PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE: GREGORY C. FAJT, CHAIRMANNov 04, 2009 · 23 Doug Harbach, along with...

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

GAMING CONTROL BOARD

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PUBLIC MEETING

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BEFORE: GREGORY C. FAJT, CHAIRMAN

Raymond S. Angeli, Jeffrey W. Coy, James B.

Ginty, Kenneth T. McCabe, Sanford Rivers,

and Gary A. Sojka, MEMBERS

David Barasch, EX OFFICIO DESIGNEE

HEARING: Wednesday, November 4, 2009

10:00 a.m.

LOCATION: State Museum Auditorium

300 North Street

Harrisburg, PA 17120

WITNESSES: Kevin O'Toole, Claire Yantis, R. Douglas

Sherman, Richard Sandusky, Stephen Cook,

Susan Hensel, Cyrus Pitre, Melissa Powers,

Dustin Miller

Reporter: Cynthia Piro-Simpson

Any reproduction of this transcript

is prohibited without authorization

by the certifying agency.

Sargent's Court Reporting Service, Inc. (814) 536-8908

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A P P E A R A N C E S 1

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R. DOUGLAS SHERMAN 3

Office of Chief Counsel 4

PA Gaming Control Board 5

P.O. Box 69060 6

Harrisburg, PA 17106-9060 7

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I N D E X 1

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OPENING REMARKS 3

By Chairman Fajt 6 - 7 4

PRESENTATION AND REPORTS 5

By Attorney O'Toole 7 - 9 6

By Ms. Yantis 9 7

By Mr. Sandusky 10 - 12 8

By Attorney Cook 13 - 20 9

By Ms. Hensel 21 - 26 10

By Attorney Powers 28 11

By Attorney Miller 29 - 31 12

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E X H I B I T S 1

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Number Description Offered 3

