Keystone Kops from Keystone State Continue Gaming Raids
Continuing with a recent state policy of eliminating all competition for state-run slots, Pennsylvania police raided a local saloon this week in order to seize gambling devices.
Della Polla's Family Tavern in Ridley Township was hit by a crack team of ten state troopers, who carted away two video games they suspected of being operated as gambling machines. Patrons sat in befuddlement as officers surged into the quiet neighborhood establishment. The police also took over $15,000, which came from the bar register and the safe in the office, and had no provable connection to the games other than being in the same building.
Pennsylvania is providing millions of dollars in grants to local law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute illegal slots and gambling machines throughout the state. The money come from taxes on the slots operated at state race tracks.
Clearly, police have received the message, and have made targeting inconsequential, minor-league slot operations a top priority. It's too bad the state didn't see fit to put out huge grants for the arrest of crack dealers; but that might have to wait until the state has its own crack operation.
A deputy district attorney for Delaware County, Gregory Hurchalla, stated of local bars and taverns that use illegal slot machines to draw business, "It is not uncommon for other serious crimes to occur within or near the same establishments."
This presentation of video poker and Fruity slots as gateway crimes reeks of demagoguery. Hurchalla offered no evidence for his assertion; one could as easily say serious crimes often occur around deputy district attorneys, and then propose doing away with them.
Still, it appears Pennsylvania will continue to crush even the smallest gambling violations it can find, as being sure every gambled dollar is taxed has become the state's most worrisome problem.
