Told you so: Slots hurting lottery sales in PA

Some of us with common sense figured out way back in 2004 when Pennsylvania legalized casino gambling that the slot parlors would eventually take their toll on the state's lucrative lottery business.

Gov. Ed Rendell, who either lacks common sense or says things he knows are not true, was adamant that the lottery and casinos could co-exist without any decline in revenue.

Guess who was right?

The Associated Press, reviewing a report released to the Pennsylvania Legislature today, found that that county-by-county sales of lottery tickets in 2006 and 2007 declined in counties that hosted a slots casino.

In other words, there is a finite amount of gambling money out there. People who used to buy lottery tickets to get their gambling fix are going to casinos instead. They don't have enough disposable income in Ed Rendell's Taxsylvania to do both.

From the Associated Press story:

Officials in Gov. Ed Rendell's administration told the AP in July 2006, before slots casinos opened, that they expected lottery sales to be unaffected by slot machines, although they also projected sales to slow after several years of expanding the number of ticket retailers and adding new games with better odds

Wrong again, Ed!

Read the full story, "Slots hurting nearby lotteries," in today's edition of The Mercury.

If you want to read the entire 148-page report presented to the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, knock yourself out at this link.