No Dice newsletter

July 26, 2009

After a few weeks to recover from our June 16 forum, we are gearing up again for the next anticipated flurry of attention as the Rivers Casino plans to open on August 9.  Here are a few updates.

Good forum:  Our efforts to hold a public event on June 16 were reasonably successful.  We had 80 attenders for a breakfast with Bill Kearney that morning and the two-hour evening forum, and we received considerable media coverage as well.  The presentations were excellent and inspiring.  Too bad we can’t reach everyone in Southwestern Pennsylvania with the message, but we will take our message wherever we are welcomed.

Kind welcome from the mayors:  No Dice was invited to give a presentation to the Pennsylvania State Mayors Association on July 18.  The session was supposed to include competing perspectives on video poker, but the taverns did not provide a speaker or even the handout they promised.  I shared the economic and social reasons why expanded gambling makes no sense for Pennsylvania and then made specific application to video poker.  To my surprise, the mayors were strongly in agreement.  Many of them pointed out how much Catholic parishes and fire halls have already suffered because of casinos stealing business from these nonprofit organizations’ bingo games and carnivals.

Sad day rescheduled for August 9:  The Rivers Casino delayed its opening for a few days and now, as if to spite the local religious community, has set opening day for Sunday, August 9.  One source reports that they will hold the opening ceremony at noon.  We have a few options:  (1) ignore the event and just field media calls; (2) put out a media release; (3) hold a prayer service near the casino property around the opening time; (4) do something more creative.  Do you have a suggestion?  Would you join us if we held a public event that day?  We’d love to hear from you.

Illinois legislature rams video poker through:  In another example of pitifully irresponsible governance, the Illinois legislature has used its budget woes as an excuse for approving statewide video gambling.  Of course, more gambling will only hurt Illinois’s economy further, but legislators seem not to care as long as they can get their hands on more money in the short run.  The Chicago Tribune has published an excellent article describing the reality of what video poker does to communities.  You can read it at

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-video-gaming-zone-24-jul24,0,1115580,full.story. 

Video poker in Pennsylvania:  A bill to authorize video poker in taverns all across the state was approved in a State House committee.  Please contact your legislators to encourage them to squash this bill.  The Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg think tank, has released an essay full of good sense on the impact of gambling and the stupidity of expanding it further; see http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001bAA21AymX3rupXNvEJbYw5MT1yhRKJywWipVcOjEeWGIvxQUlUgixkeh98XhKR9KkjLjMga7JjPR5YgW2zTKO3dVmd-qAuCDbCG_qDs-J9ZmnSymxq0B4g%3D%3D.

Russian heroes:  One of the more inspiring stories anywhere in the world reached its culmination on July 1 when, refusing to back down in the face of the casino lobby’s pleadings, Russia shut down all its casinos, including 500 in Moscow.  Casinos are now permitted only in four distant hinterlands (where no development is in process and no casinos are anticipated any time soon).  For an article on the great Russian reversal, see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/world/europe/29casinos.html?_r=2&th&emc=th.

As Pittsburgh’s casino begins ransacking families’ resources and ruining lives, interest in our message is likely to increase.  Please keep telling others what No Dice can offer and contact us at nodicepa@aol.com or (412) 835-0614 with suggestions or opportunities.  Thanks again for your support.

--Bruce