HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board yesterday approved a $34.1 million budget request for the fiscal year starting July 1, which is a 29 percent increase over the current year.

The main reason for the hefty increase is that additional personnel will be hired over the next 18 months to regulate six racetrack/casinos, followed by five stand-alone casinos, due to open in 2007 and 2008, officials said.

Currently, 275 positions are authorized on the gaming board staff. They include financial analysts, accountants, clerical staff and more than 100 investigators who check the backgrounds of applicants for casino licenses, slot machine manufacturer licenses and non-gaming companies that do business with casinos, such as food service, maintenance, housekeeping and others. Board employees work in offices here, in Pittsburgh and near Philadelphia.

For fiscal 2007-08, the gaming board wants to add another 67 jobs, bringing the total to 342 by mid-2008, said Chief Financial Officer Eileen McNulty.

Only one racetrack/casino is open now, Mohegan Sun near Wilkes-Barre, but three more will open soon -- Philadelphia Park, tentatively set to open Dec. 21, plus Harrah's at Chester Downs in mid-January and Presque Isle Downs casino in February. The Meadows racetrack/casino is due to open in May and Penn National's by late 2007.

The budget request now goes to Gov. Ed Rendell, who will give his 2007-08 budget proposal to the Legislature in early February.

Ms. McNulty noted that the costs of regulating casinos don't come from the state's $26 billion operating budget but from escrow funds provided by each licensed casino. The racetrack and non-track casinos must each maintain an escrow account of $5 million at all times, which is used to pay the state's regulatory expenses.

When Act 71, the slots law, was approved in July 2004, the state budget provided a loan of $36 million to get gaming board operations started, but that money will be repaid from the casino escrow accounts. Those accounts are in addition to the onetime $50 million license fee each casino must pay and the annual 55 percent gaming tax paid to the state.

The gaming board yesterday also approved budget increases for two other state agencies that help it regulate casinos, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Department of Revenue.

In fiscal 2007-08, $15.1 million is requested for state police -- significantly more than the $10.1 million spent this year. Two state troopers will be on duty for each eight-hour shift at each casino.

The revenue department's main casino-related expense is the central computer system, to which all slot machines will be connected to ensure that the state gets its full 55 percent tax from the wagering on each machine. The 2007-08 budget request for the Department of Revenue is $9.2 million, up from $6.9 million this year.

On another matter, board officials said tests will be run Dec. 17-18 on the 2,147 slot machines planned for Philadelphia Park racetrack in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia. Those tests, designed to show if each machine is properly connected to the central computer system, must be passed before the casino is allowed to open.