HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and state police soon will begin checking the background of an Indiana firm that's seeking a slots license to build a racetrack and casino west of New Castle in Lawrence County.

Board Chairwoman Mary D. Colins said yesterday she hopes state police investigators will share with the board's Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement "any relevant information" they may uncover about Centaur Inc., the Indianapolis gaming/racing company that wants to create the $400 million project along Route 422 near the Ohio border.

Ms. Colins wants to avoid another situation like the one that has developed regarding northeast Pennsylvania businessman Louis DeNaples, owner of the Mount Airy Resort & Casino in the Poconos, which opened in October.

When the board granted Mr. DeNaples a slot machine license on Dec. 20, 2006, it didn't know that state police were investigating whether he had lied under oath to state officials in August 2006 about whether he'd had dealings with some reputed organized crime figures.

State police maintain they are prevented, by law, from sharing such information with a "non-law enforcement agency" such as the gaming board. Doing so, said police spokesman Jack Lewis, "could compromise the outcome of that investigation."

But Ms. Colins, a former Philadelphia Common Pleas judge, said that in her opinion, the Criminal History Record Information Act doesn't forbid state police from simply acknowledging the existence of an investigation.

Cyrus Pitre, the gaming board's chief enforcement counsel, said Ms. Colins is correct.

With the background probe of Centaur to start soon, Ms. Colins said, "I hope the state police won't repeat what occurred with Mount Airy and would advise the board ... through the [Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement], if there was an ongoing criminal investigation" regarding Centaur. So far, there's been no hint of any such investigation.

Ms. Colins talked to reporters after appearing at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on her 2008-09 budget request of $34.7 million.

She said she knows state police can't disclose specific details of their criminal investigations. But she maintained that the criminal information act "doesn't stop them from letting the gaming board know that they may have relevant information that could be important to the licensing process."

She said the board almost certainly would have delayed awarding a slots license to Mr. DeNaples if it had known state police were investigating possible perjury by him.

A Dauphin County grand jury took over the investigation of Mr. DeNaples in 2007, which led to four perjury charges recently being filed against the casino owner. Until those charges are resolved, the gaming board has forbidden Mr. DeNaples from setting foot in his casino or having anything to do with its operation.

Mr. Lewis said state police will cooperate as much as possible with the gaming board, but there are limits. State police will give the board "information that can be shared with any noncriminal justice agency."

But ongoing criminal investigation information can't be shared with unauthorized agencies, he said. Such investigations sometimes include unfounded rumors or suspicions which eventually prove to be false.

"The mere existence of an investigation does not mean that the subject of that investigation has been involved in criminal wrongdoing," Mr. Lewis said.

State Rep. Douglas Reichley, R-Lehigh, asked Ms. Colins if the gaming board had looked into the personal finances of Pittsburgh casino builder Don Barden, who, according to news media reports, once had $11 million in gambling losses.

Board officials said Mr. Barden has financial resources far greater than his gambling losses, and has already secured the $400 million in funding he needs to build the Majestic Star, so he is financially stable.

Mr. Reichley claimed the DeNaples and Barden cases illustrate why his legislation, House Bill 1450, is needed. It would give Attorney General Tom Corbett lead responsibility on all background probes of casino applicants. Gaming board investigators and state police would report to him.

That way, Mr. Reichley said, state police, the FBI or any other police agency could inform the gaming board of the existence of a criminal investigation, because the attorney general's office, unlike the board, is an official law enforcement agency.

As for the upcoming inquiry into Centaur, its history and principal officers, gaming board official David Kwait promised "a very thorough and complete background investigation into their financial viability. We will dispatch agents to Indiana or any other place on earth where information about these principals may reside."