Quick work

Quick, book us on a flight to Vegas. Or maybe a bus to Atlantic City. We can't afford to wait for Pennsylvania's gambling houses whatever form they take to be built. Our hot streak may not last that long. In the run-up to the vote on Pennsylvania's slot-machine legalization, we predicted that, in a short time and as a natural progression, additions to the gambling legislation would be sought. We thought, frankly, that there would be a little bit of a waiting period before the idea hit the headlines, say, at least until those places where the slots will become resident can get their licenses and put their facilities together. Democrats Bill DeWeese and Mike Veon, however, want to roll the dice while they're hot. They're planning to put forth legislation as early as the fall that will give approval to table games, like blackjack and craps, for Pennsylvania. Their thinking, at its heart, is that if a little gambling will reap tax rewards for Pennsylvanians, more gambling will mean even more money in the till from those apparently willing to take a long chance on a big payoff. Our local lawmakers, Sen. David Brightbill and representative Pete Zug and Mauree Gingrich, none of whom backed the slots plan, didn't take the news of the new proposal particularly well. "They did a bad thing with the slots bill, and they did it badly, and now they're trying to make it even worse," Brightbill said, adding that he found the idea "outrageous." A DeWeese spokesman, Barb Grill, said that her boss and Veon "have always been supportive of taking gambling to the next step." The industry hasn't taken a first step yet. This proposal is a quantum leap, upping the ante for all the downside potential that gambling entails without even an initial look at whether a limited gambling program will even do what it's been touted to do lower property taxes, at least a little. There are better and fairer proposals for overall tax reform already floating out there than any proposal involving any type of gambling or other ersatz or actual sin tax. Absolving themselves of the necessities of governance, lawmakers chose to give some, perhaps even a majority, of the people what they want, legalizing taxes as an incomplete cure-all for the stupendous headaches property owners face in the world of expanding property-tax rates and ever-higher demands for educational spending. This is a very early look at the gambling-expansion plan. We certainly expected our local legislators, given their collective stance on slots, to quickly and vociferously object to it. We do as well, since we, too, never cast a positive eye on slots, especially as a sop to tax reform. We don't know how this plan will play in Greensburg, or Grantville, or Philadelphia. If we do go down this path, we hope at some point we're at least honest with ourselves: That we've decided to allow gambling far more than a toe-hold in the state. We've set it up at a table with no limits. The Lebanon Daily News welcomes letters. E-mail them to PaulBaker@LDNews.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 718 Poplar St., Lebanon, PA 17042.