Slots and Christmas don’t mix?

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been calling itself “Christmas City” for a while now. Click the link to see why. Some there are up in arms about a plan to leave something new under the stocking…a slot parlor. From McCall.com:

When some Lehigh Valley leaders began lining up behind a proposal to bring a slot machine parlor to the city, opposition arose from those who believe the glitz of gambling would quickly eclipse the quaint historical character of the town.

For them, even a $10 million host fee from the slots operator for the city and another $10 million for Northampton County aren’t worth the crime and traffic that could come with gambling.

”I think whoever gets the casino is going to be regarded as a Johnny One Note � that will become the reputation of the town,” said city Councilman Joseph F. Leeson Jr. ”It would eclipse everything else.”

BethWorks Now, a group of New York investors, recently purchased 120 acres of former Bethlehem Steel property on the South Side and plans to apply for a slots parlor license.

Pennsylvania’s gaming law allows slot machines at up to 14 locations � seven licenses will go to race tracks, five to nontrack parlors and two to resorts. For the five nontrack parlors, two licenses are reserved for Philadelphia and one for Pittsburgh, leaving two in play.

Leeson recently investigated the possibility of passing a city ordinance that would require council to approve a slots parlor, but City Council solicitor Christopher Spadoni said communities have no say in where a slots parlor can be located.

Gaming ‘’shall not be prohibited or otherwise regulated by � any political subdivision,” Spadoni wrote in a Sept. 23 memo. In short, the gaming legislation allows slots parlors to be placed wherever the state Gaming Control Board decides.

Sensing backlash from communities that may not want to have a slots parlor, some legislators are trying to change the law to allow local zoning to regulate their placement.

Slots and Christmas City don’t mix, say some

It’s funny, but the Bethlehem, PA website already has gambling. In an effort to make the site “sticky,” the webmaster added links to lottery results. That doesn’t mean anything, but apparently the lottery, which has a hold over about 50%, isn’t inimical to the spirit of Christmas, while slots, which have hold percentages of 10% or less (unless the slot owner tightens them up), are disruptive.

I’m seeing a made-for-TV special here, something like, “A Jackpot Christmas.”