By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“A new state law regulating “small games of chance” is prompting a large uproar from veterans, fraternal and firefighter clubs, who use such small-scale gambling to raise funds to run their organizations and give aid to local charitable groups.

“Several Pittsburgh-area legislators are leading the charge to repeal the law’s new record-keeping and reporting requirements, reports that must be sent to the state starting in February.

“Rep. Peter Daley, D-Washington, and other critics say many fraternal clubs — Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, AmVets, volunteer firefighters, Elks, Moose and Sons of Italy — lack the staff to compile records and will have to increase operating costs, meaning less aid to the community, such as food banks, youth groups and park improvements.

“One new requirement will force clubs to keep records of the names and address of anyone who wins more than $100 and also to withhold income taxes on winnings and send them to the state. They would also have to report the total amount won by bettors each week.

“Mr. Daley said the clubs would be hurt financially by the new regulations on the ‘small games of chance,’ such as sales of raffle tickets, picking numbers from ‘punchboards’ and buying sealed tickets called ‘pull-tabs.’

“Before legislators voted on the bill in January, ‘nobody sat down and looked at all the issues and how it was going to affect the clubs,’ said Russell Miller, Fayette County American Legion commander, whose club is in Connellsville.

“He wrote a Nov. 25 letter to Legion district officials and said the small-games law ‘is hurting numerous veteran clubs. … Many of our posts in District 24 are on the verge of closing because they aren’t making enough money to pay utilities, wages and other overhead.’

“Mr. Miller said the new law adds to the damage the poor economy has done to the fraternal clubs.

“Mr. Daley claims the law ‘wasn’t properly vetted with fire and fraternal groups’ before being approved in January, adding he has collected 4,000 petition signatures demanding changes.” To continue reading this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article in full, click here.

Click here to read more about The Pennsylvania Local Option Small Games of Chance Act.