PHILADELPHIA - Pennsylvania lawmakers might have hit the jackpot under a new state law legalizing slot machines.

Lawmakers and other public officials will be permitted to own up to 1 percent of any of the 14 planned slot-machine parlors that will dot Pennsylvania under a gambling bill signed Monday by Gov. Ed Rendell. Slot machines are expected to generate a total of $3 billion annually, meaning the provision could be worth $30 million a year.

The new law will give Pennsylvania more slot machines - up to 61,000 - than any state except Nevada. A companion law uses the resulting tax revenue to finance $1 billion a year in property-tax reductions.

Gambling critics say the 1 percent rule could lead to at least the appearance of a conflict of interest, if not outright corruption. And they argue the bill is fatally flawed because it only addresses ownership of "securities" of gaming companies, meaning that a lawmaker could directly own all or part of a gaming parlor.

"The anti-corruption safeguards don't have teeth; they are merely dentures, easily removed and worked around," said Rep. John Maher, R-Allegheny, a certified public accountant who voted against the gaming bill.

The bill's authors contend the critics have it all wrong, saying the 1 percent provision was needed so that lawmakers could own mutual funds or pension funds that invest in publicly traded gaming companies without having to worry about being in violation of the law.

Sen. Robert Tomlinson, R-Bucks, said his lawyers have assured him that the law will prevent elected officials from having a direct ownership stake that exceeds 1 percent. That's because under Pennsylvania law, the term "security" refers not just to stocks and bonds but to most forms of ownership, including partnerships.

"I think this is just an attempt by the people who are opposed to this to try to stir up more trouble for it," Tomlinson said. "Any legislator who thinks he's going to put himself in one of these deals, he's got to be crazy to do that."

The new law does ban campaign contributions from gambling licensees to any state or local candidate in Pennsylvania, requires slot operators to undergo background checks, and prohibits members of the seven-member Pennsylvania Gaming Board from working for a gaming company for a year after leaving office.

"We really believe overall that our new law is the single toughest regulatory statute in the country of any state that has gambling," said Gary Tuma, spokesman for state Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia.

In Nevada and West Virginia, for example, there are no restrictions on public officials owning gaming companies.

Additionally, Rendell on Monday issued an executive order prohibiting any member of his administration from holding "any financial interest" in gaming companies. The order does not apply to the state Legislature.

Gambling opponents are unmoved.

"The same people shoving slots down this state's throat ... will be able to personally profit from their oh-so-altruistic legislation," wrote Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Grogan in Monday's editions.