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The Fix Is In, Part Three: the shady table games bill must still pass the Senate
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The Fix Is In, Part Three: the shady table games bill must still pass the Senate
( The Fix Is In: Part 1 described how House Gaming Oversight Chairman Dante Santoni created a monster amendment that rewrote the table games bill; Part 2 describes how some Representatives tried, and failed, to fight the bill on the floor, and were stifled when a slick parliamentary move forced debate and further amendments to end.)
Part 3: Ever closer.
Last night, the House passed the table games bill – its sundry earmarks, provisions to let the casinos offer credit to slots players, extension for Foxwoods to get up and running, and comically low tax rates and license fees still in place – by a vote of 103-92.
The bill is being debated tonight Senate. where it may face a tougher vote.You can watch the debate live, on the Senate's own live video feed. It's fun. Really.
This means, of course, that citizens still have a chance to tell their representatives what they think of the bill.
Here's what I think about it: the Senate should reject the bill.
It's absurdly lopsided, offering massive concessions to the casinos for a tiny benefit to the state: a measley few hundred million dollars of billion in the total budget.
It's been corrupted: the bill is full of un-examined earmarks that should never see the light of day.
And it's wrong: it's a bill which empowers a predatory industry, one which has built its profits not on the casual one-time visitor but overwhelmingly on people who play in ways that hurt them and their families. This bill gives the casinos the tools – like credit – to exploit all the harder and faster.
If the bill cannot be defeated, it should be amended. Credit should be banned. The extension for Foxwoods should be erased. The taxes should be tripled, and the licensing fee should be determined by public auction.
If the General Assembly and Governor Rendell care, as they claim to, about gambling addiction and problem gambling, they should be fighting for, and not against, such measures as monthly or quarterly statements to gamblers, increased funding for addiction treatment services, limited hours of operation, and smoking bans. These are measures the casinos oppose – and the last time I checked, the casinos never ran for office.
Click here to find your state Senator by zip code. (top right of screen).
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