TEXAS HOLDEM ONLINE POKER

"We just want a portion of the action on these [computerized gambling] machines," said John "Puggy" Pugliano, owner of two Monroeville taverns, the Parkway and the Penn Monroe. Gambling machines "shouldn't just go to four or five racetracks. We just want a small piece of the pie."

"We aren't opposed to having slot machines at racetracks," added Dick Bisking, president of the 15,000-member Pennsylvania Tavern Association. "We just want to have video poker in the barrooms."

They were joined by a strong Western Pennsylvania contingent of bar and restaurant owners, including Willie Joe Aldom, entertainment director at Seven Springs Mountain Resort; Joe Frye of the Rose Inn in Indiana, Pa.; Larry Barnett of the Rainbow Villa in Blairsville; and Chris Daugilla of Paisano's Bar and Bryan Hess of Chuck's Tavern, both in Homer City.

The bar owners and their employees, some holding signs reading "Support Small Business" and "Give Us a Shot -- Amend the Slots," packed the Capitol rotunda and spilled down the outside steps in a show of support for a bill sponsored by state Rep. Paul Costa, D-Wilkins.

He introduced the bill to legalize Texas Holdem video poker and keno machines in bars and restaurants last year, but it's been stuck in a House committee for months.

Costa, whose bill calls for the legalization of computerized video poker and keno machines, was hoping to have his measure approved by the time the summer recess starts June 30, but time is getting short.

He conceded his best chance for success is to have his bill turned into an amendment to a bill pushed by Gov. Ed Rendell to permit up to 5,000 slot machines at up to eight state racetracks and up to four non-track sites.

Costa said that based on the net revenue from video poker machines in states such as Washington, Oregon and South Dakota, one machine could clear about $55,000 per year in net profit.

His bill would permit either one, two or three machines at each bar, tavern or restaurant, or a total of about 36,000 statewide. That's based on Bisking's estimate of 15,000 establishments with liquor licenses issued by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

With that many video poker machines, Costa estimated, nearly $2 billion a year in net revenue could be raised.

The bill splits it four ways: 30 percent, or about $600 million a year, to the state, for use in cutting property taxes; 30 percent to bar/restaurant owners; 30 percent to vendors who own and lease the Texas Holdem  machines to the bars; and 10 percent to the host municipalities.

Bisking said small taverns needed help from the state because "many of them have taken a hit" because of the recession in the past three years and the fact that "people aren't drinking as much."

Costa claimed that the $2 billion would be in addition to money raised by taxing the net revenues from thousands of slot machines at racetracks and non-racetrack locations. Rendell has estimated that slot machine revenues could hit $3 billion statewide if there are 12 parlors, with the state getting $1 billion of that to use in lowering school property taxes.

Two mayors, Chris Doherty of Scranton and Louis Barletta of Hazleton, supported the bill for video poker machines at bars yesterday, saying the revenue municipalities received would enable them to pay for services such as police and firefighters without raising taxes.

"This is a no-brainer," said Barletta.

Both he and Costa said many bars around the state already have illegal Texas Holdem poker machines that pay off to players but don't pay the state or their municipalities anything; Costa's bill would be a way to cut the state and municipalities in on that revenue.

Costa compared the situation to that in the 1970s, when the state legalized a lottery which cut in on the illegal numbers gambling. He said the state lottery now pays for valuable services such as pharmaceuticals, rent rebates and transportation for senior citizens.