Massachusetts Gambling Commission: Too much bowing, Not enough skepticism

Mr. Frank NIMBY Fahrenkopf, paid a gazillion dollars, travels to Boston (part of his propaganda stipend), waves his magic wand and everyone genuflects, no questions asked!

Mr. FF, pronounced, oddly without audience laughter, that the Gambling Industry wants to be 'responsible' and has in place 'Gambling Addiction' training programs for employees, blah, blah, blah.


Wow! After reading all of the reports that indicate the majority of Slot Barn profits come from GAMBLING ADDICTS, that's such a relief [insert sarcasm emoticon]!

When do the sheep that willingly accept this ask questions?

That's sort of an 'inside joke' I guess since most of the Slot Barn revenue comes from Gambling Addicts that the Gambling Industry has created.  

Yet, let's just assume Mr. FF's comments are accurate.

What happened to these folks?

Where was the intervention? What is contained in the Gambling Industry's 'prevention' program that no one is asking about? How many Gambling Addicts have been spoken to? Where are their statistics? Who is asking? The efficacy of the 'program'?


$200,000 Phyllis Ann Shoff embezzlement
Pennsylvania: Gambling Addict Embezzles from York Symphony Orchestra
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/12/pennsylvania-gambling-addict-embezzles.html

$600,000 JOHN Pignotti Jr. embezzlement
Ex-Mummer who stole 600G gets 4 years in prison
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/10/ex-mummer-who-stole-600g-gets-4-years.html

$2.5 million John D. Wosotowsky mail fraud and filing a false income tax return
Pennsylvania: Center resident pleads guilty to federal fraud charges
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/10/pennsylvania-center-resident-pleads.html

$388,770.75 Nancy J. Brown embezzlement
63 Year Old Gambling Addict Sentenced to Prison
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/08/63-year-old-gambling-addict-sentenced.html

...gambled at Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and then Presque Isle Downs & Casino, which opened in 2007 in Summit Township.

$87,000  Jeffrey McCreary
Gambling Addict Hired to Head Troubled Charter School
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/08/gambling-addict-hired-to-head-troubled.html

$66,060.34   Stacie L. Carmines, 41, and David N. Carmines, 39
Pennsylvania: Embezzlement plea deal stresses restitution
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/08/pennsylvania-embezzlement-plea-deal.html

$87,000 Jeffrey C. McCreary
Gambling Addict: Ex-principal charged with $87,000 theft
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/07/gambling-addict-ex-principal-charged.html

$178,000 Ella Jones
Casino Surveillance Footage Used to Prosecute Gambling Addict
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/07/casino-surveillance-footage-used-to.html

...included The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in North Strabane and Rivers Casino on the North Shore...

"I represent heroin addicts, alcoholics, people that are sex addicts, and I think gambling is the most addictive out of all of them," DiLucente said. "With gambling, you could lose every single thing you ever worked for on a roll of the dice....."

Gambling addiction leads many down criminal road
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/06/gambling-addiction-leads-many-down.html

Law enforcement officials said early fears that street thugs would prey on cash-laden gamblers at Western Pennsylvania's two casinos were greatly exaggerated, but they acknowledge casino gambling in Pennsylvania makes it more convenient for first-time, gambling-addicted criminals such as Jones to wipe out family or business bank accounts.

Casino operators said they're not responsible for spotting criminals who blow ill-gotten gains at slot machines and table games. They report suspicious transactions to the Internal Revenue Service, track wins and losses of $10,000 or more and turn over records of high-stakes gambling when prosecutors ask.

"We don't talk to our customers too deeply to ask, 'What do you do for a living?' 'How much do you make?'" said Sean Sullivan, general manager at The Meadows. "If somebody was playing bigger, they would show up on our radar. We would assume that the money was not ill-begotten."
The Gambling Industry abdicates any responsibility or culpability, yet they have access to ALL of your financial records. They KNOW!


Sullivan said The Meadows submits five or six suspicious activity reports a week to the IRS, but he declined to say if Jones was among them.

"Like any retail business, we have no insight into the personal financial resources of guests," Rivers Casino spokesman Jack Horner said. "By law, individual transactions over $10,000 are reported to the federal government." 

Suspicious transaction reports target gamblers who try to skirt the $10,000 IRS income requirement; use someone else to cash in chips; show fake identification; or use the casino only for financial services.

State police are responsible for law enforcement in the casinos. Maj. Tim Allue, director of gaming enforcement for the department, said his agency does not count white-collar embezzlement in its monthly casino crime reports because the thefts don't occur on gaming floors.


