When Penn President Amy Gutmann checks her mail in the near future, she might see letters from students urging her to take a stance against the plans for the new casinos in Philadelphia.
Last night at the Rotunda, College senior and Daily Pennsylvanian copy and design assistant Lauren Ladd and College junior Jeannie Tso outlined negative consequences of the proposed casinos and urged the audience members - many of whom were Penn students - to write to Gutmann to express their concerns about the potential new gambling outlets.
The event was sponsored by Casino-Free Philadelphia, for which Ladd and Tso are interns.
Ladd and Tso stressed a number of reasons why the two proposed casinos - which are to be located in Chinatown and on the Waterfront - would do more harm than good for Philadelphia. The most emphasized reason was that the casinos engage in "predatory" tactics that promote gambling addictions.
The casinos make most of their money from a small percentage of customers, many of whom have gambling problems, according to Ladd and Tso.
As a result, Tso said, "the casino industry tries to create new addicts" and encourages people to "play to extinction" through practices such as 24-hour operations and serving customers free alcohol.
Ladd and Tso also discussed the economic disadvantages to the casinos during their presentation.
While elected officials describe the casinos as revenue-generating enterprises, Ladd and Tso said they could hurt local businesses and put people out of work because people will spend money at the casinos that could have been spent elsewhere.
Ladd and Tso concluded the event with pleas to Penn students to become more invested in the debate over the casinos.
Many Penn students may not get involved because they are not invested in Philadelphia's long-term development. However, Tso said the establishment of casinos in Philadelphia could encourage a trend of casino-establishment in more cities across the country.
Ladd added that students should not feel that the casinos are inevitable, because "they're not a sure thing."
In addition to providing paper for the attendees to write letters to Gutmann, Ladd and Tso encouraged students to engage in discussions about the casinos with their friends.
They also promoted a future Casino-Free Philadelphia event in June where people will go to a casino and engage in potentially disruptive activities, such as playing the games slowly and asking the casino employees questions, to make a point about casino-industry practices.
Those who attended the event thought it was a good effort in the fight against the casinos.
"I'm excited to see that people are taking action against casinos in Philly," said Jeff Rouset, a 2007 Drexel alumnus who was at the event. "I think casinos will destroy people's lives."
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