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    Sen. Hughes - Letter To Gaming Control Board - 11.14.14

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    Letter from Sen. Hughes to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

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    Sen. Hughes - Letter To Gaming Control Board - 11.14.14

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    Letter from Sen. Hughes to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

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    Sen. Hughes - Letter to Gaming Control Board - 11.14.14

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    Letter from Sen. Hughes to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    140 views2 pages

    Sen. Hughes - Letter To Gaming Control Board - 11.14.14

    Uploaded by

    benwaxmanPASenate
    Letter from Sen. Hughes to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    William H. Ryan, Jr.

    Chairman
    Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
    P.O. Box 69060
    Harrisburg, PA 17106-9060
    Chairman Ryan:
    Last week, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced that is has scheduled a
    meeting for November 18, 2014 in Philadelphia for purposes of considering an award of the
    second Category 2 slot machine license statutorily required to be located in the city. Getting to
    this point has taken considerable time but I am pleased to learn that the board may have finally
    reached a decision and commend the board for its transparency and for engaging the city of
    Philadelphia and our residents in this process. I have long supported another license being
    awarded in the city for the purposes of job creation, tax relief, and economic development and
    believe issuing a second casino license will benefit the city.
    While I have not taken a position on the merits of any of the proposed projects, I strongly
    believe in racial and ethnic diversity of ownership of the project and want to remind the board
    that this is an extremely important factor to consider. When the Pennsylvania Race Horse
    Development and Gaming Act (Gaming Act) was passed in 2004, promoting diversity in
    ownership of licensed entities was a major issue before the General Assembly. The importance
    of that issue is reflected in section 1212 of the act, which provides:
    1212. Diversity goals of board.
    (a) Intent.--It is the intent and goal of the General Assembly that the
    board promote and ensure diversity in all aspects of the gaming activities
    authorized under this part. The board shall work to enhance the representation of
    diverse groups in:
    (1) The ownership of licensed entities in this Commonwealth.
    ***
    In addition, section 1102 of the act clearly states the legislative intent of the act as
    follows:

    1102. Legislative intent.


    The General Assembly recognizes the following public policy purposes
    and declares that the following objectives of the Commonwealth are to be served
    by this part:
    ***
    (5) The authorization of limited gaming is intended to provide broad
    economic opportunities to the citizens of this Commonwealth...
    ***
    As a strong supporter of the Gaming Act, I can assure you that my support, and the
    support of many of my colleagues in both chambers, was, in large part, contingent upon the
    inclusion of this language and the belief that members of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control
    Board would strongly consider it when making licensing determinations. Unfortunately, ten
    years later, that has not been the case as minority participation in ownership (with the exception
    of the original award of the Pittsburgh license to the late Mr. Don Barden) has been minimal, if
    not totally non-existent. This board has a chance to remedy the failure of prior boards on
    November 18.
    To date, Pennsylvania gaming industry has exceeded expectations in all areas except
    diversity. It is my firm belief that our gaming industry should reflect the diversity of our state,
    especially the participation of minority investors in the ownership of licensed entities. I hope that
    the Gaming Control Board will take this issue into account when making its decision next week.
    Sincerely,
    Senator Vincent J. Hughes
    7th Senatorial District
    Cc: Members of Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
    Kevin F. OToole, Executive Director
    R. Douglas Sherman, Chief Counsel
    All Democratic Senators

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