Six state lawmakers called Tuesday for the state attorney general to investigate whether state gaming regulators broke the law when they, according to sources, ordered their investigators to change a background report on Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples.

The lawmakers are asking whether the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is allowed to directly influence and oversee the work of its Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement. The state’s slot machine law, the lawmakers said, makes the bureau independent of the board.

Gaming board spokesman Doug Harbach said the agency is ‘‘confident that it has complied with all legal requirements applicable to the licensing process of all slot machine applicants.’‘

The lawmakers — all Republicans questioning an agency overseen by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell — sent copies of their request for a probe to the state police, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.

At a news conference, the lawmakers said they were moved to act after a story Sunday in The Morning Call. The newspaper, citing sources, reported that BIE revised its background report on DeNaples at least six times after gaming board Executive Director Anne Neeb and general counsel Frank Donaghue reviewed each draft and objected to BIE’s findings as inconclusive, unsubstantiated or hearsay.
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