The Bradford Rotary Club welcomed two visitors from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board at their lunchtime meeting Monday at Beefeater’s Restaurant.
Anthony Moscato, a commissioner on the Gaming Control Board, and Doug Harbach, the agency’s director of communications, talked to the club about what the state agency does. Moscato is an Emporium resident and a member of the Emporium Rotary Club, too.
The agency is relatively young, established in 2004 to regulate slot machine and casino gambling in Pennsylvania. It was created under the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act.
It was in fall 2006 that casinos began opening in Pennsylvania, making the industry just over 10 years old, according to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Center for Gaming Research.
The Gaming Control Board oversees casinos, which are only one of the four types of legal gambling in the state. The other three types — horse racing, small games of chance and lottery games — are supervised by other agencies.
The board has seven members, as well as a staff of 300. The “primary objective is to ensure that casinos are safe and gaming is fair,” said Moscato.
According to Harbach, casinos are set up as a “market of convenience.” He explained, “Casinos are placed in the population centers” — a model that more states are beginning to use.
The Gaming Act allows there to be up to 15 casinos at one time in the state, and there are three types: standalone, harness racinos and resort casinos, they said.
According to Moscato, the gaming industry is an “unmitigated success now in Pennsylvania.”
He said, “The Gaming Control Board operates at no taxpayer expense,” and explained that casinos reimburse the commonwealth for the cost.
According to the pair, the state collects fines from individuals who commit violations related to casinos, even banning 630 people so far from Pennsylvania casinos. The pair explained people have been banned for actions including being under the age of 21, cheating, leaving children in vehicles to gamble and causing problems because they are intoxicated.
In addition to involuntarily banned individuals, nearly 11,000 more people have asked to be banned in order to curb gambling addictions. The Gaming Control Board offers a self-exclusion list, and people can request to be added to the list for one year, five years or their lifetime. If anyone on the self-exclusion list is caught in a casino, they are subject to trespass charges and forfeiture of any winnings.
The group was shown a short video on responsible gambling.
Moscato explained, “As long as you know what you’re willing to lose,” spending time at the casino can be a “great outlet.”
For anyone who does feel they need a little help keeping their gambling under control, there is a hotline: 1-800-522-4700.
Moscato and Harbaugh provided some history on the gaming industry in the state.
Slot machines were introduced in 2006. “They are all linked to a central computer system, which is housed at the Department of Revenue,” Moscato said of the machines. “It helps to figure the revenue on a daily basis.”
Since 2008, Pennsylvania law has stated that the casino floors are 50 percent smoking and 50 percent smoke-free.
Then, table games were introduced in 2010, he said.
A couple of times, the pair quizzed Rotary members. For instance, they asked if anyone knew, on average, how much slot machines pay out over the life of the machine. The choices were 10 percent, 30 percent, 70 percent or 90 percent.
They find the correct answer — 90 percent — surprises most people. Moscato said that machines must pay a minimum by law of 85 percent during the life of the machine, but competition has brought the actual average to 90 percent.
Despite its short time in the industry, Pennsylvania is number 2 in casino gross revenue and number 1 in casino tax generation. According to Moscato, the industry brings $1.4 billion annually to the state, and it has a nearly $6.2 billion economic impact in the state.
The biggest chunk of revenue to the state — $780 million — goes to property tax reduction.
“What they do is give the money to school districts,” said Moscato. The school districts divvy up the funding through the homestead exclusion or credit, so many homeowners don’t realize they are getting casino revenue.
Other places the money goes to are the sustainability of the horse racing industry, casino host local governments, statewide economic development projects, the state’s general fund and grants to county fairs and fire companies.
For anyone interested in the seeing the Gaming Control Board in action, the group will hold its public meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Harrisburg, but it can be viewed live online at the agency’s website, www.GamingControlBoard.pa.gov.