"There's such a large volume of people who gamble, and gamble large amounts of money, that the troopers at the casino would have no idea about a person's financial capability," Allue said.

In the area around The Meadows in North Strabane, crime rates increased, Detective John Wybranowski said.

Kearney documented 10 crimes in Pennsylvania since 2009, the year table games began operating, in which people stole amounts ranging from $20,000 to $389,000 and blew the money gambling. The Tribune-Review found five additional, similar crimes in Western Pennsylvania, where the largest amount stolen was $913,000.

$913,000 John J. Tain  - Court records do not say where he gambled.
$127,000 Lori J. Smith $36,000 Diane L. Stanesic
$90,000 Cheri A. Logue
$389,000 Nancy J. Brown

Jaromir Jagr's Gambling Addiction
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/07/jaromir-jagrs-gambling-addiction.html

 Jagr admitted in 2003 to settling gambling debts of $950,000.

$130,000 Anthony Sisonick III
Gambling Addict: Country club embezzler headed to state prison
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/06/gambling-addict-country-club-embezzler.html
Sisonick, a married father of three with no prior criminal record

$70,362 William Sharkey [use of funds unclear]
Sharkey gets 10 months in prison
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/06/sharkey-gets-10-months-in-prison.html

$107,000 Marisa Harlen
....Mohegan Sun Casino at Pocono Downs..
Woman says kin’s alleged theft haunts her
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/03/woman-says-kins-alleged-theft-haunts.html

Additional information:
Gambling Addiction: Stealing from the elderly
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2010/11/gambling-addiction-stealing-from.html

Former Judge Michael T. Toole
Pennsylvania: Crime and Corruption and Gambling
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/03/pennsylvania-crime-and-corruption-and.html

$252,376 Michael Henry O’Neill
Pennsylvania Gambling Addict to Prison
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/02/pennsylvania-gambling-addict-to-prison.html
“The (Parx Casino player development host) confirmed that O’Neill played high limit slot machines approximately three times a week,” ....

..."it wasn't until he could go to a casino on a daily basis that he could lose all this money, his house, and his son."

Those losses, we now know, are the steepest cost of convenience casinos.

"The legislature and our former governor knew exactly what they were getting people into when they brought gambling into Pennsylvania," Fairlie added. "This is it."

From: The real face of casino gambling in Pennsylvania
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/02/real-face-of-casino-gambling-in.html

+ $300,000 Kevin Prasi
Gambling Addict Embezzles from Employer
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2010/12/gambling-addict-embezzles-from-employer.html


According to the Department of Health, more than 16,000 Pennsylvanians called the gambling help line in 2010 for all forms of gambling including: slots, card games, lottery, horse racing, sports and internet gambling. Callers were nearly evenly split between male and female, and affected all age groups from teens through seniors. Individuals most frequently reported why they called the help line as being: financial, family/marital and mental health issues.

From: 'Problem Gambling Awareness Week’ March 6 – 12
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/03/problem-gambling-awareness-week-march-6.html


Mr. Fahrenkopf's false claims have been disproved --

I personally went inside SugarHouse and talked to casino workers about the exclusion list and the training they receive to work in the casino.

Casino employees are trained to get people to sign up for a SugarHouse rewards card, so that SugarHouse can track gambling patterns and target those who gamble the most with more incentives to gamble.

Casino employees are not trained to identify problem gamblers and cut them off, or trained to offer them information on gambling addiction or the self-exclusion list.

In comparison, every bartender is legally required to stop serving customers who are obviously intoxicated. At SugarHouse, meanwhile, you can be intoxicated with gambling 24 hours a day, without anyone doing a thing but encouraging you to stay even longer.

When Casino-Free Philly members visited SugarHouse, casino management said they would not share their policies with the public. Moreover, they refused offers by our members to post the PGCB’s own “signs of gambling addiction” posters in the casino.



Clearly, SugarHouse does not have and never has had any intention of addressing problem gambling. As we know, they receive a significant portion of their revenue from gambling addicts, and do everything they can to prey on those who are hooked and move new gamblers into a habitual pattern.

From: My survival from gambling addiction
http://middlebororemembers.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-survival-from-gambling-addiction_26.html

As a footnote: Most of those who innocently get sucked into Gambling Addiction have no previous criminal record and many had positions of trust that was earned from years of service. 

The Gambling Industry earns MOST of its profits from Gambling Addicts. Why would they attempt to stop it?

Let's not be naive or gullible.

Please note that in efforts to protect the Gambling Industry, the Slot Barn is not named in most articles.