WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed legislation allowing up to 14 slot parlor gaming establishments to be located in Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, The legislation will allow two slot parlors to be located in the City of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Under the legislation, Pennsylvania would house the second largest collection of slot machines in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Street established the Gaming Advisory Taskforce to assess, among other things, the potential economic impact of gaming in the City; and
WHEREAS, According to the Taskforce the two Philadelphia casinos will likely generate more than $600 million dollars in their first full year of operation; and
WHEREAS, The Taskforce estimated that gaming will create between 7,000 and 12,000 jobs in and around casinos; and
WHEREAS, The Taskforce estimated that there will likely be 1,445 and 1,500 gaming operations jobs and between 2,100 and 4,500 new jobs in ancillary operations at the two Philadelphia casinos; and
WHEREAS, The Taskforce estimated that casinos will indirectly lead to between 3,900 and 6,400 new jobs from growth in other industries and in local businesses that service casino patrons and businesses that service casinos; and
WHEREAS, Casino construction is expected to create between 945 and 1,071 temporary construction jobs paying between $30 and $34 million in wages with another 1,703 to 1,922 indirect construction-related jobs paying between $69 and $78 million in wages; and
WHEREAS, The jobs in casinos will likely be union jobs and will likely be relatively higher quality jobs with higher wages and better benefits than other retail and hospitality industry jobs available to workers with comparable qualifications; and
WHEREAS, The School District of Philadelphia could explore the benefits of providing courses and job training to students interested in employment opportunities in the gaming industry and in industries expected to grow because of gaming in Philadelphia; now therefore, be it,
RESOLVED, BY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we call on Council’s Committee on Education to hold hearings on the feasibility of creating career and job training opportunities for employment positions in the gaming industry.
End