Dems Take Control of PA House; New Speaker to Push Table Games

One of the last remaining unsettled elections this year was settled yesterday, resulting in Democrats winning a 102-101 majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives after a recount changed the outcome of one race. At the top of the agenda of former and future Speaker Bill DeWeese is the legalization of full-service casino gambling at the state's new slot machine parlors.

The prudential question for West Virginia lawmakers, who have been told by gambling lobbyists they must enact table games legislation to stay ahead of surrounding states and keep our "gaming establishments" competitive, is to what new low will the tracks go now? As I have said before, I suspect the next move by the tracks will be to legalize prostitution so they can expand their offerings from simple casinos to casinos with full-service brothels.

UPDATE: Fast Eddie says "Not so fast" to table games; PA may also consider barroom poker machines to spawn roadside mini casinos to compete with West Virginia's poker bars.