Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Loans to Gamblers Decried

As the House moves toward a vote on bill on legalizing table games at Pennsylvania casinos, opponents of the measure are voicing concern it would let casinos hand out loans to gamblers.
An amendment introduced by House Gaming Oversight Committee Chair Dante Santoni would allow casinos with table games licenses to extend lines of credit to gamblers.
Paul Boni of Casino-Free Philadelphia says he’s “horrified” by the provision.

"It’s 2 am, you’ve tapped out your ATM card and your Visa card, and you’ve been drinking the casino’s free drinks all night, and you’ve now lost everything you have at the slot machine. And now the casino would be allowed to grant you a line of credit so that you could lose even more, but this time on borrowed money."

Boni is also troubled by language reading the credit doled out by casinos “may be unsecured.”
Curt Schroder, the ranking Republican on the Gaming Oversight Committee, is also concerned. He says the way the bill is written, gamblers may be asked to put their cars, homes or other assets up against the loans they take out from casinos.

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