Audit: Pa. Gaming Control Board has more work to do
An audit of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board showed the panel made major improvements since the previous audit five years earlier, but still has work to do.
Results of the recent audit – which ran July 1, 2013, to Sept. 30, 2015 – were announced Wednesday by the office of Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. And while he praised the control board on some counts, DePasquale said the panel must work to change the gaming law to allow for more funding for local law enforcement and to reduce the per diem food allowance provided to board members who are traveling.
“The PGCB has greatly improved its operations since the previous audit in 2010, when auditors found serious management deficiencies and excessive spending issues,” DePasquale said in a statement.
“However,” he added, “our current audit shows that while policies were changed for staff members, when the seven gaming board members travel for board business, they are permitted to claim ‘enhanced’ daily food reimbursements that are up to 2 1/2 times higher. This is despite statutory restrictions in Act 1 of 2010 requiring that both board members and staff be reimbursed only for actual and reasonable expenses.”
The report noted a control board staff member traveling to Pittsburgh on business received $71 for food per day, and that a control board member in the city for the same reason got a per diem of $177.50.
Despite those figures, auditors found that between 2008-09 and 2014-15, the Gaming Control Board did cut operational expenses 23.3 percent (from $3,487,023 to $2,674,487) and travel expenses 54.9 percent ($590,716 to $266,534).
Law enforcement funding was another issue. In 2014, auditors found that about $8 million of casino revenue intended for grants to help local law enforcement officials battle illegal gambling instead went to the state’s general fund. The audit said tight restrictions on grants dissuaded a number of applicants – only six grants were requested and awarded over two years. They totaled $1,041,000, about one-fourth of the $4 million allocated for that program.
“These funds can be better spent helping our law enforcement agencies than being turned over to the commonwealth,” DePasquale said. “The PGCB has tried various outreach efforts, but the program continues to have more funds available than there are applicants.
“I strongly encourage PGCB to work with the governor and the general assembly to amend the gaming law as it pertains to these local law enforcement grants to allow a wider use of the funds to protect our communities.”
There are 12 operating casinos in Pennsylvania, including The Meadows Casino in North Strabane Township.
DePasquale said that according to this more recent audit, the number of jobs created by the implementation of table games is 40 percent less than the casino industry had originally projected to the General Assembly.
Years ago, in lobbying for table games passage, the casino industry commissioned a study that said as many as 10,100 jobs would result. The General Assembly passed the legislation in 2010.
Last June, according to auditors, table gaming was responsible for only 6,156 direct jobs, That included 332 at The Meadows, a figure that ranked ninth in the state.