Reform needed
A statewide grand jury met for two years to investigate the regulation and operation of Pennsylvania’s casino industry, but it didn’t indict anyone.
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Chairman Greg Fajt views that as good news. “After this grand jury met for more than two years, there were no arrests, no presentments, no indictments. They found no criminal activity because there was, in fact, no criminal activity to be found,” Fajt said about the scathing grand jury report.
?But don’t break out the bubbly just because the grand jury didn’t issue indictments. Every Pennsylvania resident now has an inside look into how our gambling industry began with a rush to generate tax revenue.
The 102-page grand jury report describes hasty decisions to license casinos and alleges that many people were hired because of political pressure. You can read it at www.attorneygeneral.gov.
You don’t just have to rely on the grand jury’s report that there are “fishy” things associated with Pennsylvania’s gambling industry. For seven years, Erie Times-News reporters Ed Palattella, John Guerriero and Kevin Flowers have investigated as politicians and dealmakers jockeyed to bring a casino to Erie. For instance, our reporters tracked the controversial decision to locate the casino in Summit Township instead of Erie, and we’ve probed the convoluted process used to distribute (or hold back) millions of dollars intended to benefit our economy.
The grand jury criticizes the lax investigation into the license application for Presque Isle Downs & Casino. Palattella has reported regularly on two men once associated with Presque Isle Downs: Ted Arneault, former chief executive of MTR Gaming Group Inc., the casino’s parent company, and real estate developer Gregory J. Rubino.
“Just because a grand jury report says it doesn’t mean it’s true,” says attorney John Mizner, who represents Arneault and Rubino. But the grand jury investigation isn’t just about whether Presque Isle Downs traveled an easy path to secure a license or whether investigators played down or left out “derogatory” information about people formerly associated with the Erie casino.
The grand jury report finds serious fault with the Gaming Control Board’s overall administration and regulation of the state’s gambling industry. For instance, it says the board “failed to maximize potential new revenue to the commonwealth to support property tax relief.” Each of the seven commissioners, all political appointees, earn six figures. Staff members also reel in big salaries.
And the Gaming Control Board’s preferred way to operate has been to meet in secret behind closed doors.
The Pennsylvania House Gaming Oversight Committee will hold hearings this summer on 21 reforms recommended by the grand jury. We will continue to be a watchdog for the casino industry in our backyard. We all have a stake in reforms to Pennsylvania’s gambling operations.
Erie Times-News