It's clear Gov. Rendell is scrambling to make up for a drop in tax revenue, but his proposal to expand gambling to nearly every corner tavern across the state is a bad hand.
The state has yet to demonstrate that it can properly regulate the handful of licensed slots parlors it already has, including two run by companies headed by ex-convicts. It's hard to envision the state Gaming Control Board having better control over video-poker machines in thousands of bars and private clubs across Pennsylvania.
From a policy standpoint, expanding gambling to every nook and cranny in the state will further prey on the poor and elderly, who are more susceptible to the lure of "easy money." It will lead to a rise in problem gamblers.
Rendell has gussied up this very bad idea by saying the estimated $500 million in tax revenue from legalizing video-poker machines would go to Pennsylvania students to pay for college. Helping struggling families pay growing college tuition bills is a worthy idea, but funding it on the backs of gambling's marks isn't the way to go.
Rendell and other backers argue that there are thousands of video-poker machines already operating illegally in bars and private clubs across the state. By legalizing video poker, the state will be able to collect the tax revenue, they say.
Under that half-baked logic, one wonders whether legalized prostitution will be Rendell's next great idea to generate a windfall for Pennsylvania.
Another argument to legalize video poker is that state police don't have the manpower to go after all of the illegal operators. (Last year, the police seized about 500 illegal video-poker machines, but estimate there still are 17,000 in use.)
But Rendell & Co. are kidding themselves if they think legalizing video poker will prompt all of the illegal operators to suddenly turn legit. Bar owners who have been getting away with the illegal machines for years would have very little incentive to start paying taxes on gambling proceeds.
If anything, legalizing the business would probably result in even less enforcement from state police, who have expressed little interest in cracking down on the illicit enterprise. Instead, a new state bureaucracy of gaming-enforcement agents (complete with generous pensions and health benefits) would likely spring up to regulate the video-poker industry.
Which brings us back to the gaming board, which, if anything, has proved that it's not ready for any expansion of gambling.
Rendell's first pick to head the board was forced to step down after it was revealed that he had worked as a private investigator for an alleged mob associate seeking a boxing license at a Connecticut casino.
Rendell then turned to an old college friend to head the gaming board, Thomas "Tad" Decker, a top attorney at Cozen O'Connor, a high-powered firm that just happened to represent one of the winning bidders for a slots license. Decker, who recused himself from the vote, is now back at the firm, which continues to represent slots operators.
Several other lawyers who worked for the gaming board left it only to turn around and represent the slots operators they used to regulate.
One slots operator, Louis DeNaples, has been indicted on charges that he lied to the gaming board about his alleged mob ties. Questions about DeNaples' background, including a previous felony conviction, were dismissed by the board in giving him a license.
It was only recently reported that a second slots operator, Michael Thomas, lead partner in the Foxwoods slots parlor planned for Philadelphia, was convicted in 1988 of dealing drugs. He spent 18 months in prison and was placed on probation.
The gaming board seems oblivious to these problems, and in fact says it has studiously followed the law. But that only underscores another glaring problem: The 2004 gaming law, which was railroaded through by the state legislature late one night with little public input, is riddled with flaws and loopholes.
Rather than fix the law, Rendell instead wants to expand gaming. He's acting like a gambling addict, doubling down, looking to score big.