Casino-Free happy hour Friday, May 11

Five years of fighting for a better Philly! Join us next week for a look back and to discuss plans for the future!

Casino-Free Philly Happy Hour
Featuring banners, photographs and artwork from five years of our work together!
Next Friday, May 11, 5:00 to 8:00 PM
The A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Avenue in West Philly
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We'll have light refreshments, and we invite you to bring something to share if you like.

If you have photographs of Casino-Free actions over the years that you'd like to contribute to the slideshow that evening, please contact us to let us know. If you have banners, signs, flyers or other material that you'd like to contribute, please bring it to the event! After our evening together concludes, the collected materials will be featured in an upcoming social change exhibit curated by Spiral Q.

Many of us will also be at The A-Space on Thursday evening at 7:00 PM, when long-time Casino-Free organizer Daniel Hunter will be reading excerpts of his forthcoming book on the movement.

A look back and a leap forward

We know many of you are anxious to learn about the state of predatory gambling in Philadelphia and how we can continue the fight. At the happy hour next Friday, we'll have informal conversations about next steps, and invite those who are interested to help us plan our next campaign.

In addition to the proposed casino on North Broad, the casino license formerly granted to Foxwoods in South Philly may be "up for grabs" in the near future.

While many legislators are discussing allowing the license to be granted anywhere in the state, Mayor Nutter -- who once opposed any casinos in Philadelphia -- said he'll do "everything he can" to keep the license for a second casino in Philadelphia. With City Council President Darrell Clarke also in favor of a second Philly casino, it will once again fall to our communities to do the hard work of defeating these predatory institutions in our neighborhoods.

We'll remind you that it was your hard work that sent one Philly casino development into financial free fall and caused the other "successful" bid to open at one-third its predatory size.

We've done this before, and we can do it again!