NONE OFFERED 4

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P R O C E E D I N G S 1

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CHAIRMAN: 3

Good morning everybody. I'm Greg Fajt, 4

Chairman of the Gaming Control Board. Just as a 5

housekeeping matter, I'd like to ask you to turn off 6

your cell phones, Blackberries and other electronic 7

devices, as they tend to interfere with the 8

communication system that we have, and thank you for 9

that. 10

Just on a housekeeping matter, our court 11

stenographer is not here. We will audiotape today's 12

proceedings and have the meeting transcribed later and 13

obviously make the transcription available to the 14

public as we always do. Today we have with us Dave 15

Barasch, ex officio designee, representing Revenue 16

Secretary, Steve Stetler; Jennifer Langan, 17

representing State Treasurer, Rob McCord and Frank 18

Jurbala, representing Secretary of Agriculture. 19

Russell Redding. Thank you all for being here today. 20

A quorum of the Board is present. 21

Today's proceedings are called to order. I'd like to 22

ask everybody to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. 23

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE RECITED 24

CHAIRMAN: 25


6

We'll now commence our scheduled public 1

meeting. The first order of business is old business 2

and announcements. By way of announcements, the Board 3

held an Executive Session on November 3rd, 2009 in 4

accordance with the Sunshine Act. The purpose of the 5

Executive Session was to discuss personnel issues, 6

litigation matters and conduct quasi-judicial 7

deliberations relating to matters pending before the 8

Board. I also would like to remind everyone that the 9

Gaming Control Board will hold a hearing on Thursday, 10

November 12th, 2009 to gather evidence including 11

public comment on the renewal of the Category 1 slot 12

machine operator's license of Mountainview 13

Thoroughbred Racing Association, operators of 14

Hollywood Casino at Penn National Racecourse. 15

The hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. at 16

the East Hanover Township Municipal Building located 17

at 8848 Jonestown Road in Grantville, Pennsylvania. 18

Citizens groups and elected officials wishing to 19

present oral or written testimony in this matter can 20

register on the PGCB website at www.pgcb.state.pa.us. 21

The deadline for registration and receipt of written 22

comments is noon, Tuesday, November 10th. 23

You may also send your comments via mail, 24

however they should be postmarked no later than 25


7

Tuesday, November 10th to the Pennsylvania Gaming 1

Control Board, P.O. Box 69060, Harrisburg, PA 17106, 2

attention Board Secretary or they can be faxed to 3

(717) 346-8350. 4

Okay, let's move on to the minutes and 5

transcript. May I have a motion to approve the 6

minutes and transcript of the September 16th, 2009 7

meeting? 8

COMMISSIONER SOJKA: 9

Yes, Mr. Chairman, I move that the Board 10

approve the minutes and the transcript of the 11

September 23rd, 2009 meeting. 12

CHAIRMAN: 13

Second? 14

COMMISSIONER RIVERS: 15

Second. 16

CHAIRMAN: 17

All in favor? 18

ALL STATE AYE 19

CHAIRMAN: 20

Opposed? Motion passes. Moving on to 21

new business, I'd like to have Kevin O'Toole, our 22

Executive Director, to provide his report. Kevin? 23

MR. O'TOOLE: 24

Thank you, Chairman Fajt. Good morning, 25


8

members of the Board. I'll be brief this morning. I 1

would like to report that slot machine revenue 2

continues to show growth at the nine operating casinos 3

in Pennsylvania. For the month of October 2009, gross 4

revenue through the play of slot machines rose almost 5

32 percent over the previous year. 6

In October 2009, the nine operating 7

casinos generated $177 million in gross revenue, 8

compared to $134 million in October 2008 when seven 9

casinos were in operation. This growth in revenue 10

resulted in tax collections of $97.4 million this past 11

month. 12

I would also like to bring to your 13

attention the most recent press release posted to the 14

Board's website by the Communications Department. In 15

addition to detailing the increase in slot revenue for 16

October 2009, the press release also highlights the 17

numerous municipal and county projects that have been 18

made possible through funds received from the local 19

share assessments of the slot machines gross terminal 20

revenue. 21

The Communications Department, led by 22

Doug Harbach, along with Richard McGarvey and Doreen 23

Appel, do an outstanding job of communicating to all 24

interested parties the numerous benefits that have 25


9

resulted from the casino industry in the Commonwealth 1

of Pennsylvania. That concludes my remarks this 2

morning. Thank you. 3

CHAIRMAN: 4

Thank you, Kevin. Any questions or 5

comments from the Board? Thank you. Next up is our 6

Director of Human Resources, Claire Yantis. Claire? 7

MS. YANTIS: 8

Good morning Chairman Fajt, members of 9

the Board. We have before you today a motion to 10

consider the hiring of two individuals in the Bureau 11

of Investigations and Enforcement (BIE). First, 12

Timothy Ferguson is being recommended for hire as an 13

investigator in the Scranton Office of the BIE. 14

Second, Sean Tagle is being recommended for hire as an 15

investigator in the Harrisburg Office of BIE. Both 16

Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Tagle have completed the PGCB 17

interview process, background investigation and drug 18

screening and are therefore being recommended for hire 19

by Deputy Director Paul Mauro and Regional Director 20

Michael Rosenberry. As such, I ask that you consider 21

a motion to hire these two individuals as indicated. 22

CHAIRMAN: 23

Any questions or comments from the Board? 24

Seeing none, could I have a motion, please? 25


10

COMMISSIONER COY: 1

Mr. Chairman, I move the Board approve 2

the hiring of the agency staff as proposed, on the 3

condition that all employees have completed the 4

necessary background investigation and drug testing. 5

CHAIRMAN: 6

Second? 7

COMMISSIONER MCCABE: 8

Second. 9

CHAIRMAN: 10

All in favor? 11

ALL STATE AYE 12

CHAIRMAN: 13

Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, 14

Claire. Next up is our Office of Chief Counsel (OCC), 15

Doug Sherman. 16

ATTORNEY SHERMAN: 17

Good morning, Chairman Fajt, members of 18

the Board. Our first agenda item relates to Final-19

form regulations presented by Richard Sandusky. 20

MR. SANDUSKY: 21

Good morning. The regulation we have for 22

consideration by the Board today is Final-form 23

Regulation 125-105. This regulation makes numerous 24

changes to the jackpot payout and credit-meter payout 25


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process in Section 465 --- in Chapter 465a. It was 1

