Casino-Free Philadelphia Find us on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Twitter Find us on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Twitter
Casino-Free Philadelphia’s mission is to stop casinos from coming to Philadelphia and close any that open.
Casino-Free Campaigns 2006: Operation Transparency 2007: No Way Without Our Say 2007: Philly’s Ballot Box 2008: Operation Hidden Costs 2006: Operation Transparency 2007: No Way Without Our Say 2007: Philly’s Ballot Box 2008: Operation Hidden Costs
Many reasons Crime 2. Traffic 3. Economic substitution effect 4. Tax policy 5. Morality 6. Corruption 7. Etc.
destination gambling vs. convenience gambling
SugarHouse Site
Foxwoods Site ?
Market East Proposal 87,700 daily rail passenger s 118,700 daily bus passenger s
An economic net loss
✦ Convenience casinos draw from neighborhoods. ✦ Recreation budget displacement. ✦ People go to closest convenience casino. The Casino Industry
Casinos “create expensive police, infrastructure and social impacts, and are likely to leave the city with a net loss of jobs and deficits.” Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority July 2007 report Hidden Costs
An “epidemic of embezzlement”
Published by Casino-Free Philadelphia, April 8, 2008 Published by Casino-Free Philadelphia, April 8, 2008
The economic effects of predatory gambling
Are we against gambling?
70% of casino profits come from 10% of the gamblers
in the actual language of the casino industry, they want players to “play to extinction”
“Near misses are perfectly tuned to stoke the addiction.” Discover Magazine, Feb. 12, 2009
✦ 24-hour accessibility ✦ ATM machines easily available ✦ Free alcohol ✦ And more... Predatory Marketing Practices
How we got here.
✦ Originally a 33-line bill applying to horse racing ✦ Sat in the House for 47 days, and Senate for 100 days, without amendment ✦ On eve of Senate vote, Sen. Fumo replaced 33 lines with 144 pages ✦ House passed bill after midnight on July 4, 2004, without public hearings or input Act 71: The PA Gaming Law
$ $ More than $6 million donated by gambling industry to state political campaigns between January 2000 and July Tad Decker Loaned $100,000 to Rendell’s campaign (since repaid) Former Chairman of the PA Gaming Control Board Family Foundation of Lewis Katz Friend of Rendell Foxwoods Investor Family Foundation of Ron Rubin Campaign contributor Foxwoods Investor Richard Sprague Criminal defense laywer for Sen. Fumo SugarHouse investor Sen. Fumo $250,000 from the gambling industry Gov. Rendell $1.7 million from the gambling industry The Source of Support for Act 71
The driving forces: a senator from Philadelphia a governor from Philadelphia
Act 71 Vote in the State Senate: 30 in favor, 20 opposed all 7 senators from Philadelphia in favor
Act 71 Vote in the State House: 113 in favor, 88 opposed all 26 representatives from Philadelphia in favor
Our state Supreme Court: the trifecta
Today:
Current uncertainties of both casinos
Pending lawsuits
The city wants to see both casinos up and running “as soon as possible.” —Mayor Nutter, March 13, 2009
How we can win.
A Declaration of Independence from Casinos
We The People.