Louis DeNaples

Did gaming board break law?

May 14th, 2008, posted by RobHop

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.’‘  read more »

GOP Urges Special Investigation of Denaples Affair

March 19th, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

A group of Republican House members hope to form a special committee with the power to subpoena documents and witnesses to determine how a Scranton businessman won a slots license despite being under a criminal investigation.

The Republican members are taking the move after being frustrated by conflicting testimony about Louis DeNaples from members of the state Gaming Control Board and the head of the state police.

“We have two state agencies saying two diametrically opposed things,” said Rep. Curt Schroder (R., Chester), who is drafting the resolution. “We just feel we need to get to the bottom of it and find out really what happened.”

DeNaples Scandal Becomes Political Football

March 17th, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

Lawmakers preparing to launch a review of how the state awards its lucrative casino licenses may have to deal with the question of whether to explore the conflicting testimony they heard in recent weeks from gambling regulators, who licensed DeNaples, and state police, who charged him.

Attorneys for DeNaples, 67, who opened Mount Airy Casino Resort in October, maintain that the Scranton-area businessman is innocent and are contesting the four perjury charges.  read more »

Corbett Should Investigate Knowledge of DeNaples's Background

March 10th, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

But will Corbett be so quick to interfere after receiving thousands in campaign contributions from DeNaples?

Corman said the Senate has an obligation to find out if either the state police or Gaming Control Board was being untruthful in testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee about casino owner Louis DeNaples.  read more »

DeNaples Pleads Not Guilty on Charges of Perjury

February 7th, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

‘‘He’s innocent and is requesting a jury trial.”
Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he lied to the state Gaming Control Board about his alleged ties to organized crime.

DeNaples, who was charged Jan. 30 with four counts of perjury, was arraigned by Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover and released on his own recognizance, said DeNaples spokesman Kevin Feeley.

No date was set for a preliminary hearing, said Feeley, and DeNaples was not required to turn over his passport.

Gaming Board Orders Trustee for Mt. Airy Casino

February 5th, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

Anthony F. Ceddia, a former president of Shippensburg University and a former bank director, has been named as trustee for Mount Airy Casino Resort until owner Louis DeNaples’ legal troubles are resolved.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, over DeNaples’ objections, voted today to put Ceddia at the helm of the facility in Paradise Township, Monroe County.

Ceddia was president at Shippensburg from 1981 through 2005, according to Forbes.com. He’s been a director at Orrstown Financial Services Inc., Shippensburg, the Web site says.

PA Gambling Laws 'Haphazard' and Invite Scandal

February 1st, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

Pennsylvania’s haphazard venture into legalized gambling has hit its first major scandal in almost the amount of time it takes a senior citizen to blow through a couple rolls of quarters on a slots machine.

The indictment Wednesday of Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis A. DeNaples on charges that he lied to state Gaming Control Board investigators about mob ties and other shady associates came a little more than a year after the state licensed its first casino.

The charges are an embarrassing black eye but hardly a surprise given the rush to get the casinos rolling.  read more »

DeNaples Tried to Shift Slots Holdings to Children

February 1st, 2008, posted by Greg Palmer

I don’t believe in coincidence.

Two months before Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples was charged with perjury and his gaming license was suspended, he asked permission to hand the reins — and finances — of his slots parlor to family members.

A grand jury was investigating whether he lied about ties to organized crime as he filed the reorganization papers. But DeNaples told state slots regulators his request was based on business reasons, not legal concerns.

‘‘This was for succession planning … not because of anything happening with the Dauphin County grand jury,’‘ DeNaples’ spokesman Kevin Feeley said. ‘‘The timing was more coincidental.’‘

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