Casino licenses granted without adequate background checks

Matt Birkbeck and Christina Gostomski of The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa) report that the Gaming Control Board is giving out casino licenses to owners and suppliers of Pennsylvania's casino industry without checking each person's complete criminal background. Though the original plan was to have the Pennsylvania State Police control the investigations because only law enforcement agencies can gain access to sensitive information, "such as whether an applicant has ties to the mob or is being looked at by the FBI." However, the background checks were instead left to the responsibility of a "new investigative bureau that doesn't have the authority to obtain nonpublic protected criminal and intelligence information." The full report details the history of this controversy and what problems have arisen as a result of it.