HARRISBURG -- The state Gaming Control Board will ultimately regulate up to 14 slots casinos and oversee the millions of tax dollars they bring in to lower property taxes, spur economic development and provide other benefits.

But right now, the agency finds itself in an unusual, and somewhat embarrassing, position -- it has no money to pay for its own operation.

So yesterday, board Chairman Tad Decker unveiled a two-phase plan aimed at raising $9.4 million to keep the gaming board in business through June 30, the end of the current fiscal year.

After the July 2004 slots law was enacted, state officials approved $25 million in loans for the gaming board to cover about two years of operational expenses. Legislators approved another $11 million in loans for two other regulatory agencies, the Department of Revenue and the state police. That $36 million in loans will eventually be repaid out of gaming revenues, but probably not until late 2008, when all 14 casinos are operating. The revenue department and state police have enough of their original $11 million left to regulate casinos until June 30, but the gaming board doesn't, said Revenue Secretary Greg Fajt.

Therefore, starting tomorrow the gaming board will begin imposing a 1.5 percent tax on the gross terminal revenues of five racetrack/casinos -- the three now in operation plus Presque Isle Downs in Erie, to open in February, and The Meadows casino in Washington County, to open in May. That levy will raise $5.4 million by June 30, Mr. Decker said.

Gross terminal revenues are the amount that remains after a casino makes payouts to slot machine winners.

The gaming board also will deduct $800,000 out of a $5 million escrow fund that each casino pays the state the day it opens. By May, when the first five racetrack/casinos are open, that will generate an additional $4 million for the gaming board, for a total of $9.4 million.

The temporary 1.5 percent administrative tax is on top of the 55 percent tax on casinos that was authorized by the 2004 slots law. The state gets 34 percent, to lower property taxes; a casino's host county and city get a combined 4 percent; 5 percent goes to a special Pittsburgh and Philadelphia economic development fund; and 12 percent goes to spur the horse-breeding industry.

The additional 1.5 percent tax is worrying current slots operators, including Robert Soper, chief executive officer of Mohegan Sun casino, which opened in November at Pocono Downs near Wilkes-Barre. He said his profit margin is already thin, at about 13 percent, and Pennsylvania's 55 percent tax is far higher than in other states, such as Nevada and New Jersey.

Mr. Soper said it's not fair for the state to make the early-opening casinos pay more than their fair share for administration and regulatory costs, when casinos that aren't open haven't paid anything thing yet.

Mr. Decker pledged to be fair to all casinos, taking more from casinos that open in 2008 to give casinos like Mohegan Sun a break.

Mr. Decker said there is still a major problem -- how to fund the agency starting July 1. Three options are being considered: take out a commercial loan, using money from the casinos to pay it off; get another loan from the General Assembly, similar to the $36 million loan approved in July 2004; or continue the 1.5 percent additional tax on the gross terminal revenues of casinos. A decision on which method to use will be made by June 30.

Although the General Assembly had to loan state regulators $36 million, the state has more than made up for it with the $176 million it has gotten so far from casinos in license fees and gaming tax revenue, Mr. Decker said.