Update from opponents of casinos in your community
I only send an email when we have important news to share so below are three big news items I've briefly summarized that I've have been saving to put into one email to you: 1) Three states, Florida, Kentucky and New Hampshire, all defeated major efforts this spring to add casinos to their states: No Casinos Florida led by John Sowinski and his team, did a first-rate job of knocking down a powerful lobbying effort for casinos and produced this must-watch, must-share documentary on casinos; Kentucky, led by our state afffiliate SPG Kentucky under the guidance of John-Mark Hack and Keren Henderson, prevailed again against casinos during that state's recent legislative session; and NH's citizen leaders buried a casino proposal championed by their own governor. These are all major wins and we at SPG national actively and proudly participated in all three of these public education efforts. 2) American history continues to be written in Massachusetts as a citizens movement to repeal government-sponsorship of casinos is on the verge of going to the statewide ballot in November. The state's highest court will issue a ruling in the next several weeks. As I've said before, it is not a question of if government-sponsorship of casinos will be repealed, but when. It's inevitable. Here are two briefs that I strongly urge you to read as part of the court case: here's the must-read, must-share brief filed by the prestigious Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern School of Law, substantiating the very serious public health aspects of state sponsorship of commercial gambling and how it is comparable to efforts by tobacco companies to profit from a "toxic" product. PHAI's President is Richard Daynard, considered by many scholars as a key legal strategist behind the transformative litigation efforts against tobacco companies in the 1980's & 90's. Here's the New York Times profile of him before he prevailed. Second, here is the brief we at SPG filed which presents the independent evidence showing how government-sponsorship of casinos produces unfairness and inequality of opportunity (we didn't focus on the lottery system for this brief because it wasn't connected to the case). 3) Lastly, I'm on the road a lot for our work that goes all over the nation and I often stay in the homes of many of you when I'm in your part of the country. I recently spoke for two nights in Saratoga, NY where a strong citizens group had formed to stop a casino from coming to their community and, I should note, they ultimately won their battle. I stayed at the home of Clem and Janette Marino while I was there. Clem wrote an excellent song about this issue titled "The Casino Blues" that is very well-done and can be adapted to wherever you live in this country or planet. Whether you have been working to bring change on this issue for 25 years or just 25 days, there is a truly genuine and diverse movement of citizens from all parts of the U.S that continues to grow larger and larger. This music video by Clem helps to capture the resilient and determined spirit of our movement, leading us closer to the inevitable: a day when government will no longer produce unfairness and inequality of opportunity by sponsoring and promoting predatory gambling to its own people. If you support our mission and work, please participate by contributing $10 or more today to help sustain it. With gratitude, Les ____________ Les Bernal National Director Stop Predatory Gambling "Ending the unfairness and inequality produced by government sponsorship of casinos and lotteries." |
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Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation ι 100 Maryland Avenue NE, Room 310 ι Washington, D.C. 20002 ι (202) 567-6996 ©2013 Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation. All rights reserved. | |
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