Massachusetts' Future Writ Large

Pennsylvania walked the road of ill-conceived, hastily crafted legislation, much as Beacon Hill is planning. Pennsylvania's present is Massachusetts' future.

From our friends to our south at Casino-Free Philadelphia, they offered the following:

Last month, a grand jury investigation initiated by then-Attorney General and now-Gov. Tom Corbett found the PA Gaming Control Board guilty of rampant corruption -- but that's no surprise to Casino-Free Philly members -- we've been documenting it for years!

The PGCB, supposedly in charge of regulating casinos, instead worked on behalf of casinos, shielded the licensing process from the public in a culture of secrecy, provided jobs for favorable legislators and their friends, and sought to hide financial and legal problems of casino license applicants.

Incredibly, the head of the Corruption Board -- er, Control Board -- Gregory Fajt, has said the board is an "unmitigated success" because "no criminal activity" was found. Apparently the standard for commissioners in Pennsylvania is "just don't get arrested."

Pennsylvania can do better. Join us in calling for real regulation of Pennsylvania casinos.

In its report, the grand jury said the PGCB had a fundamental "desire to conceal, obfuscate and disguise its process rather than to seek transparency and inclusion." And it was Casino-Free Philadelphia that first raised this issue, way back in 2006 with Operation Transparency, in which Casino-Free members participated in a campaign of nonviolent action that resulted in thousands of pages of documents being released.

Next week, SugarHouse casino will be subject to a license renewal hearing with the PGCB. In light of the public collapse of the Board's legitimacy, we see no reason to attend, as the Board has already committed itself to the enrichment of casino billionaires, regardless of consequences.

Instead, Pennsylvania legislators should take this opportunity to regulate casinos in meaningful ways. Join us in writing to your legislators today.

Moving forward, Casino-Free Philadelphia is planning a series of community town halls throughout the city. SugarHouse is already directly targeting our communities -- we want to amplify the voices of our communities, and network those opposing SugarHouse's predatory tactics.

However, we can't do this without your help.

Please make a contribution today so we can get started. Even $10 will help us get the community town hall program off the ground.

With your help, we can make sure that the Pennsylvania Gaming Corruption Board isn't the only voice being heard about predatory gambling in our city!

--Kaytee, Ivan, Dan, Shandra, Maria, Jethro and the Casino-Free Philadelphia action planning working group

P.S. For coverage of the grand jury's investigation, see the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's article, "Grand jury's scathing casino report sparks state hearings."