PRESS RELEASE

CHESTER, PA: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s Director of Racetrack Gaming, Melinda Tucker, is the recipient of the inaugural Mary Lib Miller Award for outstanding contribution to the Commonwealth’s harness racing industry.

The award was presented to Tucker at the Department of Agriculture’s first annual Celebration of Pennsylvania Harness Racing dinner at Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack. In announcing the award, the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission, which operates under the Department of Agriculture, stated that “everyone in harness racing should be glad for Melinda Tucker and thankful for the important role she plays.”

Tucker assumed the role of Director of Racetrack Gaming in 2005 after working in Louisiana as an assistant attorney general and as a regulator of the gaming and horse racing industries. The Harness Racing Commission singled her out for her work in Pennsylvania as both a liaison between the legalized slots gaming and racing industries, and for her ability to assure the common interests of both the harness and thoroughbred racing industries are being addressed.

“It has not taken her long to establish that she is a very able, strong administrator, determined to oversee the equitable distribution of funds legislated by the ‘Slots Bill’,” according to text from the dinner program. “She asks tough but fair questions, is knowledgeable about the structure and operations of racing, and she has been a leader willing to work with the racing industry to get tasks accomplished to maximum win-win effect.”

The Mary Lib Miller Award was named after the wife of late Harness Racing Hall of Famer Delvin Miller. Referred to as the “first lady” of Pennsylvania Harness Racing, Mrs. Miller has worked for years as one of the true ambassadors of that sport.

A biography of Melinda Tucker is available on the Gaming Control Board’s web site at www.pgcb.state.pa.us under the About PGCB/Executive Staff tab.

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