Casino Taxsylvania

The Keystone State only boasts nine casinos -- including the newly table-gamed Rivers, where Mario Lemieux had some recent good times, captured above by the PG's John Heller -- but they pack a nation-leading wallop for the state budget. As the (Allentown) Morning Call reports, Pennslyvania rakes in $1.1 billion from its casinos, a quarter billion ahead of Nevada -- which has 260 dens of sin.

Pennsylvania takes back 55 percent of casino profits, while in Nevada the figure is 8 percent and New Jersey it's about 9 percent. Pretty remarkable, eh?

"Really? That's incredible," said Mike Lawton, senior researcher for the Nevada board, when told his state had been dethroned. "You guys must be charging a whole lot of money to run a casino there."

Um, yeah. The Rendell administration points out that the money has helped ease the tax burden on Pennsylvanians at a clip of about $190 per taxpayer. Full story, definitely worth a look, is here.