adopted by the Board as a proposed rulemaking on July 2

15th of this year and was published in the 3

Pennsylvania Bulletin on August 22nd, 2009 with a 4

30-day comment period. This rulemaking was designed 5

to make substantial changes to the jackpot-payout 6

process that would streamline the process and would 7

result in greater efficiencies for our licensees. In 8

response to the proposed rulemaking, we received 9

comments from Washington Trotting Association and 10

Chester Downs and Marina. We also received comments 11

from the Independent Regulatory Review Commission. 12

WTA's comment was a fairly substantive 13

one. And at their facility, rather than have the slot 14

attendants do the actual payout of high dollar value 15

jackpots, they prefer to have the supervisor who would 16

normally act as the witness or verifier do that. We 17

have modified the regulations so that the facilities 18

will have the ability to have either individual, 19

either the slot attendant or the supervisor or higher, 20

do the actual payout of the jackpot. 21

The other comments that were received 22

from IRRC and Chester were mainly clarity items. We 23

had made some minor revisions to the language in the 24

regulation to address those concerns. 25


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I'd be happy to answer any questions the 1

Board members may have on this regulation. And if 2

not, I'd ask for a motion for adoption of the Final-3

form rulemaking. 4

CHAIRMAN: 5


I have one. And it just dawned on me, but, you know, 7

with the issue that recently happened at The Meadows, 8

and the jackpot scam that happened here, I mean, does 9

this change in regulation have any impact, positively 10

or negatively, on that ---? 11

MR. SANDUSKY: 12

I would say this regulation really would 13

have nothing to do with that fact situation. That was 14

fairly unique in that the individuals involved got a 15

slot-machine attendant, as I understand it, to reset a 16

machine and do some settings that were not authorized 17

to be put on. So it was really an error on the part 18

of the personnel involved and would be unaffected by 19

these regulations. 20

CHAIRMAN: 21

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, 22

comments? With that, can I have a motion, please? 23




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Adopt the Final-form Regulation Number 125-105, and 1

that the Final-form Regulation be posted on the 2

Board's website. 3

CHAIRMAN: 4

Second? 5


Second. 7

CHAIRMAN: 8

All in favor? 9

ALL STATE AYE 10

CHAIRMAN: 11

Opposed? Motion passes. 12

MR. SANDUSKY: 13

Thank you. 14

CHAIRMAN: 15

Thank you, Richard. Next on the agenda 16

are withdrawals, a Report and Recommendation and two 17

Emergency Suspensions for the Board's consideration. 18

Deputy Chief Counsel, Steve Cook, will present these. 19

ATTORNEY COOK: 20

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of 21

the Board. The Board has received five unopposed 22

Petitions to Withdraw Applications, which include 23

three Principal Applications for persons associated 24

with slot-machine Licensees or Manufacturers as well 25


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as two personal history disclosure statements 1

submitted by Principals of Vendors. The individuals 2

subject to these petitions are as follows: Jeffrey 3

Burge, Calvin Frank, Simon Kelly, Geoffrey Kleeman and 4

Heidi Modaro. The Office of Enforcement Counsel (OEC) 5

has no objection to these Petitions for Withdrawal, 6

therefore they would all be granted without prejudice. 7

CHAIRMAN: 8


If none, can I have a motion, please? 10


Mr. Chair, I move that the Board issue 12

orders to approve the Withdrawals or Surrenders as 13

described by the OCC. 14

CHAIRMAN: 15

Second? 16

COMMISSIONER GINTY: 17

Second. 18

CHAIRMAN: 19

All in favor? 20

ALL STATE AYE 21

CHAIRMAN: 22

Opposed? Motion passes. Next, Steve? 23

ATTORNEY COOK: 24

Next before the Board for consideration 25


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is a Report and Recommendation received from the 1

Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) relative to the 2

Gaming Employee Permit Application submitted by Lynn 3

Nichols. The Report and Recommendation, along with a 4

complete evidentiary record in this matter, was 5

submitted to the Board prior to this meeting. 6

Additionally, Ms. Nichols has been notified that the 7

Board is considering her Report and Recommendation 8

today and that she has the right to be present to 9

briefly address the Board. If Ms. Nichols is present, 10

we'd ask her to come forward. 11

Briefly, Ms. Nichols submitted an 12

Application for a Gaming-Employee Permit to work as a 13

slot-machine attendant at the Rivers Casino. In her 14

application, however, Ms. Nichols failed to disclose 15

two prior arrests, specifically a March 19, '81 16

arrest, in which she subsequently pled guilty to 17

retail theft, and a December 1984 arrest for homicide, 18

robbery and conspiracy, in which she ultimately pled 19

guilty to the robbery charge. 20

During a post-application interview, BIE 21

questioned Ms. Nichols and she again failed to 22

disclose these arrests. As a result, on July 30th, 23

2009 the OEC issued a notice of recommendation of 24

denial. Ms. Nichols requested a hearing, which was 25


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scheduled for September 16th, 2009, however, she 1

failed to appear and the hearing was held in absentia. 2

Subsequently a Report and Recommendation was issued, 3

recommending denial of Ms. Nichols' Gaming-Employee 4

Application. Based upon Ms. Nichols' nondisclosures 5

and her failure to cooperate in the investigative 6

process, the OCC recommends that the Board consider a 7

motion adopting in part the Report and Recommendation 8

of the hearings --- of the OHA and deny Ms. Nichols' 9

application. 10

CHAIRMAN: 11

Any questions or comments? May I have a 12

motion, please? 13

COMMISSIONER COY: 14

Mr. Chairman, I move the Board issue an 15

Order adopting the Report and Recommendation of the 16

OHA relating to Lynn Nichols' Application for a 17

Gaming-Employee Permit as described by the Office of 18

Chief Counsel. 19

COMMISSIONER ANGELI: 20

Second. 21

CHAIRMAN: 22

All in favor. 23

ALL STATE AYE 24

CHAIRMAN: 25


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ATTORNEY COOK: 2

Next are emergency suspensions. The 3

first is an Emergency Order to suspend the Employee 4

Registration of Amber Citriniti. Ms. Citriniti was 5

issued a Non-Gaming Employee Registration on June 9th, 6

2009 and is employed as a West End Supervisor at the 7

Rivers Casino. 8

On June 23rd, 2009 the Pennsylvania State 9

Police notified the Bureau of Casino Compliance that 10

Ms. Citriniti was arrested as a result of an accident 11

which occurred on June 17th, 2007. On that date, Ms. 12

Citriniti, while driving, allegedly failed to yield to 13

an oncoming motorcycle. The motorcycle crashed into 14

Ms. Citriniti's vehicle and the driver of the 15

motorcycle died as a result of his injuries. The 16

Pennsylvania State Police subsequently conducted an 17

investigation of the accident and discovered a small 18

amount of marijuana in Ms. Citriniti's vehicle. She 19

thereafter submitted to a blood test and tested 20

positive for marijuana. As a result, Ms. Citriniti 21

was charged with homicide by vehicle, a third-degree 22

felony, possession of a controlled substance, 23

possession of drug paraphernalia, driving under the 24

influence and several other traffic-related offenses. 25


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As a result of these charges, the OEC 1

