Pokies and Slot Machine Information

Pennsylvania pushes 61,000 pokies

March 29, 2006 on 12:30 pm | In Slot machine articles online |

The US State of Pennsylvania is pushing ahead with its grand scheme to introduce up to 61,000 slot machines.

“On April 5, state gambling regulators will begin public hearings on proposals for slots at 14 venues, including racetracks and freestanding locations, which could make Pennsylvania one of the biggest slot-machine states in the country. Slots could be up and running at the racetracks as early as the fall.”

Myrtle Beach Online Article

The potential sale of 61,000 slot machines was bound to attract the industries largest manufacturers, keen to showcase their latest technology. Pennsylvania has set a punitive 52% tax rate, yet they’ve had no trouble soliciting vendors to supply the gaming hardware:

“And many of the biggest companies came despite the exclusion of table games and a tax rate of 52 percent, more than six times higher than Atlantic City’s or Nevada’s.”

The companies approved so far are:

“The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board…approved the licenses for the following six companies…
• Aristocrat Technologies, Inc.
• Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty. Ltd.
• IGT
• NRT Technology Corp.
• Western Money Systems
• WMS Gaming, Inc. “

Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

The legislation allows for up to 5,000 slot machines in some venues. The nearby Altantic City gaming venues have already started building up their own venues in view of the upstart new slot competitors being created in nearby states:

“Atlantic City is in the midst of an approximately $3 billion building boom to diversify its gambling industry and expand its casinos, in part to compete with the proliferation of gambling in neighboring Pennsylvania and elsewhere.”

As more and more States in the USA legalise slot gambling, the competition to attract players will intensify. It will be interesting to see how the huge Indian casinos and the gambling metropolis of Las Vegas react.