Historian: State-sponsored predatory gambling antithetical to democracy

People in Philadelphia are against casinos for many reasons. One reason is that predatory gambling fundamentally threatens the most important founding principles of our American democracy, sharply undermining the principles of equal citizenship, self-government and accountability. On September 26-27, 2008, several members of the leadership of Casino-Free Philadelphia participated in the annual convention of the national anti-casino group Stop Predatory Gambling, which was held in National Harbor, Maryland. During dinner on the first evening, we were treated to a keynote address by Mr. Taylor Branch, the world-renowned historian and an author of many books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning trilogy "America in the King Years," which is widely considered the definitive history of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement.

Introducing Mr. Branch was our very own Daniel Hunter, a co-founder of Casino-Free Philadelphia. The theme of the presentation is that state-sponsored predatory gambling is antithetical to the core values of democracy and equal citizenship. Please take about 20 minutes and watch this video. We are pleased to note that two days after giving this speech Mr. Branch accepted the special Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

Taylor Branch speaks about predatory gambling from Casino-Free Philadelphia on Vimeo.