Pa. Gaming Board is a bad joke
HARRISBURG
Sen. Jeffrey Piccola last week wrote a letter to the Gaming Control Board asking for the background report used to award a license to Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Casino in 2006.
Piccola told no one about it. He didn't copy anyone.
Within 24 hours, a lobbyist for Mohegan Sun showed up at Piccola's office asking why he was looking for the information.
Piccola, a Dauphin County Republican, said it proved the board "is an advocate for casinos -- not an objective regulator of gaming." It further demonstrates the need to move the board's background investigations to a law enforcement agency, Piccola said.
"We just became aware of the letter and are looking into it," board spokesman Doug Harbach said.
Not many are listening to Piccola. The General Assembly's oversight of gaming regulators is abysmal.
Take the House Gaming Oversight Committee. It has focused primarily on bingo until recently, even as a multibillion-dollar casino industry gears up.
House Democrats and, for the most part, Senate Republicans have been unwilling to hold the board's feet to the fire despite a Poconos casino owner facing criminal charges for allegedly lying to get his license and ongoing concerns that Don Barden's proposed Majestic Star casino on Pittsburgh's North Shore is on shaky financial ground.
Louis DeNaples, a Scranton businessman accused of lying about his ties to two mob figures, among others, was charged by the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office in January. He denies the charges.
Four months later -- this past week -- the House oversight committee held its first hearing on legislation to shift background checks of applicants from the gambling board to the state police or attorney general.
At the outset, Chairman Harold James, D-Philadelphia, said there would be no questions about matters currently under investigation -- nixing any dialogue about how DeNaples got his license. He effectively shot down attempts by GOP members to ask questions about Barden.
The hearing was pathetic. There was little dialogue between committee members and witnesses. A gaming board official read a prepared statement in its entirety. Witnesses played a game of musical chairs, returning to testify as questions arose.
The real kicker was slating Budget Secretary Michael Masch as a witness. He was asked to talk about the property tax cuts homeowners will begin to see this year from gambling revenue.
Rep. Paul Clymer, R-Bucks County, was incredulous that Masch was even there since it had absolutely nothing -- zero -- to do with background investigations.
The House GOP bills to lift background checks out of the gaming board and give them to a fully accredited law enforcement agency have been pending since the fall of 2007.
The House and Senate appropriations committees in February provided a hint of oversight by airing the dispute between the state police and gaming board over the DeNaples license. (Former gaming board chairman Tad Decker accused the state police of acting illegally in not turning files over to them. State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller says the board knew or should have known about the state police perjury investigation since the board's own investigators referred it.)
Sen. Jane Earll, R-Erie, who chairs the Senate committee with oversight of the industry, has made it clear she only wants to look forward -- not dredge up the past. She's now forming a special advisory panel to try and reach a consensus among the four caucuses and governor on gaming reforms.
The bottom line -- no one has really pressed the gaming board on the DeNaples licenses, Barden's finances or much of anything else.
