With 12 million people, Pennsylvania is a prime market for legalized gambling. The gaming lobby has gained the support of public officials who see gaming as a way to "painlessly" raise tax revenues.

Since the 1970's, bills have been introduced in the Pennsylvania legislature to legalize riverboat and land based casinos, and expand machine gambling sites.

In 1994, gubernatorial candidate Tom Ridge was heavily backed by the Pennsylvania gambling lobby. He promised to sign legislation expanding legalized gambling if that legislation included a provision for a non-binding state-wide voter referendum

In October 1997, the House Judiciary Committee unexpectedly tabled proposed legislation to put three gambling expansion measures on the May 1998 ballot.

New reports indicated that Governor Ridge preferred a 1999 (after the election) timetable to bring gaming legislation to passage.

However, according to the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, "The bill may indeed surface again before 1999. Some speculate it's a money-raiser - a way to generate campaign cash from wealthy sources."

Casinos are incredibly profitable - to their owners. For example, the Washington Post reported that the Empress riverboat in Joliet, Illinois paid $87 million in dividends in its first 18 months.

But do casinos also benefit their communities?

Tourism benefits also have proven non-existent.

In Dec. 1995, the Minnesota Star-Tribune reported that "legalized gambling in Minnesota has created a broad new class of addicts, victims and criminals whose activities are devastating families and costing taxpayers and businesses millions of dollars." The paper estimated a cost of $300 million per year.

Loss Prevention Specialists, Inc. of Minnesota told the paper that prior to casinos it had "zero cases of gambling related embezzlements," but since then it has cases running "well over $500,000", including an assistant bank manager and a woman who lost over $120,000 of her church's funds.

Henry Lesieur, professor of criminal justice at Illinois State University, surveyed Gamblers Anonymous members there. He found: 44% had stolen from work, 18% had gambling related arrests, and 17% had been sued for gambling related debts.

In Biloxi, Mississippi, crisis calls to the Gulf Coast Women's Center rose from about 400 per month in 1992 to between 700 and 900 per month in 1995. Center director Jane Phila told the New Orleans Times, "Free alcohol and gambling losses can fuel the rage that produces violence."

Aside from the obvious potential for influence peddling when extremely wealthy casino operators vie for state licenses, the connection between gambling and tax revenues compromises the ability of government to make objective decisions.

Robert Goodman in his United States Gambling Study explains that government becomes a gambling promoter rather than a gambling regulator. For example, Iowa removed the bet and loss limits on its riverboats, dropped the rule that boats must cruise while gambling, and allowed the opening of the state's first racetrack casino while the state's own study was showing that problem gambling had more than tripled.

Will Pennsylvania join the ranks of the gamblers? Or will it join Virginia, Texas, Florida, Ohio and Washington, D.C. in rejecting casinos?