Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation

Mission

We have dedicated ourselves to a fundamental national reform –an America where no taxpayer dollar is used by government to lure citizens into gambling away their money and becoming slaves to debt; where no agency or entity of government depends on gambling to fund its activities; and where no legislature, whether in the name of economic development or raising revenue, passes laws to promote or sponsor gambling.

Government’s experiment with gambling has failed. It stands as one of the biggest public policy failures of the last forty years. The time has come to get government out of the gambling business so we can pursue a fairer, healthier and more hopeful vision of the path to American prosperity.

A 501c3 non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C, Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation is a national transpartisan coalition of more than one million citizens and groups from diverse backgrounds, religious faiths, political convictions, and life circumstances.

History

The roots of the movement began forming in the early 1990’s as state and community leaders challenged efforts to bring commercially exploitive forms of gambling into their communities. Tom Grey, a Rockford, Illinois resident who fought against a proposed casino in his community, emerged as a leader for the movement representing a diverse national coalition of groups and individuals.

As the movement continued to grow, Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation was formed in 2008. We are the most diverse movement in the nation, an affirmation that most Americans share basic core principles and values regardless of their position along the political spectrum.

Dr. Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Civil Rights Movement and biographer of Martin Luther King, was the keynote speaker at the launch of Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation held at National Harbor, Maryland in September 2008. Below is the video of Branch’s address. He begins to specifically speak to the government policy of predatory gambling after the 6:00 mark. Daniel Hunter of Casino Free Philadelphia was invited to introduce Branch. A special thanks to Casino Free Philadelphia for filming the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M3xPTacNsHk