All the facts are not yet known, but a potential scandal involving a state lawmaker and real estate speculation linked to the gambling industry appears to be just the sort of thing predicted by critics of the state's new slot machine gambling law.

With so much money on the verge of flowing into the state with a dramatic expansion of legalized gambling, the fear has been that a few well-connected people are going to come up with get-rich-quick schemes. A story coming out of Philadelphia seems to confirm that fear.

While it is important to remember the presumption of innocence at this early stage of the story, the facts that are known about the Philadelphia land deal are suspicious, to say the least.

Gov. Ed Rendell, who confirmed last week that his administration has received a federal subpoena for records related to the land deal, insists that "Pennsylvania gaming isn't mired in controversy," as was suggested in a recent Washington Post editorial.

Even though it will be more than a year before the first slot machine is up and running in the state, the time for making really big money in land speculation is already here.

The story from Philadelphia doesn't look good.

A Democratic state senator, Michael Stack III, and his family own 40 percent of Beach Street Corp., a real estate development company that controls half of a 46-acre site along the Delaware River north of Philadelphia.

Stack personally owns just 4 percent of the company, but his four siblings also own 4 percent each and his father, who is under felony indictment for allegedly forging names on candidate nominating petitions for a Philadelphia City Council race, owns 20 percent of Beach Street Corp.

In August 2003, a 22-acre riverfront site, along with water rights, was appraised at $1.5 million. Less than six months later, when the Stack-connected company bought the land and water rights, the price had been dropped to $100,000 by the state Department of General Services because of the potential for "significant environmental contamination" at the former shipyard location. Rendell signed off on the land sale.

When the General Assembly voted to approve the sale to Beach Street Corp., Stack did not participate in the vote because of what he described as a "hectic schedule," but neither did he reveal to the General Assembly his and his family's financial interest in the company - as is required by state law. In addition, lawmakers who approved the land sale said they believed it was to be developed for residential or light industrial uses - not for a casino location.

Last week, Ameristar Casinos of Las Vegas revealed it has signed an option with Beach Street to purchase the 22-acre site, along with an additional 24 acres adjacent to it, for a reported $40 million for possible casino development.

Whether or not laws were broken in this land deal has not yet been determined. The circumstances and timing certainly look suspicious and the involvement, even as a minority shareholder, by a state lawmaker and his family raises serious concerns.

Rendell has expressed confidence that the state's sale of the land at a bargain-basement price was handled properly. Still, the appearance of potential personal enrichment of a state lawmaker and members of his family in a land-speculation deal involving a Las Vegas casino company raises questions about the costs or downsides of the slots law, compared with the predicted property-tax reduction benefits.

Those projected property tax reductions to homeowners, estimated to average just a hundred dollars or so a year, are still being debated by cynical taxpayers and skeptical school districts, which are, so far, overwhelmingly unenthusiastic about the slots law's benefits.

At this point, the benefits to average homeowners in terms of tax relief appear minimal while the headaches, in terms of guarding against corruption, managing the social costs of greatly expanded gambling and ferreting out get-rich-quick schemes are sure to be substantial.

One possibility is for the state to simply repeal the slots law. From the beginning, the plan raised doubts in the minds of many taxpayers. Those doubts are only growing as stories such as the Stack land deal come to light.

And, headlines such as the one in the Philadelphia Daily News proclaiming "Stack family could hit slots jackpot" will only fuel the public's suspicions.

But if the state intends to go forward with slot machines, lawmakers and the recently formed gaming board should demonstrate a zero-tolerance approach to corruption, insider deals and get-rich-quick schemes.

With the first slot machines more than a year off, the state appears to be getting off to a very shaky start.