Guest Editorial: Parx Casino delivers jobs, taxes and investments for Shippensburg and regional economy
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Shippensburg’s newest major employer is already having an enormous impact in Shippensburg Township and the broader community. Parx Casino Shippensburg is hiring left and right and will ultimately create up to 200 jobs – a significant number for our town.
Parx paid $8.1 million for the license and invested another $80 million to remake an empty store front into a brand new casino with a restaurant and sports bar. Area contractors and local workers were engaged for the renovation of what was an empty building and is now bursting with employees and customers.
The casino will provide $100,000 annually to Shippensburg for the next 10 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional property tax revenue to the township, county and school district. All in, the casino will have an estimated economic impact of $43 million a year. We are already seeing that impact, and I am sure that many of your readers know somebody who is working at the casino or at a business that is a partner with Parx Shippensburg.
The fact that Shippensburg is benefitting from this new industry and broadening the business tax base, is welcome news. Gaming is a major economic driver for the state, creating 20,000+ direct jobs at casinos and supporting a total of 33,000 jobs in Pennsylvania.
That impact is not by accident. Lawmakers have consistently maintained three priorities for this industry in the last 20 years: it must generate significant tax revenues; create good-paying jobs in the casinos themselves and other sectors in host communities and across the state; and, finally, the industry needs to be strongly regulated to ensure integrity and public safety.
This approach has delivered for all taxpayers. The 2022 American Gaming Association’s Annual Report states, “Reflecting one of the highest effective tax rates in the country together with the rapid growth of internet gaming, Pennsylvania’s gaming tax revenue exceeded that of any other state by more than $800 million in 2021.”
Our residents and supervisors raised legitimate concerns about the casino in our review process, from security at the casino to potential traffic problems. So far, Parx is meeting its commitments to the letter, and we look forward to the potential for more growth at the casino property and more opportunities for additional jobs.
But we need to remember that this is a business partnership, literally. Pennsylvania receives a 54% tax on each casino’s slot machine revenues—making the state a majority partner in that business.
I raise this important point because the investment that Parx has made, and the benefits we are receiving, are being put at risk by the spread of “skill” games at gas stations and convenience stores across our region and the state.
The Office of Attorney General, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Office of the Governor and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board all concur that these machines are illegal.
Skill games operators pay no gaming taxes. They make no capital investments. There is no oversight to ensure fair play. Photos show people playing these games with toddlers sitting in their laps. There are photos of underage individuals playing these games. Media outlets across the state have detailed the extensive criminal activity of people breaking into and robbing these machines.
In fact, we now have two standalone skill games parlors in our region. No state or local agency has licensed the games, the software, the principals who own the companies, or any of the employees involved. And these operators will not pay a single penny in gaming taxes or provide any local share contributions.
Every employee at Parx Casino has undergone a background check and every machine is wired into the state. The casino has “eye-in-the-sky” cameras as part of a significant security system. Skill games have none of these safety measures.
We all have a stake in the success of this new employer. We We need to make sure that our State Police and local law enforcement have the resources needed to shut down illegal gaming, and we need our lawmakers to tighten state law to make it clear: these machines have got to go.
Steve Oldt is a Shippensburg Township supervisor.