filed a request for an Emergency Order of Suspension 2

of Ms. Citriniti's Non-Gaming Employee Registration. 3

On October 30th, 2009 the Order was signed by the 4

Executive Director. Ms. Citriniti was personally 5

served with the Order and on that date requested an 6

informal hearing on the matter pursuant to the Board's 7

regulations. This hearing was held on November 2nd. 8

At the conclusion of the hearing, the Hearing officer 9

Ordered that the Emergency Order remain in place. 10

Board regulations now require that a Temporary 11

Emergency Order be presented to the Board for a full 12

evidentiary hearing or that the matter be referred 13

back to the OHA for a full evidentiary hearing. This 14

is the issue that's before the Board today. 15

CHAIRMAN: 16

Questions or comments from the Board? 17

Seeing none, may I have a motion? 18


Yes, Mr. Chairman. I'll move that the 20

Board issue an Order to extend the Emergency 21

Suspension of Amber Citriniti's Non-Gaming Employee 22

Registration and that the matter be referred to OHA 23

for a hearing to determine validity of the OEC's 24

request for a suspension. 25


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Second. 2

CHAIRMAN: 3

All in favor? 4

ALL STATE AYE 5

CHAIRMAN: 6


ATTORNEY COOK: 8

The second Emergency Order to suspend 9

before the Board today is the Non-Gaming Employee 10

Registration of Mary Beth Ehrhart. Ms. Ehrhart was 11

issued a Non-Gaming Employee Registration on June 12

16th, 2009 and is employed as a sous chef at the 13

Rivers Casino. On October 9th, 2009, Ms. Ehrhart 14

notified the Bureau of Casino Compliance that she was 15

arrested on September 29th, 2009 and charged with 16

multiple offenses. An investigation was then 17

initiated and it was determined that the Pennsylvania 18

State Police had charged Ms. Ehrhart with theft by 19

unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, both of 20

which are third-degree felonies. The Pennsylvania 21

State Police alleges that Ms. Ehrhart, during her 22

former employment as a manager of a Golden Corral 23

Restaurant, stole $2,500 in cash from the restaurant 24

safe. 25


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As a result of these charges, OEC filed a 1

request for an Emergency Order of Suspension. And on 2

October 30th, 2009 the Order was signed by the 3

Executive Director. Ms. Ehrhart was served with the 4

Emergency Order on that date and she also requested an 5

informal hearing, which was also held on November 2nd. 6

At that hearing, Ms. Ehrhart testified that the 7

charges against her remained pending and that a 8

preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 25th, 9

2009. Ms. Ehrhart also testified that she did not --- 10

excuse me, she did not deny taking the money, however, 11

she did dispute the amount alleged. The Hearing 12

Officer found that the suspension should remain in 13

effect after hearing all of the evidence. As with the 14

last matter, Board regulations now require that the 15

Temporary Emergency Order be presented to the Board 16

for a full evidentiary hearing or that the matter be 17

referred back to OHA to conduct that hearing. 18

CHAIRMAN: 19

Questions or comments? May I have a 20

motion, please? 21


Yes, Mr. Chairman, I'll also move that 23

the Board issue an Order to extend the Emergency 24

Suspension of Mary Beth Ehrhart's Non-Gaming Employee 25


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Registration and that that matter be referred to OHA 1

for a hearing to determine the validity of OEC's 2

request for a suspension. 3


Second. 5

CHAIRMAN: 6

All in favor? 7

ALL STATE AYE 8

CHAIRMAN: 9


ATTORNEY COOK: 11

That concludes the matters of the OCC. 12

CHAIRMAN: 13

Thank you, Steve, thank you, Doug. Next 14

up is our Director of Licensing, Susan Hensel. 15

MS. HENSEL: 16

Thank you, Chairman Fajt and members of 17

the Board. The first matter for your consideration is 18

the approval of Principal and Key Employee Licenses. 19

Prior to this meeting, the Bureau of Licensing 20

provided you with a proposed Order for two Principals 21

and seven Key Employee Licenses for Washington 22

Trotting Association, Inc., Philadelphia Entertainment 23

and Development Partners, LP and WMS Gaming, Inc. I 24

ask that the Board consider the Order approving these 25


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licenses. 1

CHAIRMAN: 2

Any questions or comments from 3

Enforcement Counsel? 4

ATTORNEY PITRE: 5

No objection. 6

CHAIRMAN: 7


May I have a motion, please? 9


Mr. Chairman, I move that the Board issue 11

an Order to approve the Issuance of Principal and Key 12

Employee Licenses as described by the Bureau of 13

Licensing. 14

CHAIRMAN: 15

Second? 16


Second. 18

CHAIRMAN: 19

All in favor? 20

ALL STATE AYE 21

CHAIRMAN: 22

Opposed. Motion passes. 23

MS. HENSEL: 24

We also have an Order regarding Gaming 25


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and Non-Gaming Permits and Registrations. Prior to 1

