WHEREAS, Philadelphia International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport each accommodate respectively over 20 million passengers per year; and
WHEREAS, Many of these passengers now arrive earlier and wait longer for their flights in the wake of the 9/11 disaster; and
WHEREAS, Passengers often use their spare time and their money to entertain themselves among the myriad amenities airports now offer to them; and
WHEREAS, Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, for example, gives its passengers the option of playing one of the 1,000 slot machines that rest near its baggage carousels and departure gates; and
WHEREAS, McCarran International Airport increased its slot machine revenue by $500,000 in the fourth quarter alone last year to finish the FY 2001 with over $28 million in slot machine revenue; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania airports could reap similar revenue windfalls by installing slot machines near their departure gates and baggage areas; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh airports could use the large revenues they earn from slot machines to dedicate their declining school systems, to their efforts in eradicating blight, or to other important city matters; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council calls on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass legislation that would allow slot machines in Pennsylvania airports.
End