by KYW's Tony Romeo

Social clubs that raise money for community efforts are the latest battleground over the expansion of gambling in Pennsylvania. 

House Democrat Thomas Caltagirone (Berks County) is sponsoring legislation that would allow struggling veterans groups and other private clubs that raise money for charitable work to have up to five video poker machines. At a hearing on his bill, Caltagirone said there are all types of legalized gambling:

“Why can’t we throw a crumb and some help to our clubs, if they’re going to continue to exist. I don’t know what else we can do (policy makers) to help those clubs.”

But Randall Wenger, an attorney for the Pennsylvania Family Institute, asks, where will policy makers draw the line?

“If we’re willing to turn a blind a eye to the effects of gambling to help charitable organizations, what’s going to stop us from allowing more gambling for all kinds of organizations?”

Saying it’s particularly addictive, Wenger called video poker the "crack cocaine" of gaming.