Louis DeNaples, a billionaire who lives in northeastern Pennsylvania founded the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County but gave up his ownership rights to the casino in 2009, in exchange for perjury charges against him being dropped. DeNaples worked out a deal that required him to transfer ownership of the casino to a family trust.

Before acquiring a casino license the billionaire  invested a lot of money and effort in establishing his Mount Airy after demolishing historic structures and turning it into a resort that had a popular nightclub, shopping centre, golf course, spa and a number of other entertainment facilities. DeNaples allegedly lied to regulators about his ties to organized crime. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board went on to suspend his gaming license and DeNaples was later accused of four counts of perjury. He ended up severing his ties with the Mount Airy casino in order to get the charges dropped.

Since then DeNaples has tried on two separate occasions to see if he could once again establish business interests with the Mount Airy Casino Resort but state gambling regulators have rejected his requests. The billionaire recently submitted a new petition to state gaming legislators stating that his company will be able to provide the Mount Airy Casino Resort a number of goods and services at a considerable lower price when compared to what the casino is paying right now. The attorney that represents DeNaples wanted the authorities to take into consideration that the criminal charges that were once filed against DeNaples were dropped.

The state gaming board considered DeNaples request and completed a vote on his proposal which ended up 4-3 with the majority in favour of having DeNaples do business with the Mount Airy casino. Even though the majority are in favour of DeNaples, Richard Jewell who is a legislative appointee voted against DeNaples and as a result, the gaming board has rejected his second request. This is because the laws that govern the gaming board voting process state that a super majority is needed to get a motion approved.

According to a recent report, DeNaples had recently applied to become a service provider to the Mount Airy Casino Resort and had used his influence to limit the usual background check that is performed on service providers. The state gaming board’s enforcement division has strictly cautioned all board members to conduct thorough background checks and not let any service provider influence the background check verification.