PA Gaming Control Board Begins Comment Period On Draft Supplement To Ethics Policy

Board Also Seeks Comment on 'Junket' Regulations

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, charged by statute with implementing and regulating expanded gaming in the Commonwealth, today launched a month-long public-comment period on a proposal to supplement its ethics policy for Board members and staff.

"Our number one goal is protecting the public by ensuring the integrity of gaming in Pennsylvania," said Chairman Tad Decker.

"Our first action last December was to adopt an ethics policy to ensure the integrity of our members and the people who work for us," Decker said. "The proposed supplement to our ethics policy expands our commitment beyond our initial embrace of the State Ethics Act last December by expressly dealing with a number of topics, including ex parte communications and conflicts of interest."

The Board also agreed to hold a separate public comment period on proposed regulations governing "junkets," the gaming-industry practice of using reduced-cost or no-cost transportation, food, lodging and entertainment to attract patrons to gaming facilities.

The draft supplement to the ethics policy and the draft junket regulations are both available for public inspection on the Board's Web site, www.pgcb.state.pa.us. Both comment periods end on Nov. 7, 2005. People wishing to purchase a hard copy for review may do so by sending a certified check for $10 to cover copying, staff time and return postage, to PGCB, P.O. Box 69060, Harrisburg, PA, 17106-9060. Checks should be made out to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and requests should specify that the purchaser is seeking either the draft ethics policy or the draft regulations covering non-gaming vendors.

The draft regulations will also be published in The Pennsylvania Bulletin.

Comments on the drafts must submitted by U.S. mail only, with postmarks no later than Monday November 7, 2005, to PGCB, P.O. Box 69060, Harrisburg, PA, 17106-9060, Attn: Public Comment.

To be included in the public record, comments must include the following information: name, organization represented (if appropriate), mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, county, topic/regulation section number discussed. The mailing address, telephone number and e-mail address are for verification purposes only and will not be published in the final record.

Submissions may be excluded from the final record if they do not address the topics covered by the draft regulations.

After the comment period closes, the Board will make the complete record of comments and Board responses available to interested parties via the Board Web site.