It’s been over twenty years since limited slot machine casinos were authorized to operate in Pennsylvania for the purpose of supporting the race horse industry and providing property tax relief to homeowners. Much has changed since the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act was first imagined by our predecessors.
 
Authorized legal gaming in the Commonwealth has been expanded to include table games, internet-based gaming, and sports wagering, as well as other methods by which Pennsylvanians have enjoyed not only a responsible gaming experience, but economic opportunities as well.
 
With the recent Supreme Court ruling that unregulated skill games are slot machines, it’s time to make some necessary and much-needed changes. These games can play an important role in the next step for authorized gaming in the Commonwealth.
 
As such, in the near future I intend to introduce a two-bill package to modernize and streamline the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act, regulate skill game machines, and provide homeowners with direct payments to offset their property tax bills.
 
The first piece of legislation would:
 

• Regulate and tax games of skill:
  • Allowing for distributed markets for games of skill and video gaming terminals.
  • Up to five machines in clubs, liquor-licensed restaurants/bars, and qualified truck stops.
  • 20% tax on gross terminal revenue.
• Reduce the tax rate on casino slot machines to 49.9.%
• Establish a tax rate of 49.9% for all online casino games.
• Fund the Race Horse Development Trust Fund at a reliable level from year to year.
• Properly fund and support efforts to combat and treat compulsive and problem gaming.
• Significantly increase funding for property tax relief by nearly one billion dollars.
• Maintain a reliable revenue stream for the General Fund.
• Update language to fit modern gaming industry standards.

 
Under my legislation, tax revenue from all forms of gaming would be deposited into the State Gaming Fund and be distributed from there as follows:
 

• 6.75% to the Race Horse Development Trust Fund.
• 1% to the Compulsive and Problem Gambling Treatment Fund.
• 79% to the Property Tax Relief Fund.
• 13.25% to the General Fund.

 
Had this division of revenue been in place during FY 2025/26, distribution would have been in the following amounts [followed by actual FY 2025/26 figures in brackets], based on $2,972,257,510 in gaming revenue collected:
 

• Race Horse Development Trust Fund: $200,627,382 [$185,700,000].
• Compulsive and Problem Gambling Treatment Fund: $29,722,575 [$16,266,000].
• Property Tax Relief Fund: $2,348,083,433 [$1,387,830,000].
• General Fund: $393,824,120 [$378,683,091].

 
These figures do not account for any new revenue growth from distributed skill game/VGT markets under my legislation.
 
Current local share programs and the property tax relief distribution scheme under Act 1 of 2006 would be eliminated, to be replaced by a direct annual gaming dividend payment to qualified homestead/farmstead owners to help offset their property tax bills.
 
Had this dividend plan been in effect in FY 2025/26, each of Pennsylvania’s approximately 2.87 million qualified homeowners would have received a check for $702. This figure also does not account for any new revenue growth from distributed skill game/VGT markets.
 
The second piece of legislation will be the enabling act for providing every qualified homestead and farmstead owner with this direct annual gaming dividend payment.

As it stands, the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act has become a complicated mishmash of policy cobbled together over the last two decades. The anticipated gaming environment and political necessities of 2004 do not apply to the realities of the industry in 2026.
 
It’s time to update this mishmash and convert it into a modernized framework to keep the industry thriving and to benefit those who were originally promised to be helped before gaming became legal over two decades ago.
 
I urge you to join me as a co-sponsor on this important modernization of the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act, and the companion bill to provide a direct annual gaming dividend payment to homeowners.