So Phil saw his shadow. G-Men beat the Patsies. Guess that means six more weeks of the Casino Journal ... or the coming apocalypse.

... Here's the day that local bars, delis and private social clubs have been dreading ever since the passage of Pennsylvania's gambling act:

"Allegheny County and Pittsburgh police officials are primed to step up their efforts in combating operation of illegal gambling machines in bars, restaurants and taverns thanks to more than $500,000 in grants from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The grants -- $250,000 to the county district attorney's office, $180,000 to the Pittsburgh Police Bureau and $160,000 to the Allegheny County Police -- will be used by the agencies to establish units aimed at eliminating unlawful machines used for gambling, said Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the gaming board."

Don Barden paid $50 million for that slots license. For that, he wants to be the only game in town. Can't blame him.

Question -- how long before we see video of a steamroller crushing a bunch of video poker machines?

Dispatches from the east

More on De Scandal in De Poconos:

"Old wounds have been reopened with the suspension of Louis A. DeNaples' casino license as debates over the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's decision to keep its enforcement arm separate from law enforcement have risen to the surface again. Would Mr. DeNaples have been issued a gaming license in New Jersey, for example, a state with stricter and more open licensing procedures? How about in Nevada? 'I don't think anybody knows the answer to that question,' said Nicholas Casiello, the chairman of Fox Rothschild LLP's Gaming Practice Group."

(A link to a handy DeNaples perjury indictment timeline, if you were wondering about it.)

Here's the state police account:

"Months before casino applicant Louis DeNaples received his casino license, the Pennsylvania State Police realized that DeNaples may have lied to gaming regulators - but kept it secret from regulators, the State Police acknowledged today. That decision meant that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was in the dark about the potential perjury when they voted in December 2006 to give DeNaples a license to open a $412 million Poconos slots parlor... . Thomas A. Decker, former head of the gaming board, said he was astonished at the revelation that the information had not been shared. 'I'm totally stunned,' he said. He added: 'If it's true that Mr. DeNaples lied, they [state police] did a horrible disservice to the citizens of this commonwealth.'"

Now, now. There's plenty of disservice to go around.

A nugget from The Morning Call of Allentown:

"Two months before Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples was charged with perjury and his gaming license was suspended, he asked permission to hand the reins -- and finances -- of his slots parlor to family members. A grand jury was investigating whether he lied about ties to organized crime as he filed the reorganization papers. But DeNaples told state slots regulators his request was based on business reasons, not legal concerns. 'This was for succession planning -- not because of anything happening with the Dauphin County grand jury,' DeNaples' spokesman Kevin Feeley said. 'The timing was more coincidental.'"

The upshot? Republicans some of whom were against the casinos on moral grounds, are calling for an investigation:

"State House Republicans today demanded major changes in the way the state Gaming Control Board conducts its background investigations of applicants for slots casino licenses. The call for change came after one casino owner, Louis DeNaples of Mt. Airy Casino Resort in the Poconos, was charged with perjury last week and was at least temporarily stripped of his slots license. He was charged with not telling the truth about his friendship with some alleged organized crime figures. The Republican House members said the Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement, the primary background checking agency, should be independent of the Gaming Board and have its own separate budget."

By the way, whoever had 406 in the pool -- the number of days between the awarding of the casino licenses and the first indictment being handed down -- is the big winner.

... Moving on: A county boundary that bisects a racetrack means that two municipalities should split the casino proceeds. Or so goes the reasoning of East Hanover township in Lebanon County, which hopes to win part of the jackpot once the casino opens:

"The casino sits in East Hanover Twp., Dauphin County, but a portion of the race course property is in Lebanon County. Lebanon County and its East Hanover want a share of the state slots revenue. They should be entitled to a share of the state's proceeds, according to Eric Epstein, a Harrisburg-area political activist who was hired by Dauphin County's East Hanover to represent its interests in the gambling money ... None of the casino buildings is within Lebanon County, [but] about 22 acres of the 635-acre Penn National property are in Lebanon County."

Odds and ends

The Mohegan Tribe wants a presence in Atlantic City, but it won't build one -- it will buy one, if it can, either the Tropicana Casino and Resort or the Trump Marina ... Is casino gambling on its way to Kentucky's stretch of the Ohio River? ... Ohio's governor keeps trying to come up with ways to get around the state's laws on casinos and gambling ... An odd stabbing at the new casino near Harrisburg.

Is the bloom of the gambling rose in Erie?

"Workers at Presque Isle Downs & Casino are having their hours cut because casino business has slowed during the winter season. About 200 of the casino's 800 employees are having their hours cut. Full-time employees are now working just four days a week, and part-timers have had about eight hours cut from their 25-hour work week... The casino drew $44.6 million in wagers during the high tourism week of July 2-8, but just $24 million for one week in mid-December."

Could be worse. It's not like the owners were indicted.