Letter to the editor: Citizens the losers with legalized gambling

Responding to the mayor of Jeannette, who wrote the letter “Rich get richer through gambling”: Despite mountains of evidence of the negative impact of gambling, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, with the support of our Republican General Assembly, “legalized” slot machines and casinos. The property tax “reduction” was the suppository to seal the reprehensible deal. The savvy gambling kingpins made fools out of those ignoring the evidence and set up our citizens to be losers.

Gambling only recycles wealth and doesn’t create new wealth. In order to keep growing their spoils, the gambling interests need to continue to seek more and more ways to snare the gullible into believing that they will “get something for nothing” when the reality is that the vast majority will “get nothing for something.”

Gamblers get to pay the subliminal taxes without credit for doing so and make these bookies wealthy while sucking money out of the legitimate and wealth-creating economy.

Will we ever have elected officials who have the integrity to shut off the legalized thievery?

Dianne M. Berlin

Penryn, Pa.

The writer is vice chair of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.