Delaware casino legislation in doubt

The future of the bill that would give casinos tax relief has been questioned by a House Speaker.

US.- House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, has questioned the future of the bill that seeks to give casinos tax relief. His doubts are based on the fact that the US Supreme Court could announce a decision regarding the future of sports betting next month, and that a positive outcome could bring more revenue to casinos without lowering the taxes that the state receives from casinos.

State Senator Brian Bushweller is hoping that the legislation will pass the House this year. He argues that the issue is not betting expansion but the level of revenue sharing. He said that the bill is the result of a joint effort between the governor’s office and the casino and horse racing industries.

“It was a governor’s negotiation,” he said. “And they made a fundamental decision at one point to not just kick the can down. They decided in that negotiation that they thought they should try to solve the problem.”

The bill would cut the gross table game tax rate from 29.4 per cent to 14 per cent and eliminate the licensing fee. Moreover, it would suspend the table game licence fee due June 1st, 2019 and continue to suspend the fee in subsequent fiscal years if every agent increases expenditures on marketing, wages and benefits by its share of that licence fee.

This move would generate US$15 million less revenue next fiscal year and US$20 million the following year. However, Senator Brian Bushwelle believes that if the industry keeps working under these regulations, it will continue to decline. “No business can sustain that for long,” Sen. Bushweller said last month. “No business can last under those circumstances.”