BUDGET

HARRISBURG - After months of delays, a bill allowing poker, blackjack, roulette and other table games at Pennsylvania's slot-machine casinos appears poised for a final vote as early as today.

The state Senate voted 28-22 on Tuesday to approve a compromise that would allow up to 250 tables at stand-alone casinos, such as the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, and horse tracks. Smaller, ''resort'' casinos could have up to 50 tables.

The action came amid renewed threats from Gov. Ed Rendell that he would have to furlough nearly 1,000 state workers to cut costs if lawmakers failed to send him a bill by week's end.

House members could vote today, sending the bill to Rendell for his signature. If all goes as planned, casinos could be offering table games by mid- to late summer.

Votes for the compromise came from Sens. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton; Bob Mensch, R-Montgomery; and Pat Browne, R-Lehigh. Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, voted against it.

Browne said he voted for the bill to help Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem remain competitive. In addition, the bill ''will lead to stable employment for hundreds of new Lehigh Valley residents,'' he said.

Argall said he opposed the bill because it does not, as is the case with slot machine revenue, immediately channel money into property tax relief. Table games money would go to the general fund until the balance in the state's Rainy Day Fund savings account reaches $750 million. Right now, the fund is empty.

''I'm keeping my focus on property tax [relief],'' Argall said. ''This bill does not do that.''

The compromise bill was the product of a joint House and Senate conference committee, which signed off on language negotiated by leaders in both chambers. The committee voted 5-1 on Tuesday afternoon to send the bill to the House and Senate for final action.

The conference session was marked by strenuous objections from Rep. Curt Schroder of Chester County, the ranking Republican on the House Gaming Control Committee, that the Legislature was moving too quickly to approve a complex piece of legislation.

But majority Senate Republicans, who have reservations about the expansion of gambling in the state, said budget pressures, including a $250 million deficit, forced them to accept table games earlier than they would have liked.

''If we were in a surplus situation, this discussion would not be happening,'' said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R- Delaware, who chaired the joint negotiating committee. ''We have an historic crisis in our economy Â… we realize the need to look to find revenue.''

The games are expected to raise about $320 million a year in taxes over the next two years. Initially they would be taxed at a rate of 16 percent, with 14 percent going to the state and 2 percent to host municipalities and counties. The tax rate would drop to 12 percent and 2 percent in the second year.

The bill calls for upfront license fees of $16.5 million for stand-alone casinos and casinos at horse tracks and $7.5 million for resort licenses.

The bill also changes some of the regulatory language in the state's five-year-old gaming law by barring anyone convicted of a felony from holding a casino license or acting as a ''key employee'' at a casino.

Some of the most searing debate in the weeks of arguing over the table games bill has been over the distribution of local tax money, which would be partly used to fatten local budgets and underwrite construction of specific projects.

On Tuesday, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, one of the Legislature's most vocal fiscal conservatives, described the local earmarks as ''permanent WAMs'' for lawmakers. He was referring to the earmarks by their colloquial name, ''walking around money.''

The table games bill includes $1.8 million in local funding that would be split among the Lehigh Valley's major municipalities.

''If any community has the most to gain from table games, it's the Lehigh Valley,'' said Rep. Jennifer Mann, D-Lehigh, who plans to vote in favor of the compromise. ''We've benefited from the Sands. It's been the complete rehabilitation of an industrial site.''

The compromise also allows for creation in 2017 of a third resort license, for a mini-casino at a hotel or conference center.

HERE'S THE AGREEMENT

Up to 250 table games at stand-alone casinos. ''Resort'' casinos allowed up to 50 games.

Poker, blackjack, roulette and other table gambling starts within six to eight months.

Casinos pay 16 percent tax on table games, with 14 percent going to the state, 2 percent to municipalities. The top rate drops to 12 percent after a year.

Casinos pay license fees of $16.5 million ($7.5 million at resort casinos) for table games.

State taxes will first go to the general fund, then to property tax reduction once the balance in the Rainy Day Fund reaches $750 million.