It's a Friday night at a private Greensburg club and several members are standing at a row of flashing video poker machines, seemingly mesmerized by the tumbling wheels and bright colors.
A machine stops.
An elderly man turns to the bartender and nods toward the machine. The bartender squints, notes the numbers, scribbles on a pad, and hands $35 to the man, who turns to feed the money back into the machine, $1 at a time.
The social club is one of 3,100 private clubs, fraternal organizations and fire halls across the state that rely on gambling to survive, said Timothy O'Boyle, an assistant professor of sociology at Kutztown University in Berks County.
That may change.
The state Liquor Control Enforcement agency is cracking down on illegal gambling, confiscating hundreds of video poker machines and citing dozens of clubs and fire halls.
Club operators say their poker machines are being targeted because they compete with casinos for gamblers' dollars.
O'Boyle said Gov. Ed Rendell administration's crackdown on illegal gambling is indeed at the behest of the gaming industry, which invested millions to open seven casinos. Most of the 15,000 slot machines operating in those venues are traditional slot machine games.
"Absolutely. They want to take gambling away from clubs for the revenue," O'Boyle said. "It's a concentrated effort. It's a concentrated effort that's being requested by the gambling industry."
The Pennsylvania Gaming Board has distributed $2.8 million in grants to law enforcement agencies to crack down on illegal slot machines. The board receives $5 million annually to distribute to any local or county law enforcement agency for that purpose.
The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office received $250,000; Pittsburgh police, more than $181,000; the Allegheny County sheriff, $68,000; the Armstrong County district attorney, $41,000; and the Washington County district attorney, $153,000.
Other states also are targeting illegal poker machines.
Maryland is cracking down on businesses with liquor licenses, said Brian Lehman, a spokesman for the American Gaming Association in Washington, D.C. Maryland voters will decide in November whether to legalize video poker machines.
Last year, Indiana seized 760 illegal machines after the state allowed poker machines at the state's two horse racing tracks.
A lucrative business
The video poker machines in the Greensburg club are among thousands in Southwestern Pennsylvania clubs, fire halls and bars, says Sgt. John Kean of the state police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement office in Pittsburgh.
"I have 4,153 premises that have liquor licenses, and we're not even talking about delis and laundromats that have video slot machines in them," Kean said. "I don't have jurisdiction over them."
Other divisions of the state police monitor gambling at businesses without liquor licenses.
Gambling -- both legal and illegal -- is a lucrative business in Pennsylvania.
"There's literally billions of dollars being wagered," said O'Boyle, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on illegal video poker machines in Pennsylvania's bars and private clubs.
Video poker machines, strip tickets, raffles and punch boards are legal as long as the operators limit individual winnings to $500 a week and pay out no more than $5,000 in a week. But O'Boyle said some jackpots paid out can go higher.
In recent months, the LCE has targeted private and firemen's clubs and bars, citing many for violating the state's gaming laws by either paying out cash on poker machines or exceeding the weekly payout limits.
Among them:
• In March, LCE agents raided the Blairsville VFW, citing the organization for having poker machines and allowing gambling.
• The LCE in April hit the Bloomfield Music & Bocci Club in Pittsburgh and the American Greek Catholic Beneficial Society in Derry, which was cited for allowing gambling.
• In May, the Luzerne Volunteer Fire Department's social club in Labelle, Fayette County, was cited for gambling. A volunteer fire department in McKees Rocks was cited for allowing video poker machines.
• In a 2007 raid on a number of Mon Valley bars and clubs authorities seized 248 machines.
• In April, an Allegheny County grand jury charged officials of two vending machine companies in Elizabeth and McKeesport with running corrupt organizations for sharing poker machines proceeds with the establishments where they were placed.
Not talking
Club officials are reluctant to talk about the alleged crackdown.
Ed Krinock, president of the American Greek Beneficial Society, said the club's attorney advised members not to talk to the media.
"He said the LCE will just come down harder on us," Krinock said.
Some club and tavern owners are convinced that they are being targeted.
"Let's be real honest. What does gambling cut into? Casinos," said Denny Della-Penna, owner of Bruno's in Indiana and a member of the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Tavern Association.
Kean denies the raids are part of a crackdown. "Not at all," he said. "This has nothing to do with casinos."
LCE reports show more gambling investigations but fewer arrests. Arrests declined from 137 in 2002 to 55 in 2006. Investigations, however, increased from 991 in 2002 to more than 1,000 in 2006. The agency conducted more than 1,000 investigations again last year, arresting 41 people and seizing 644 machines.
Kean said arrests can be made only if investigators can prove illegal gambling is taking place. That requires an LCE agent to receive money for winnings or witness another customer being paid off.
Kean said the agency investigates whenever it receives a complaint.
"I have 1,200 poker machines stored in a warehouse since 1996," he said. "We're at an average pace for ourselves. If Joe's Bar and Grill has poker machines and we get a complaint, we're going to investigate Joe's Bar and Grill. If it's a VFW or a social club, we'll go there and check to see if we can prove it's illegal gambling."
Joey DiSalvo, who owns DiSalvo's Station in Latrobe, is president of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association. DiSalvo said his business is food, not gambling, but he doesn't begrudge restaurant owners who rely on the extra revenue from gambling.
"For smaller restaurants, the shot-and-a-beer places, these hard-working mom-and-pops, gambling is part of their landscape," DiSalvo said. "I don't want to see any operators get hurt."
Della-Penna said he would love to have gambling in his bar and restaurant, but it wouldn't make him rich.
"It would generate more revenue. Would it generate $5,000 a week? No. People put in five or 10 bucks. Is it a get-rich-quick scheme for me? Not at all. Now that casinos are legal, we would like to get video poker into bars, restaurants and clubs. Is it going to happen? I don't think so."
O'Boyle said people who play poker machines or buy strip tickets at clubs and fire halls are not likely to gamble at casinos.
"Increasing enforcement is irrelevant," he said. "People who are putting money into machines are doing it because they're out that night. It's strictly recreational. They're not going to get in a car and drive to a casino.
"People who drive to casinos drive to a casino to gamble. Casinos give them better odds and more variety if a person is interested in gambling."
O'Boyle said gambling revenue, particularly for clubs, is vital for survival because it helps pay the bills.
"It is that important to clubs to break the law. They're knowingly breaking the law. If a social club can't offer entertainment and discounted alcohol, people are going to go to a neighborhood bar," he said.
"The revenue is very necessary for them to stay afloat."
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