Philadelphia Inquirer Scolds Pennsylvania PSA About Unattended Children
The Philadelphia Inquirer has come out in opposition to the state’s vast expansion of commercial gambling after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) launched a campaign to address the ongoing problem of gamblers leaving children unattended in their vehicles while they gamble.
Earlier this month, the PGCB debuted a series of public service announcements (PSA) under the campaign, “Don’t Gamble with Kids.” The state gaming regulator initiated the PSAs after incidences involving unattended children left in vehicles outside casinos in the commonwealth spiked 60% this year from 2021.
“Never leave your kids alone when you go into a casino. Even if you win, someone still loses,” one of the PSA warns. “Don’t be a parent who takes a bad gamble.”
Inquirer: Casinos Partially to Blame
The Philadelphia Inquirer is the most circulated newspaper in Pennsylvania. And in a Sunday op-ed from the paper’s Editorial Board, the media outlet scolds the PGCB for not addressing the real problem.
“The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has a silly solution for a serious problem,” the op-ed began. “Scores of customers at local casinos continue to leave kids locked in their cars while they go inside and gamble.
So how does the gaming board plan to address this life and death issue? With public service announcements. Is that the best the Gambling Control Board members — who get paid $145,000 a year to meet once or twice a month — could come up with?” the board questioned.
The Inquirer editorial team says the real problem is the state’s ongoing expansion of gambling. It began nearly two decades ago in 2004 when Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell signed off on allowing state horse racetracks to house slot machines.
Since then, Pennsylvania has undergone several additional rounds of gaming expansion leading to the state today being the second richest gaming jurisdiction in the nation behind only Nevada. Pennsylvania is home to 16 brick-and-mortar casinos, iGaming, retail and mobile sports betting, daily fantasy sports, and video lottery terminals inside truck stops.
The Inquirer op-ed goes on to say that the casinos and PGCB share some responsibility for unattended children outside casinos.
“Casinos are not passive businesses. They aggressively market to their patrons, offering reward points, discounted meals, and coupons for free play,” the editorial continued.
The newspaper’s editorial team says instead of warning gamblers about leaving their kids in cars, the state should be doing more to help problem gamblers.
“Running public service announcements will not stop the social ills spurred by reckless government policy,” the op-ed concluded.
Website Errors
The PGCB might not have spent an abundance of time assuring that its “Don’t Gamble with Kids” website is free of errors. On the homepage, the PSA’s opening paragraph has a rather glaring spelling mistake, as “car” is spelled “care.”
Leaving a child in your care [sic] unattended while gambling in a casino is a serious issue that occurs far too often in Pennsylvania. In fact, this is happening to hundreds of kids a year at casinos throughout the state. You read that right. Hundreds!” the “Don’t Game with Kids” website says of “The Issue” at hand it seeks to remedy.
The PSA video on YouTube also isn’t exactly going viral, as the 30-spot has less than 200 views nearly three weeks after it was posted.
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