HARRISBURG -- Suddenly, calls to improve the 2-year-old Pennsylvania slot machine law seem to be coming from everywhere.

State legislators, both Republicans and Democrats, are lining up to push for substantial changes to Act 71, the July 2004 law that authorizes 14 slots casinos in the state.

Today, Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, will renew her efforts to do away with a provision in the law calling for middleman companies known as slots suppliers/distributors, which would buy slot machines from manufacturers and resell them to casinos.

Such a move passed the Senate in June but wasn't acted on by the House.

Ms. Orie will appear at a Capitol news conference today with other Republican senators, including Jeffrey Piccola of Dauphin.

He wants to make changes in the way the seven-member Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board votes. It's the board that will issue the slots licenses for seven racetrack/casinos, five stand-alone casinos and two resort hotel casinos.

Currently, the law says that at least five of the members must vote to approve a license -- all four members named by General Assembly leaders plus at least one of the three members named by Gov. Ed Rendell.

This setup, called a qualified majority, gives each of the four top legislative leaders a veto power over a license. If one of the four legislative appointees votes against a particular applicant, that applicant can't get a license.

Mr. Piccola will call for a normal majority vote in which any four of the seven board members can approve a license.

Ms. Orie and Mr. Piccola also want to remove a provision in the slots law that permits elected public officials to own up to 1 percent of a casino company, and to give the state attorney general more power in overseeing investigations of alleged wrongdoing at casinos. Currently, the district attorney of the county where a slots parlor would be located has more power than Attorney General Tom Corbett does in such investigations.

Today's news conference by Senate Republicans comes on top of calls yesterday by three other legislators for major changes in Act 71.

Democratic Sens. Sean Logan of Monroeville and Jay Costa of Forest Hills said that lobbyists for gambling-related companies should be banned from making political contributions to public officials. Currently, it's legal for such lobbyists to contribute to Pennsylvania politicians.

Their proposal would expand the current prohibition in Act 71 that prevents casino executives themselves from contributing to the campaigns of public officials to include lobbyists.

The two Democratic senators said that in the past 18 months, lobbyists for casinos, slots manufacturing companies and slots supplier/distributor firms have donated almost $1.6 million.

Lobbyists for IGT, the biggest slots manufacturer in the world, have given $58,000 to Pennsylvania politicians, they said.

Another major contributor has been Stephen Wodjak, a lobbyist for a proposed casino in the Poconos. Until last week, Mr. Wojdak had his two minor children listed as investors in a slots supplier firm, Keystone Gaming. He contributed $68,000 to political campaigns just this year.

"It was never the intent of the Legislature to create a gaming act that provides loopholes and the appearance of improprieties," they said in a statement.

Also yesterday, the legislator who has been most outspoken in opposing the slots law, Rep. Paul Clymer, R-Bucks, began a second effort to force the 14 casinos coming to Pennsylvania to send out, on a monthly basis, "win-loss statements" to their best customers -- gamblers who hold complimentary cards entitling them to free food, lodging or other prizes because of their frequent patronage of casinos.

Mr. Clymer said all casinos track how much each gambler plays -- and how much he or she wins and loses -- to determine who qualifies for a comp card.

Consequently, he said, a gambler's spouse and family members should be notified about the amount of the gambler's monthly winnings or losses, especially the losses.

Mr. Clymer said that if a man or woman loses a substantial amount of the family income at a slots casino, his spouse and family have a right to be informed so they can get the gambler some help.

He tried to amend another bill in the spring to implement the win-loss statement requirement, but fell just short, on a 99-99 vote.

He has another bill now, House Bill 1245, that is currently before the House Tourism Committee, but so far hasn't been acted on. Mr. Clymer said he is pushing for action on the bill before Sept. 27, the date when the gaming board is expected to issue the first slots licenses.

The Legislature, however, isn't expected to return to the Capitol until Sept. 19, and neither Mr. Rendell nor legislative leaders seem interested in calling legislators back any sooner.