Allegheny County and Pittsburgh police officials are primed to step up their efforts in combating operation of illegal gambling machines in bars, restaurants and taverns thanks to more than $500,000 in grants from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

The grants -- $250,000 to the county district attorney's office, $180,000 to the Pittsburgh Police Bureau and $160,000 to the Allegheny County Police -- will be used by the agencies to establish units aimed at eliminating unlawful machines used for gambling, said Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the gaming board.

The gaming board licenses legal slot machines, which eventually will be available at 14 sites across the state. The money for local enforcement of gambling laws essentially is designed to eliminate small-time competition from bars and restaurants, which often have illegally paid winners on poker or slot machines.

"This is a relatively new program and so many of the departments that received grants are in the early stages of putting together their enforcement programs," Mr. McGarvey said.

The funding to eliminate illegal gambling machines in Pennsylvania, he said, comes from an annual $5 million grant program that was developed and approved by the state Legislature as part of the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act.

So far, Mr. McGarvey said, 14 agencies around the state have been awarded a total of $1.8 million.

In the county district attorney's office, which was awarded the maximum amount an agency can get, the money will fund investigations in collaboration with the state police, said Mike Manko, spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.

"We're also getting queries from various municipalities that want to join our efforts," Mr. Manko said. He added that the funds will be used to set up programs like the district attorney's Narcotics Enforcement Team.

"Our main partner in this is the state police, but our goal is to form a countywide task force and we're in the initial stages of putting it all together," he said.

Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles W. Moffatt said the grant will help his department in training officers.

"Now, we can teach our officers what to look for and how to work an illegal machine," he said.

Mr. Moffatt added that county police will work with the district attorney's task force, which he sees as an "essential effort in dealing with illegal slot machines."

The closest legal gambling now is at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino which opened in June, just inside Washington County, but construction is beginning on the $450 million Majestic Star casino that is scheduled to open in May 2009 on Pittsburgh's North Shore, between the West End Bridge and the Carnegie Science Center.