Could Sports Betting Help PA Gov Get Re-Elected? State’s Top Pundit Weighs In
For decades, Pennsylvania residents have trekked to neighboring New Jersey to get their gambling fix.
Casinos lined the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, and a walk through any of the casino's parking garages revealed that half of the cars had Pennsylvania license plates.
The Keystone State, which had no casinos, was losing A LOT of revenue to the Garden State.
Several years ago, Pennsylvania pols finally decided to do something about the massive money drain going east: the state legalized its own casinos.
Pennsylvanians, especially those from Philadelphia--who by themselves accounted for about one-fourth of all Atlantic City casino business--no longer had to cross state lines to play poker, blackjack, roulette, craps, pai gow and the slots.
They could do so at home, eliminating not just many miles of driving to Jersey but also costly overnight stays in pricey A.C. casino hotels.
Atlantic City was doomed, but didn't yet know it.
Now it does, as this year alone, four Atlantic City casinos either went out of business or are scheduled to.
Most analysts peg the key reason for the demise to Pennsylvania getting its own casinos and Pennsylvanians no longer having to travel to New Jersey to gamble, causing Atlantic City casinos to lose much of their business.
New Jersey had to get those gamblers back.
What, the Jersey pols wondered, could New Jersey casinos offer that Pennsylvanians couldn't get in their own casinos?
The answer was obvious: sports betting, the only major kind of wagering that was available in Nevada but not in New Jersey.
If New Jersey politicians legalized sports betting in the state, that, presumably, would draw Pennsylvania gamblers back to Atlantic City, where they could place a bet on the Eagles to cover against the Cowboys.
And while they were at, maybe lose a couple of C-notes at blackjack, roulette or some other table game.
That was the plan.
And it went into effect earlier this month, when Gov. Chris Christie decreed sports wagering legal in New Jersey.
Any casino or horse track in the Garden State could now offer wagering on football, basketball, hockey, baseball and other sports.
It's too early to tell whether the governor's move will draw Keystone State bettors back, as no facilities in New Jersey have begun offering sports betting yet.
But the consensus of those who analyze such things is that it will, although whether it will be enough to make up for the shortfall in business remains to be seen.
So now the ball is back in Pennsylvania's court, as a gambling arms race continues between the two bordering states.
Might Pennsylvania now legalize sports wagering in an effort to keep New Jersey from siphoning off bettors?
The question becomes more interesting when viewed within the context of current Pennsylvania politics.
Tom Corbett, the Republican governor of Pennsylvania, is running for re-election, and it looks bleak.
For months, voter preference polls have shown Corbett to be anywhere from 20 to 25 percentage points down to his Democratic challenger, Tom Wolf.
It looks like he not only is going to lose the election, but that he is going to get slaughtered.
Time for a Hail Mary?
Some have suggested that Corbett do something bold to turn around his dismal poll numbers and win the election.
Something like legalizing sports betting Pennsylvania.
If Gov. Corbett were to do so, as Gov. Christie just did, it would prevent Pennsylvania gamblers from going to New Jersey to bet on sports, keeping needed tax revenues within the state instead of losing it to a neighbor.
And it also just might help swing an election.
No, no one expects Wolf voters, at least not many of them, to switch sides just because Corbett institutes legal sports wagering in the state.
But how many people who weren't planning to vote, who otherwise couldn't care less about the election, might decide to now vote for Corbett because he legalized sports betting and said voter likes to put a buck on a game?
And what is the likelihood that Pennsyvlania Governor Tom Corbett, a la Gov. Christie in New Jersey, would declare by decree that sports betting is now legal in the Keystone State?
Gambling 911 went to the top political analyst in the State of Pennsylvania, Dr. G. Terry Madonna, a public affairs professor at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., and director of the college's Center for Politics and Public Affairs (http://www.fandm.edu/politics/dr-g-terry-madonna), and asked him about those and related issues.
He is also a pollster and a frequent guest on current affairs radio and television shows in the state.
"I do not think the governor has the authority to do that in this state," Madonna told Gambling 911, when asked if Corbett could do what Christie did and immediately legalize sports betting. "I don't know how he (Christie) does that, I don't know what the legal basis in New Jersey is that he would do that. In Pennsyvlania we have a gaming law. In order to do table games (at Pennsylvania casinos, which had only slot machines in the beginning), they needed legislation to do it. I don't know how he (Corbett) could expand gaming without going to the state legislature. I've never heard this discussed. I don't think he could do it."
And even if Corbett wanted to, he couldn't legalize sports betting by going to the state legislature because there's not enough time, Madonna said.
The Pennsylvania state legislature is only in session for a few more days this session, so there wouldn't be time enough to hold the various hearings needed before such legislation could be enacted, he said.
But what if somehow Corbett did get sports betting legalized in the state, or promised to do so in his second term...would it help him get re-elected?
Not likely, Madonna said.
"I just don't think it's something that's big enough to move voters," he said. "It's just not something that voters are going to say, if you do this, I'm going to all of a sudden vote for you, because you do it. I just don't think it's something that would significantly change the attitude of voters as a whole towards the governor. It may engender some support for him but it's not going to help him in any significant way. I say this having not polled on it."
But, Madonna predicts, Pennsylvania will eventually have legal sports betting, one way or another.
"I'll tell you this, there isn't any doubt in my mind that this state is going to look for every nickel it can find next year in the budget debate," he said. "I wouldn't rule out expansion of gaming. I think it will happen in the next five years."
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