this meeting, the Bureau of Licensing provided you 2

with a list of 104 individuals, including 50 initial 3

and 54 renewals who the Bureau has granted occupation 4

permits to and 41 individuals who the Bureau has 5

granted registrations to under the authority delegated 6

to the Bureau of Licensing. I ask that the Board 7

adopt a motion approving the Order. 8

CHAIRMAN: 9

Cyrus, any comments? 10

ATTORNEY PITRE: 11

There's no objection. 12

CHAIRMAN: 13

Okay. Any questions from the Board? If 14

not, can I have a motion, please? 15



issue an Order to approve the Issuance of Gaming 18

Permits and Non-Gaming Registrations as just described 19

by the Bureau of Licensing. 20

CHAIRMAN: 21

Second? 22


Second. 24

CHAIRMAN: 25


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All in favor? 1

ALL STATE AYE 2

CHAIRMAN: 3

Motion passes. Next. 4

MS. HENSEL: 5

In addition, there are withdrawal 6

requests for Gaming Employee Applications. In each 7

case the application is no longer required, due to 8

such circumstances as the employee accepting a 9

different job, the job offer being rescinded or the 10

employee failing to report to work. For today's 11

meeting, I have provided the Board with a list of nine 12

withdrawals for approval. I ask that the Board 13

consider the Order approving this list of withdrawals. 14

CHAIRMAN: 15

Any comments from Enforcement Counsel? 16

ATTORNEY PITRE: 17

No objection. 18

CHAIRMAN: 19

Okay. Comments from the Board. If none, 20

can I have a motion, please? 21



Issue an Order to approve the Withdrawal of Gaming and 24

Non-Gaming Employee Applications as described by the 25


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Bureau of Licensing. 1

CHAIRMAN: 2

Second? 3


Second. 5

CHAIRMAN: 6

All in favor. 7

ALL STATE AYE 8

CHAIRMAN: 9


MS. HENSEL: 11

Finally we have two Orders regarding 12

Vendors. The first is to certify the following six 13

Vendors: Intec Construction, Inc., Masterminds, Inc., 14

Thomas Company, Inc., Trahan, Burden and Charles, 15

Inc., Waste Management of Pennsylvania, Inc. and West 16

Side Electrical Services, Inc. I ask that the Board 17

consider the Order approving these Vendors for 18

certification. 19

ATTORNEY PITRE: 20

No objection. 21

CHAIRMAN: 22

Thank you. Any questions from the Board? 23

Can I have a motion, please? 24



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Yes, Mr. Chair, I move that the Board 1

issue an Order to approve the applications for Vendor 2

Certification as described by the Bureau of Licensing. 3

CHAIRMAN: 4

Second? 5


Second. 7

CHAIRMAN: 8

All in favor? 9

ALL STATE AYE 10

CHAIRMAN: 11


MS. HENSEL: 13

The Bureau of Licensing also provided you 14

with an Order and an attached list of 11 registered 15

Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement Vendors. I 16

ask that the Board adopt a motion approving the Order 17

registering these Vendors. 18

CHAIRMAN: 19

Cyrus? 20

ATTORNEY PITRE: 21

No objection. 22

CHAIRMAN: 23

Thank you. Any questions from the Board? 24

May I have a motion? 25


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an Order to approve the Applications for Vendor 3

