PGCB To Accept New Applications Beginning March 15 For Grant Program To Assist Law Enforcement Agencies In Preventing Unlawful Gaming Activities In Commonwealth

Awards of up to $250,000 available to Pennsylvania police departments and district attorney offices

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today announced that new applications for grants for law enforcement agencies to investigate violations and enforce laws relating to unlawful gambling in the Commonwealth can be submitted for review beginning March 15, 2012.

The Local Law Enforcement Grant program sets aside a total of $2 million annually from revenue generated from the play of slot machines and is available to local police departments, county or city district attorneys, and under certain conditions the Pennsylvania State Police. In addition, any multi-jurisdiction law enforcement group composed of any of those agencies is eligible.

Grant money can be used for the identification, prevention, deterrence, enforcement, investigation or prosecution of activities involving any form of unlawful gaming in the Commonwealth.

The maximum grant amount is $250,000 per year.

If approved, law enforcement can use the grants for:

attending education and training events sponsored by authoritative agencies for the purpose of training officers, investigators or attorneys in techniques appropriate to the enforcement and prevention of unlawful gambling in the Commonwealth;
Conducting programs that utilize proven methods to deter or prevent unlawful gambling;
Defraying costs related to assigning officers or investigators to prevent, deter, enforce or investigate unlawful gambling, and the costs of prosecuting crimes involving unlawful gambling;
Funding other prevention and enforcement programs that address prevention and enforcement of unlawful gambling within the Commonwealth.

The Board will make the awards based on a number of criteria including overall quality of the project, funding adequacy, timetable and anticipated results, past performance and the completeness of the application.

Additional information on the use of grant money, along with the application, is available on the PGCB web site, www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board:
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was established in 2004 with the passage of Act 71, also known as the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act. Pennsylvania’s first new state agency in over 30 years, the Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of the state’s casino industry. The ten casinos in operation all offer both slot machine and table game gambling, employ over 15,000 people, and collectively have generated over $6 billion in tax and license fee revenue since the first casino opened in November 2006. A portion of that money is enabling property tax reduction for all Pennsylvania homeowners, providing needed funding to the Commonwealth’s horse racing industry, funding grants for fire companies and water/sewer projects, and establishing a new stream of tax revenue to local governments for community projects. A wealth of information about the Gaming Control Board and Pennsylvania’s gaming industry can be found at www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov. At this website, visitors can watch Board meetings live through streaming video or view archived videos of Board meetings. The website also provides information on the operation of the PGCB, information on identifying a gambling problem and gaining assistance, future meeting schedules and past meeting transcripts, access to an interactive map of casino locations, an on-line form to request a speaker for their organization, along with much more information.

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