Even if table games are legalized in Pennsylvania, the Rivers Casino could be out of luck unless it moves quickly to resolve a dispute over when it is to start paying its share of funding for the new arena.

State Sen. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, vowed yesterday to block the North Shore slots venue from getting a license for table games until it starts making the annual $7.5 million payment, scheduled to run for the next 30 years.

Mr. Logan said he planned to insert language into a proposed bill legalizing table games to prevent a casino from receiving a license if it hasn't fulfilled commitments it made to the public or government.

In the Rivers' case, it would not be eligible to get a license until it starts making the payments for the new hockey arena, he said.

"It's not like we're trying to go back and say we want more. We just want you to live up to the agreement that was made," Mr. Logan said.

The casino currently is locked in a dispute with the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority over when the payments for the $321 million arena are to begin.

SEA officials have said an agreement reached with former owner Don Barden called for the payments to start this fall. But the casino's new ownership group claimed it was told last year, when it was in negotiations to rescue the project from near bankruptcy, that payments wouldn't start until at least fall 2010.

More recently, Rivers officials said they would be willing to start the payments earlier based on two conditions: One was that if the state awards another casino license for the Pittsburgh market, that entity would share the obligation to fund the arena. The second was that if the 55 percent tax rate on slot machines was increased, the casino would get a reduction in the $7.5 million payment.

But Mr. Logan, an SEA board member, said neither the city nor the county were in a position to negotiate such demands. He believes it would be up to the Legislature to grant such requests.

He said the casino originally was to make the first arena payment today. The SEA has pushed the deadline back to Oct. 1. Mr. Logan said that if no agreement is reached, the taxpayers could end up on the hook because the state has guaranteed the arena bond payments.

"Someone has to come up with the $7.5 million, and from my standpoint it is not going to be the taxpayers of Pennsylvania," he said.

Mr. Logan said he has the backing of three Democratic senators from the county -- Wayne Fontana, Jay Costa and Jim Ferlo -- on language that would block the Rivers Casino from adding table games if it doesn't make the payment.

In a letter to SEA Executive Director Mary Conturo, Mr. Ferlo said he was "not voting for any gaming expansion at the Rivers Casino if this payment issue is not resolved."

In a statement, the casino said it didn't expect the proposed language to "have any impact on us because we have honored every agreement entered into by the former ownership group. As far as the final agreement with the SEA, they have reopened points that we thought were already agreed to but we are hopeful that a mutually acceptable final agreement will be signed in the near future."

Casino spokesman Dan Fee declined to elaborate. Ms. Conturo could not be reached for comment.

The casino agreed to the payments to fund the arena as part of its bid to secure the Pittsburgh slot machine license. The state gaming control board held a hearing in July over the payment dispute and ordered negotiations.

Gaming board officials are continuing to monitor those talks, spokesman Doug Harbach said.

The Legislature is considering the legalization of table games to raise revenues as part of the current budget stalemate. A $27.9 billion budget proposed by state legislative leaders last week included $200 million from table games.

Although the spending plan was panned by Gov. Ed Rendell, Mr. Logan said he sees table games being part of any budget that is passed.