SEARCH NEWS:

 

D.C. Casino Supporters Meet Petition Deadline

WASHINGTON, DC – As reported by the Washington Post: "Supporters of a plan to bring slot machines to the nation's capital ended their five-day petition drive yesterday claiming that they had collected more than 50,000 signatures and had met the legal requirements to get the issue on the November ballot.

"As organizers submitted the forms to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics just before a 5 p.m. deadline, the president of the California company hired to run the petition effort said he was confident that at least 17,599 of the signatures -- the minimum needed to put the gambling proposal before voters Nov. 2 -- were from registered D.C. voters.

"…The petition push, which did not begin until Thursday evening, has been dogged by opponents' allegations that many of the signatures were gathered illegally. Anti-slots activists said they plan to argue before the board that many petition circulators were not D.C. residents, as required by law, and that campaign workers made false statements about the initiative to get people to sign the forms.

"But Angelo Paparella, president of Progressive Campaigns Inc., based in Santa Monica, Calif., said he expected that more than 20,000 of the signatures collected would be ruled valid.

"…The initiative would ask voters to approve a plan to install as many as 3,500 video lottery terminals in an entertainment complex to be built on a 14-acre site at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road NE…"

< Gaming News