion of tuition aid is needed to help students and families cope with job layoffs and stock market losses in recent months.

The plan, outlined prior to Gov. Ed Rendell’s annual budget address today, would target students whose family income is less than $100,000. They would be eligible for up to $7,600 annually for tuition, books, fees and room and board.

“Legalizing this form of entertainment will generate more than half a billion dollars annually to support the tuition relief plan,” said acting state Revenue Secretary Stephen Stetler.

Each licensed establishment would be able to install up to five machines. There are some 11,000 bars and restaurants and 3,000 private social clubs with liquor licenses in Pennsylvania.

Under the proposal, the Revenue Department would issue licenses to establishments as well as machine manufacturing and distribution licenses to companies. The state would tax 50 percent of net profits from the video poker machines.

State Police Commissioner Frank Pawlowski took a practical view of the proposal, saying it would enable the state to obtain revenue from an estimated 17,000 video poker machines being operated illegally.

The proposal is offered against a backdrop where bars and taverns want help to offset the loss of customers from the state indoor smoking ban, tough drunk driving laws and competition from the slots casinos.

“With the economy, the smoking ban and the .08 percent blood alcohol limit, we need this to exist,” said Amy Christie, director of the Pennsylvania Tavern Association.

While Republican senators favor expanding tuition aid, they are leery of underwriting it with video-poker revenue.

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Video poker vs. slots
Generally speaking, there are three categories of casino gamblers: those who prefer slots, those who prefer tables and those who prefer video poker.
Casino operators always are looking for ways to create crossover opportunities among the groups, but it hasn't been easy. Even though slots and video poker are members of the same family (electronic gaming devices), efforts by manufacturers to combine elements of the games have proven challenging.
The new wave of electronic touch-screen table games is regarded to have the potential to attract dedicated slot players, but the main focus remains the highly specialized video poker segment as a means to expand the horizons of slot players.
Video poker players are a dedicated lot who really don't want the manufacturers messing around with their game. With an element of skill, just give them a good selection of games with solid pay tables and they're content.
Slot players, on the other hand, not only like to win money, they want to be entertained with the base games and second screen bonus rounds.
The ideal compromise would seem to be a combination of an established video poker format with a popular element of slot play. International Game Technology appears to have accomplished just that with Wheel Poker.
Wheel Poker is a union of the best IGT slot machines and video poker. The base game is available in Triple Play and Five Play options with seven game families (Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, etc.) from which to choose.
The distinctive component is the top box "wheel" which resembles the wheel-based theme games for which IGT is famous. Players get the opportunity to activate a wheel spin for bonus credits every time they are dealt or draw to any four-of-a-kind. Each spin rewards the player anywhere from 100 to 2,000 credits.
Two $1 Wheel Poker games were added to the slot floor at Harrah's Joliet, but they recently were converted to quarter denomination. The game requires a wager of six coins per hand to be eligible for the Wheel Poker bonus. The sixth coin actually funds the bonus aspect of the game, which leaves the standard pay tables unaffected.

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Orville Erickson could hardly believe it but his wife, Dorothea, says she "just had a feeling" it might be a lucky weekend. Orville Erickson hit a $2.98 million jackpot on a nickel slot machine Saturday at the Dakota Magic Casino near Hankinson. Slots manager Darrell Mireau said it was the largest jackpot in the casino's 11-year history. "I still can't hardly believe it," Orville Erickson, 63, said Monday from the couple's farm a mile north of Forman. Erickson and a friend were in Fargo on Saturday to get material to build a new ice fishing house when he got the call from his wife, who had returned from a family gathering in New Rockford. "I had actually been to a casino there at Devils Lake," she said, "and I was home about an hour, and I thought, 'Gee, we should go to Hankinson tonight.' And then I thought, 'Well, that's kind of dumb, I was just at a casino' But I just had a feeling." Her husband said he was feeling lucky, too. He said he usually puts $20 into the Marilyn Monroe MegaJackpot machine, a 75-nickel progressive slot machine with a starting jackpot of $400,000. Saturday, he stuck a $100 bill in the machine, planning to play $20 whether he won or lost, he said. The machine paid out about $75 before he pushed the button around 11:30 p.m. and the "Diamond Cinema Jackpot" symbols aligned, he said. "I was just playing along, and all of a sudden it went black and said 'hand-played jackpot,' " he said. "It was just dead quiet, no whistles or anything. "I stood up and said, 'No way, I don't believe this.' " Dorothea Erickson, 58, was about six machines away when an acquaintance told her she'd better talk to her husband. "And I said, 'How come?' And he said, 'Well, he just won $2.98 million.' And I said, 'Yeah, right,' " she recalled. The casino booked the couple into a suite while officials verified the jackpot, which took until about 6:30 a.m., Orville Erickson said. "We got about a half-hour of sleep," he said. The casino presented the Ericksons with a check for $141,950 -- the first of 21 installments over 20 years, unless they choose to take the one-time payment. On Monday, they were still considering that option.

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