Registration as described by the Bureau of Licensing. 4

CHAIRMAN: 5

Second? 6

COMMISSIONER COY: 7

Second. 8

CHAIRMAN: 9

All in favor? 10

ALL STATE AYE 11

CHAIRMAN: 12


MS. HENSEL: 14

That concludes the Bureau of Licensing's 15

presentation. 16

CHAIRMAN: 17

Thank you, Susan. Next up we have 18

Enforcement Counsel. Cyrus, could you please 19

introduce your fellow attorneys? 20

ATTORNEY PITRE: 21

Sure. This morning we have three matters 22

for the Board's consideration. Melissa Powers will 23

present the first matter and Dustin Miller will 24

present the last two matters. 25


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CHAIRMAN: 1

Thank you. 2

ATTORNEY POWERS: 3

Chairman Fajt, members of the Board, good 4

morning. 5

CHAIRMAN: 6

Good morning. 7

ATTORNEY POWERS: 8

The first matter that I have for you 9

today is that of Glen Conner. On August 25th, 2009, 10

OEC filed a complaint for revocation against Mr. 11

Conner for failure to comply with federal or state 12

laws and also failure to maintain suitability. Mr. 13

Conner did not respond to the complaint within 20 14

days, therefore his right to a hearing has been waived 15

and the facts alleged in the complaint are deemed 16

admitted. On October 22nd, 2009, OEC filed a request 17

for default judgment. At this time OEC would ask that 18

the Board revoke the Non-Gaming Employee Registration 19

of Glen Conner. 20

CHAIRMAN: 21


If not, can I have a motion, please? 23

COMMISSIONER COY: 24

Mr. Chairman, I move the Board issue an 25


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Order approving the revocation of Glen Conner's Non-1

Gaming Employee Registration as described by OEC. 2


Second. 4

CHAIRMAN: 5

All in favor? 6

ALL STATE AYE 7

CHAIRMAN: 8


ATTORNEY MILLER: 10

Good morning, Chairman Fajt, members of 11

the Board. The next request for revocation today 12

involves Gary Devine. Mr. Devine had been employed as 13

an EVS attendant at Harrah's Chester Downs Casino and 14

registered as a Non-Gaming Employee. OEC filed an 15

enforcement complaint to revoke Mr. Devine's Non-16

Gaming Employee Registration for failing to comply 17

with federal or state laws on September 2nd, 2009. 18

The enforcement complaint was properly served upon Mr. 19

Devine to the address listed on his application by 20

both certified and first class mail. 21

Mr. Devine did not respond to the filing 22

in any way. Due to Mr. Devine's failure to respond, 23

the averments and the enforcement complaint are deemed 24

to be admitted as fact and his right to a hearing has 25


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been waived. On October 16th, 2009 OEC filed a 1

