HARRISBURG Pennsylvania's second-year take from slot-machine gambling will yield a tax cut for millions of residents that will be about the same size as the current year's, Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday.

The expected distribution of $770 million would still be less than the $1 billion Rendell promised slot machines would provide each year when he pushed to legalize them.

Even so, the governor lauded the amount of slots revenue as a significant achievement at a difficult time when people are losing their jobs and business owners are struggling. In addition, the money will allow more than 100,000 low-income seniors to pay no school property taxes at all, he said.

"Huge cuts in school property taxes, that's what we promised and we're here to deliver it again," Rendell said during a news conference at the Market House senior center in Pittsburgh.

He also stood by his promise that the state would ultimately collect $1 billion a year from the slot machines.

"You know what's happened?" Rendell said. "Pennsylvanians who used to go to West Virginia to gamble or who used to go Atlantic City to gamble or who used to go to Delaware to gamble, they're gambling in Pennsylvania and we're getting the benefit of it, just like I predicted."

The 2.7 million home and farm owners outside of Philadelphia who have completed and returned applications sent by their counties will see average school property-tax cuts of nearly $200, based on figures provided by Rendell's budget office.

The slots revenue also will allow Philadelphia to maintain a reduction in the city's wage tax that started this year. The reduction averages less than $100 per person annually, based on governmental estimates that more than 900,000 people currently pay the tax.

Meanwhile, about 580,000 low-income seniors are expected to benefit from rent and property tax rebates that are partially funded by the slots money. The rebates of up to $975 are available to seniors whose income is $35,000 or less.

The money will be available in the 2009-10 budget year that starts July 1, according to current projections. Right now, the state has more than half of the $770 million and expects to bring in the rest in the next six months, according to Rendell administration figures.

By law, the state must provide at least the same amount of money in tax cuts as the prior year. This year's distribution is higher because it was boosted by the $50 million one-time license fees paid by the state's 11 casino licensees.

Some of that extra money, about $170 million, was set aside for next year's distribution, which will rely more heavily on gambling revenue.