Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Monica Yant Kinney writes a first-class story exposing the most predatory business in America. Here are a couple of the most remarkable excerpts in which she quotes the President of the former Philadelphia Park racetrack now known as Parx Casino:

Parx president Dave Jonas says his revenue comes almost exclusively from local low rollers."We underestimated significantly how many trips our customers were going to make," Jonas said at last month's Pennsylvania Gaming Congress in Valley Forge. "When I was in Atlantic City, to have 12 to 15 trips out of customers, they were VIPs," Jonas said. At Parx, "it's not uncommon for us to have 150 to 200 trips."

 

"You said 150 to 200 times a year," he (the moderator) repeated. "That's three to four times a week, essentially."

 

"Yes," Jonas confirmed, most of his players fit that profile. In fact, because Parx players tend to live within 20 miles of Street Road, many go even more frequently. "We have customers," Jonas boasted, "who give us $25, $30 five times a week."

 

It didn't take much to lure them, beyond proximity, free valet parking, and $50 comps. "If you live 15 minutes away, you really don't need a room," Jonas told the casino group. His customers "come in, grab a hot dog or maybe a chicken sandwich," gamble three hours, "then go home and sleep in their own bed."

Except for work, where else do any of us go 200 days a year? That is more than we require kids to attend public school.

Unlike our schools, the government program of predatory gambling runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year pushing people into deeper and deeper debt by promoting a “product” that is designed to approach every user as a potential addict so they will “play to extinction” – until their money is all gone.

Casinos like Parx only exist because government is a partner. Any other business with such predatory practices would be shut down immediately. It is a government program based on addiction and indebtedness. The casual visitor, as we know from the numbers from Parx and other casinos, is virtually irrelevant to the business model.

Government cancels school and sends state workers home during heavy snows because it is rightly concerned for the safety of kids and state employees.

But there are no “snow days” in the government program of predatory gambling. How could there be? After all, so the reasoning goes, someone needs to pay for the streets to be plowed.

Please contact your state and local officials and ask for public hearings on the business practices of the government program of predatory gambling – the most predatory operation in America today.