Senate approves slot machines at race tracks

Pennsylvanians are one step closer to… Senate approves slot machines at race tracks

Pennsylvanians are one step closer to hearing the clink of slot machines in racetracks.

Early last Thursday morning, the state Senate, after debating until after midnight, passed a bill with an amendment to allow slot machines in racetracks. The bill passed by a vote of 27-22 and would require track owners to pay license fees of $50 million. The huge increase to the fees owners currently pay would benefit Pennsylvania taxpayers, according to the bill’s proponents. The bill is also designed to prevent owners from taking unfair advantage of gamblers.

The slot machine amendment, which also passed by a vote of 27-22, is another step toward Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s plan to stimulate Pennsylvania’s struggling racetrack industry while generating revenue, which he said would be used to lower property taxes.

The plan to put slot machines in racetracks, which was supported largely by democrats, the minority party in the Senate, spurred opposition from some religious and anti-gambling groups.

If the bill passes through the House unaltered and is signed by the governor, each racetrack in Pennsylvania could have as many as 3,000 slot machines. The bill is expected to generate up to $700 million each year in tax revenue within three years, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Senate Democrats.

Snider kept in Seoul after acquittal appealed

If Kenzi Snider was acquitted in the United States of all charges associated with the March 2001 death of former Pitt student Jamie Lynn Penich, her trial would be over and she would be free.

But in South Korea, where Snider did stand trial and was acquitted last week, the prosecutors can appeal. They did, and Snider now must remain in Seoul, the country’s capital, until the appeal hearing in two to six months.

Prosecutors said that Snider, who was held for six months in a Korean jail during the trial proceedings, attacked Penich when Penich made a sexual advance at her after a night of dancing and drinking on St. Patrick’s Day, 2001. Both Penich and Snider, who was a student at Marshall University, were studying abroad in Korea.

Although Snider, in an Associated Press interview, expressed disappointment that she would not be returning to the United States as early as she hoped, she said she looks forward to spending her time in Korea sightseeing with her mother, who has remained in the country with Snider throughout the trial.