It was Ed Rendell’s mantra.

Roll the dice.

Rendell vowed to fix one of the state’s nagging problems, skyrocketing property taxes that were forcing a lot of senior citizens out of their homes. The problem was especially acute in older, established Delco towns with declining tax bases.

Rendell said he had a way to solve the problem.

It was a gamble – literally. Thus, Pennsylvania started down the path to slot-machine gambling.

Next Wednesday, Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack will celebrate its first anniversary.

But the state actually hit a much more important benchmark this week.

Budget Secretary Michael Masch Monday confirmed that revenue from the state’s fledgling slots industry had rolled over the $570 threshold required by law that will unleash property tax help for every homeowner in the state.

Up to this point relief had been limited to some senior citizens under some specific income levels. Now everybody can stick their hand out. There will be a lot of senior citizens who actually will pay no property taxes.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the exact amount and timing of that relief won’t be known until all the numbers are in this summer.

But one thing is clear. Rendell was right. There are some who said he was greatly exaggerating the revenue stream from slot machines.

Hardly. We’re already over the threshold, with less than half of the venues online.
Gambling has its downside. You only have to look at the sad situation involving a former bookkeeper for Ridley School District, who now stands charged with ripping off more than $500,000 in district funds to feed her insatiable gambling habit.

Much of that money was dumped at Harrah’s.

But we knew that going in. We also knew that politicians had talked about property tax relief for years. The only problem was finding a revenue stream to do it.
It’s pretty apparent that the state’s gambling is paying off. Big time.