Isaiah Thompson

Tonight, the state House of Representatives is set to vote on the table games bill – a bill that contains more shady clauses than a Santa convention.

Does it matter? Do I spit into the wind?

Maybe so: but at least I'm spittin'.

This bill is about much more than whether or not you can play blackjack at a casino.

• It expands the powers of casinos to extend credit
• It expands their powers to share information about pools of potentially lucrative gamblers.
• It keeps enforcement and scrutiny of casino operators under the Gaming Board, despite almost uniform agreement among law enforcement officials that it shouldn't be.
• It grants special favors to private interests – including, CP found, favoring a company represented by a top Harrisburg lobbyist to get the last unawarded casino license.
  
• It extends the opening time for Foxwoods.
• It offers casinos laughably low tax rates and licensing fees – even though its sole purpose, ostensibly, is to raise money for the state.
• It appears to create a new category of casino supppliers, subject to less scrutiny.

The list goes on.

Meanwhile, Governor Rendell – the same who refused to tax the massive gas drilling operations underway in Pennsylvania – maintains his hostage tactic over the small pot of money tied to table games, threatening to lay off 1,000 workers if the bill isn't passed by Friday.

His office argues that, because the projected – key word, there – revenues from table games were included in the budget to the tune of $250 million, the state legislature simply must pass this bill.

Perhaps Rendell – and, indeed, the state legislature – ought not to have included money in the budget that would come from an activity not yet legal! Rendell signed off on a budget that expected money from table games without having seen the actual law that would provide for table game in the first place.

When, lo and behold, the law turned out to be riddled with earmarks, casino giveaways, and greedy in-fighting among the legislature, and therefore got held up – Rendell is all the more to blame for allowing such provisions in his budget in the first place.

Yet it seems to me that the media has played easily into Rendell's hands, covering all sorts of issues – even a natural history exhibit – in a context of something terrible happening "if the House doesn't pass table games," – as if passing table games was some sort of abstract bureaucratic hurdle that simply must be overcome; as if Rendell's bullying and threatening layoffs is somehow more reasonable than the delay of a thoroughly corrupted law.

Example: "Rendell: Might have to close Pa. museum, parks" – Inquirer

Example: "Rendell: Without table gaming, the state budget is ruined." – Business Insider

Example: "Rendell: Layoffs to come if no table games by Jan 8" – Inquirer

Example: "At last, a table games deal" – Allentown morning Call

I've made my personal opinion clear before and, in the interest of disclosure – an, frankly, as an appeal to readers who trust my reporting – I state it again. This bill is a disgrace. It expands the power of a predatory industry, and it reeks of pay-for-play politics.

If you'd like to contact your representatives to urge them to vote either way, you can look them up here by zipcode.

Coming up: table games' shady provisions explored.

Under the Tables: Rendell holds 1,000 workers hostage; House will try to pass table games tonight.