request to enter judgment upon default in this matter. 2

The matter is now before the Board to consider the 3

revocation of Mr. Devine's Non-Gaming Employee 4

Registration. 5

CHAIRMAN: 6


Seeing none, can I have a motion, please? 8



an Order to approve the revocation of the Non-Gaming 11

Employee Registration of Gary L. Devine, Jr., Barber, 12

as described by OEC 13

CHAIRMAN: 14

Second? 15


Second. 17

CHAIRMAN: 18

All in favor? 19

ALL STATE AYE 20

CHAIRMAN: 21


ATTORNEY MILLER: 23

The final request for revocation today 24

involves Hoa To. Mr. To had been employed as an 25


31

operations' attendant at Philadelphia Park Casino and 1

registered as a Non-Gaming Employee. OEC filed an 2

enforcement complaint to revoke Mr. To's Non-Gaming 3

Employee Registration for failing to maintain his 4

suitability on July 28th, 2009. The enforcement 5

complaint was properly served upon Mr. To to the 6

address listed on his application by both certified 7

and first class mail. Mr. To did not respond to the 8

filing in any way. Due to Mr. To's failure to respond 9

the averments in the enforcement complaint are deemed 10

to be admitted as fact and his right to a hearing has 11

been waived. 12

On October 16th, 2009 OEC filed a request 13

to enter judgment upon default against Mr. To. The 14

matter is now before the Board to consider the 15

revocation of Mr. To's Non-Gaming Employee 16

Registration. 17

CHAIRMAN: 18


May I have a motion, please? 20



issue an Order to approve the revocation of the Non-23

Gaming Employee Registration of Hoa To as described by 24

the Office of Enforcement Counsel. 25


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CHAIRMAN: 1

Is there a second? 2


Second. 4

CHAIRMAN: 5

All in favor? 6

ALL STATE AYE 7

CHAIRMAN: 8


ATTORNEY PITRE: 10

Thank you. That concludes our business. 11

CHAIRMAN: 12

Thank you, folks. Before we close, I 13

want to take a little bit of time to talk about Sandy 14

Rivers. As many of you know, today is Sandy's last 15

meeting. His term has expired on the Board. Sandy 16

was one of the original Board members of the Gaming 17

Control Board. And I have for Sandy a citation here 18

signed by all of his fellow Commissioners. But I just 19

want to read a couple of points from this citation, 20

because I think, you know, as gaming evolves in 21

Pennsylvania, we've been at this now for five years, I 22

guess, since the Act passed in July of 2004. You 23

know, a lot of what this Board and a lot of what the 24

original members of the Board accomplished gets missed 25


33

by the public. And let me just read a couple of the 1

provisions in here. 2

This Board was established from the 3

ground up. It was the first state agency in more than 4

30 years that was created, and created a comprehensive 5

body of regulations to ensure the integrity of gaming 6

and investigated thousands of individuals for 7

licensure. Again, the first state agency in 30 years. 8

I like to say to people that when this Board was 9

formed, there were no offices, there were no paper 10

clips, there were no fax machines, no phones, no 11

Blackberries, nothing. This organization started 12

literally from the ground up. Whereas after a 13

licensing process that included 18 days of public- 14

input hearings across the state, as well as 15

suitability hearings in Harrisburg, the Board voted on 16

September 27th, 2006 to award its first conditional 17

Category 1 operator license. 18

Whereas on November 14th, 2006, less than 19

two years after the Board held its first meeting, 20

Pennsylvania's first licensed gaming facility, Mohegan 21

Sun at Pocono Downs opened to the public. Whereas the 22

Board voted on December 20th, 2006 to award 11 23

permanent Category 1 and Category 2 operator licenses. 24

It goes on to talk about the tax relief. We've had 25


34

over $3 billion of money generated by the casino 1

operators in Pennsylvania. Two billion of that three 2

billion has gone to property tax relief. Hundreds of 3

millions more to local municipalities because of the 4

local share that's in the bill, half a million --- or 5

half a billion dollars has gone to the horseracing 6

industry. So the bottom line is, there is a lot of 7

success out there. And a lot of that success is 8

attributable to the gentleman to my right, Sandy 9

Rivers. 10

The thing about Sandy is, in my dealings 11

with him, both from his original appointment, and I 12

never knew Sandy before the original appointment, he's 13

always done the right thing. And in this business, 14

you know, he's a man of his word and what you see is 15

what you get. And we've all come across folks who 16

don't operate that way and when you have somebody like 17

Sandy, you know he has your back, you know he's going 18

to do the right thing, you know he's going to examine 19

the issue and make the call at the end of the day and 20

it's always the right call. And Sandy, you know, your 21

honesty, your integrity, your hard work is beyond 22

reproach. You've been a great friend, a great 23

colleague and we will miss you. We wish you the best 24

and thank you for your years of service to the 25


35

Commonwealth, Sandy. 1


Thank you. 3

CHAIRMAN: 4

Thank you. When the NFL referee tells 5

you to sit out, you sit out. There you go, pal. That 6

concludes business for today. Looking ahead, the 7

Board will hold its next public meeting on Wednesday, 8

November 18th, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. The meeting will be 9

held here in the State Museum Auditorium. Any final 10

questions or comments from the Board? Seeing none, 11

can I have a motion to adjourn? 12

COMMISSIONER: 13

So moved. 14

CHAIRMAN: 15

Second. 16

COMMISSIONER: 17

Second. 18

CHAIRMAN: 19

Meeting is adjourned. Thank you. 20

* * * * * * * 21

MEETING CONCLUDED AT 10:30 A.M. 22

* * * * * * * 23

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CERTIFICATE 15

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I hereby certify that the foregoing 17

proceeding Public Hearing was transcribed by me on 18

11/09/2009 and that I attest that this transcript is a 19

true and accurate record of the proceeding. 20

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PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE: GREGORY C. FAJT, CHAIRMANNov 04, 2009 · 23 Doug Harbach, along with...

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Transcript of PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE: GREGORY C. FAJT, CHAIRMANNov 04, 2009 · 23 Doug Harbach, along with...