Nothing less than the future of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania is on the agenda when a House panel holds public hearings this week at the two casinos in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Gaming Oversight Committee is scheduled to meet 2 p.m. Tuesday at Mount Airy Casino Resort in Paradise Township and 2 p.m. Wednesday at Mohegan Sun Pocono in Plains Township.Casino executives are expected to testify at both locations.The committee is in the midst of hearings in Harrisburg and at various casinos to looking at a wide range of issues affecting gambling one decade after the legalization of slots casinos.The future viability of Pennsylvania casinos is a big topic as new casinos open in neighboring states. Tied to this are proposals to allow casinos to offer online gaming, bingo and sports betting to patrons, as well as creating a separate license for alcohol sales at casinos.The review includes revising a 2013 state law to generate more applications for tavern small games licenses and legalizing video games for social clubs. The goal is to produce a package of bills by early June that would help Pennsylvania casinos remain competitive and generate new revenue, said Panel Chairman John Payne, R-Hershey. The specter of casinos closing in Atlantic City is a motivation for Pennsylvania to examine its own industry, said Payne."What do I have to do to make sure we don't have casinos close?" he asked. "We should look at this and see if what we passed in 2004 is still pertinent."Payne has introduced legislation to allow casinos to offer Internet gaming after obtaining a $5 million license."Expanding the business to the Internet would help to grow Pennsylvania's gaming industry for the future, as research shows online gaming patrons become new visitors to casinos," he said.Northeast region Reps. Rosemary Brown, R-Middle Smithfield Township, Marty Flynn, D-Scranton, Aaron Kaufer, R-Kingston, Sid Michaels Kavulich, D-Taylor, Jerry Knowles, R-Tamaqua, and David Parker, R-Stroud Township, are on the committee.Kavulich questioned whether Pennsylvania's casinos would really be better off with Internet gaming."I think it will take away from the brick-and-mortar casinos," he said.He suggested that sports betting would be a different story and generate new business especially during the Super Bowl and March Madness."It can bring a whole new crowd into the casinos," Kavulich said.The committee will digest the testimony and make some informed decisions about what avenues to follow, said Kaufer, a one-time Mohegan Sun employee. "Right now we are sort of doing the shotgun approach," he said.Kaufer suggested it is important to have realistic revenue projections for any new forms of gambling so as not to oversell the potential benefits."We didn't get the property tax refund we were promised," he said.Casino owners are active in this debate.They sent a joint letter to gaming committee chairmen in March saying the continued success of Pennsylvania's gaming industry is at significant risk because of increased competition from other states. Mohegan Sun CEO Michael Bean and Mount Airy General Manager John Culetsu signed the letter."Since achieving a record high total of more than $1.4 billion in gaming tax revenue in 2012, gaming tax revenue slipped to $1.38 billion in 2013 and $1.32 billion in 2014," the letter stated.While these casino owners are divided on the merits of Internet gaming, they support: limiting any expansion of casinolike gaming to existing casinos; eliminating the authorized third resort casino license; expanding hours for liquor sales; speeding up state approval for new types of slot machines and electronic table games; and grant-ing state tax credits to encourage casinos to invest in and update their facilities and equipment.A catalyst for this debate is a 2014 legislative study that recommended easing of state regulations on casinos to help them meet competition.