I’m doing a quick hit today because I’ve been totally pre-occupied with getting http://gaming.unlv.edu ready for the big relaunch. But this story was hard to pass up. Check out the intro from the Philly Daily News:
KNOW IT’S wrong, but I feel for the lunks who got busted for operating that illegal Port Richmond casino.
You heard about these guys, right? They were nailed last week for operating a gambling parlor called “The Players Club” – so classy! – out of a Castor Avenue warehouse.
They had nine gaming tables, a poker machine, an ATM and a sixpack-per-gambler drink limit.
What they didn’t have was off-street parking.
Bad move, dudes.
Neighbors were so pissed about sharing car space with casino-goers, they tipped off City Councilman Frank DiCicco about the club. He called the vice squad, and the sting was done.
Parking will get you every time in this town.
While I don’t excuse the guys who ran the casino – the place also generated trash and noise at all hours – I can empathize with their hunger for a taste of America’s $73 billion gambling pie.
Knock off even a crumb, baby, and you’re rolling in dough.
When we Americans aren’t flushing the rent money at legal casinos, we’re betting it at the track, using it to play Powerball, or gambling it away online. When we’ve lost our last dime, we can still watch celebrities play “Texas Hold’Em” on TV.
God help us, our addiction has spread even to Iraq. According to online sports-betting organization BetUS.com, the company has seen a steady increase in Iraqi gamblers now that the U.S. government has broadened Internet access in that war-torn land.
…
“I wish I’d known it was a casino,” Port Richmond resident Pat Longacre told me Sunday, as we gazed at the shuttered club, which exudes all the glamour of an L&I clean-and-seal. “I’m tired of driving to Showboat.”
Ronnie Polaneczky | In gambling biz, all bets are off for average folks
Yeah, that drive to the Showboat can be rough.