web1_Baby-girl-sloth.jpg

National Aviary in Pittsburgh introduces new baby girl sloth

web1_119570304-5217de91130a4c03af3153396fc2018e.jpg

CES tech show stuffed with gadgets we don’t need - or do we?

<p>HARRISBURG &#8212; Pennsylvania-based casino owner Penn National Gaming sued Tuesday in a challenge to a central element of the state&#8217;s aggressive new law expanding casino gambling that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed as part of an effort to fill a massive budget deficit. </p><p>In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Harrisburg, Penn National Gaming said that provisions allowing 10 more mini-casinos would cause &#8220;significant and unique&#8221; harm to its suburban Harrisburg casino, Hollywood Casino.</p><p>Penn National said that the law, passed in October, effectively allows competing casino owners to use the new mini-casinos to pick off its relatively far-flung customer base, while the protections in the law are far more adequate for the rest of Pennsylvania&#8217;s casino owners.</p><p>&#8220;There was no rational basis for this arbitrary and inequitable treatment of (Penn National), which violated (its) constitutional rights in multiple ways,&#8221; the 57-page lawsuit said.</p><p>It said the bill violates its constitutional rights to equal protection and due process, as well as Pennsylvania&#8217;s constitutional prohibitions over legislation that benefits a particular person or entity.</p><p>Two other lawsuits filed in recent days, one by Las Vegas Sands and another by Penn National, target other aspects of the gambling law.</p><p>The bill, a couple years in the making, won passage from lawmakers within 18 hours after it was unveiled despite opponents&#8217; warnings that it carried unforeseen consequences and complaints it was packed with sweetheart deals.</p><p>Alan Woinski, president of Gaming USA Corp., a New Jersey-based consultancy that publishes newsletters on the gambling industry, called the law &#8220;the worst gaming expansion bill in the history of the casino business&#8221; in a Monday newsletter.</p><p>Pennsylvania is the nation&#8217;s No. 2 commercial casino state and already rakes in more gross revenues from gambling &#8212; $1.4 billion in taxes in the most recent fiscal year &#8212; than any other state except Nevada.</p><p>Penn National sued a day before it and 10 other casino owners in Pennsylvania can bid on the right to apply for the first mini-casino license, which allows the operation of up to 750 slot machines.</p><p>The minimum bid is $7.5 million, and allows the winner to buy a separate certificate for $2.5 million to operate up to 30 table games. Budgetmakers hope to land at least $100 million by auctioning the 10 licenses.</p><p>Under the law, each casino owner gets a 25-mile protection zone around their casino, and they may not build a mini-casino inside a competing casino owner&#8217;s protection zone. Penn National argued in the lawsuit that, because it is built in a relatively rural area, more than two-thirds of its gamblers travel from beyond 25 miles to visit the casino.</p><p>Most of the other casinos are closer to each other and benefit from overlapping protection zones, creating what Penn National calls &#8220;mega clusters&#8221; that extend much farther than 25 miles and block off the eastern third of Pennsylvania and southwestern Pennsylvania.</p><p>Meanwhile, it said Mount Airy Casino Resort in northeastern Pennsylvania was given special treatment in the law, with provisions barring a mini-casino from being built in the nearby Pike, Wayne and Carbon counties.</p><p>Wolf&#8217;s office declined comment on the lawsuit.</p><p>Sen. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe, who chairs the Senate committee that handles gambling legislation, said Tuesday the 25-mile zones were simply carried over from a previous version of the state&#8217;s gambling law that had used them to offer protection under the pre-existing licensing scheme.</p><p>The extra protection around Mount Airy Casino, which Scavello requested to be in the bill, was fair because Mount Airy provides a cut of its revenues to those adjacent counties, Scavello said.</p><p>Every casino is required by law to share a certain portion of its revenue with local or host governments, although the precise distribution of the money varies by casino.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_Penn-National-Gaming.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_Penn-National-Gaming.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Penn National predicts harm to its Harrisburg-area site</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Marc Levy</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Pa. casino owner sues over new gambling law