|
|
|
 |
| Isaiah Thompson |
Tonight, the state House of Representatives is set to vote on the table games bill – a bill that contains more shady clauses than a Santa convention.
Does it matter? Do I spit into the wind?
Maybe so: but at least I'm spittin'.
This bill is about much more than whether or not you can play blackjack at a casino.
- It expands the powers of casinos to extend credit
- It expands their powers to share information about pools of potentially lucrative gamblers.
- It keeps enforcement and scrutiny of casino operators under the Gaming Board, despite almost uniform agreement among law enforcement officials that it shouldn't be.
- It grants special favors to private interests – including, CP found, favoring a company represented by a top Harrisburg lobbyist to get the last unawarded casino license.
- It extends the opening time for Foxwoods.
- It offers casinos laughably low tax rates and licensing fees – even though its sole purpose, ostensibly, is to raise money for the state.
- It appears to create a new category of casino supppliers, subject to less scrutiny.
The list goes on.
Meanwhile, Governor Rendell – the same who refused to tax the massive gas drilling operations underway in Pennsylvania – maintains his hostage tactic over the small pot of money tied to table games, threatening to lay off 1,000 workers if the bill isn't passed by Friday.
His office argues that, because the projected – key word, there – revenues from table games were included in the budget to the tune of $250 million, the state legislature simply must pass this bill.
Perhaps Rendell – and, indeed, the state legislature – ought not to have included money in the budget that would come from an activity not yet legal! Rendell signed off on a budget that expected money from table games without having seen the actual law that would provide for table game in the first place.
When, lo and behold, the law turned out to be riddled with earmarks, casino giveaways, and greedy in-fighting among the legislature, and therefore got held up – Rendell is all the more to blame for allowing such provisions in his budget in the first place.
Yet it seems to me that the media has played easily into Rendell's hands, covering all sorts of issues – even a natural history exhibit – in a context of something terrible happening "if the House doesn't pass table games," – as if passing table games was some sort of abstract bureaucratic hurdle that simply must be overcome; as if Rendell's bullying and threatening layoffs is somehow more reasonable than the delay of a thoroughly corrupted law.
Example: "Rendell: Might have to close Pa. museum, parks" – Inquirer
Example: "Rendell: Without table gaming, the state budget is ruined." – Business Insider
Example: "Rendell: Layoffs to come if no table games by Jan 8" – Inquirer
Example: "At last, a table games deal" – Allentown morning Call
I've made my personal opinion clear before and, in the interest of disclosure – an, frankly, as an appeal to readers who trust my reporting – I state it again. This bill is a disgrace. It expands the power of a predatory industry, and it reeks of pay-for-play politics.
If you'd like to contact your representatives to urge them to vote either way, you can look them up here by zipcode.
Coming up: table games' shady provisions explored.
Gov Rendell: What do you plan to do if the casinos don't earn your projected money in the state budget???
Thank you for continuing to uphold justice for the unheard & unseen citizens of Philadelphia. Thank you to CP for not being run by corporate America.
@Elizabeth Gutman: Rendell could always push through legalized prostitution and cocaine sales, threatening to close Pennsylvania's elementary schools.
[...] way it passed was by threats and bribery of pet projects to buy legislators' votes. Read this insightful commentary by Isaiah Thompson of the CityPaper. And of course, as we learned late Monday evening, this bill exempts the [...]
What's really weird is that presumably to prevent casinos from competing with normal lenders, they are only allowed to lend for the purpose of gambling. What does that mean? It would seem to imply that after getting such a loan you either have to win (always unlikely) or gamble it away. Walk in with nothing, walk out with a debt. The beauty part is that the casino need not charge usurious rates for these loans, since the gamblers will normally lose the money right back to the casino, and then have to pay it back too. Unless they can bet it all and break even, and then walk away and use the money for something else? It makes no sense at all. Money is fungible, or it used to be. This really is a strategy for the casinos to go beyond the empty pockets of destitute gambling addicts, and seize their other assets as well. We'd best start building more homeless shelters.
[...] The 1000 state employees whose jobs are secure now that the table games bill has been signed by the governor are breathing easier. Still, we’re not crazy about the Governor using them as pawns in his battle with the legislature. [...]
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
