HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's slot-machine parlors on Friday asked a court to prevent the state from closing them as a budget impasse threatens to force a wider government shutdown.

The request for a temporary injunction to stop the casinos from being closed Monday was filed just before Commonwealth Court closed for the day, and an emergency hearing was called before government lawyers had time to read the suit.

Senior Judge Keith Quigley listened to 90 minutes of arguments, and said he would make a decision on the injunction Sunday night, after the Legislature and Gov. Ed Rendell exhaust any possibility to avert a Monday shutdown.

"This issue is very much up in the air at this point," Quigley said.

All five owners of the state's slots parlors — Philadelphia Park Racetrack & Casino, Harrah's Chester Casino & Racetrack, Presque Isle Downs, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and The Meadows Racetrack & Casino — joined in the suit, which asks for a temporary injunction to keep them open until their issues can be aired.

The casinos have become the center of a partisan debate over the impending furloughs, which would curtail some other state services.

Without a budget in place for the current fiscal year, the state has lost its ability to fund and operate services that are not deemed critical to the health and welfare of its residents.

If a six-day-old budget stalemate between Rendell and the Legislature continues past Sunday night, more than 24,000 "nonessential" state workers will be furloughed without pay Monday.

Their ranks include the Revenue Department workers who man the central control computer that monitors cash flow through each slot machine and ensures the state receives its portion.

A lawyer for the casino owners, Kevin McKeon, argued that a shutdown would unfairly and capriciously punish the industry, and that the law does not dictate that casinos should close if government workers are furloughed.

A Rendell administration lawyer, Gregory Dunlap, told Quigley that the casinos cannot operate if the Revenue Department workers are not on the job, and that gambling does not meet the test of being essential to the state's health, safety and welfare.

Another casino-related suit was filed Friday by two Republican senators asking Commonwealth Court to enforce subpoenas issued a day earlier in an attempt to force two senior Rendell administration officials to answer questions from the Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee.