Daily Archives: March 23, 2017

A coalition led by managment at the four state-owned casinos in Kansas challenged Thursday a House bill modifying state tax and voting law to make operation of parimutuel racetracks with slot machines and simulcast gaming a more attractive investment for billionaire Phil Ruffin and other business moguls.

The House Appropriations Committees hearing on House Bill 2173 invited testimony from opponents who addressed their legal, moral, ethical and regulatory objections.

The legislation was endorsed by horse and dog industry enthusiasts and individuals convinced breathing life into the Woodlands in Kansas City, Kan., Wichita Greyhound Park, or Camptown Greyhound Park in Frontenac would instigate job growth and deliver much-needed revenue to the cash-strapped state government.

Under the bill, the state tax rate on revenue from slot-machine enhanced racetracks would be reduced from 40 percent to 22 percent. In addition, the measure would allow citizens of Wichita and Sedgwick County to participate in a referendum to determine current sentiment for opening a greyhound track despite failure of a similar ballot question in 2007.

Kevin Fowler, a Topeka attorney representing operators of four casinos authorized by the state, said enactment of the House bill promised to embroil the state in protracted litigation over constitutional, statutory and contractual issues and to expose the state to hundred of millions of dollars in financial liability.

The bill seeks to dramatically change existing Kansas law by authorizing closed racetracks to reopen and operate as full-time casinos that will emphasize slot machines and simulcast gaming while providing limited live racing programs, Fowler said.

A significant unresolved issue in the debate is whether amendments to the Kansas Expanded Lottery Act to accommodate racetrack casino investors could trigger a provision in the law requiring repayment of $61 million in fees paid the state, plus interest of $50 million, to companies operating casinos in Dodge City, Mulvane and Kansas City, Kan., and the casino in Pittsburg scheduled to open March 31.

Kimberly Svaty, who represents the Greater Kansas Racing Alliance organization supportive of the bill, said the most prominent critics of the bill were gambling investors wary of competition.

As legislators, the only deal you have before you is what is good for the people of the state of Kansas, Svaty said. You must weigh whether a protectionist policy for state-owned casinos is unfairly holding back one of the oldest and most established industries in the state.

If we are a state that champions private industry and private investment and free competition, she said, we should allow an investor to reinvigorate a key part of our states entertainment and let the people of this state choose with their dollars.

There is a provision in the House bill that would allow a racetrack gaming manager perhaps Ruffin, the former Wichita resident, billionaire and Donald Trump confidante to assume payment of $110 million to meet the states obligation to the four casino operations. Its unclear, however, whether those casino managers would file suit seeking damages related to undermining of their businesses.

There is precedent for amendment of the controversial gaming law narrowly passed by the 2007 Legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

In 2014, Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill that lowered the threshold from a minimum investment of $225 million to $50 million to make it attractive enough to build the Kansas Crossing Casino in southeast Kansas.

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Kansas racetrack advocates betting on gambling reform bill - Topeka Capital Journal

Steve Limtiaco , slimtiaco@guampdn.com 6:57 p.m. ChT March 23, 2017

The building, that formerly housed the Liberation Day carnival casino operations, as seen on Oct. 21, 2016. Games of chance continue to be held at the site, during specific days and times, in celebration of village fiestas, according to signage posted on the building doors.(Photo: Rick Cruz/PDN)

Casino-style gambling and related devices should be banned entirely on Guam, including at the annual Liberation Day Carnival and village fiestas, according to a bill introduced Wednesday by Sen. Telena Nelson, D-Dededo.

The color game and the dice game beto beto,typically found at the Liberation Carnival, but not in the casino,would not be affected by the proposed ban, according to the speakers office, because the bill specifically targets the ability to conduct casino-style gambling.

Bingo, lotteries and cockfighting also would continue to be allowed.

Guam law currently allows all types of gambling at the carnival, and during village fiestas, with authorization from the governor. Nelsons bill would eliminate the governors authority to authorize gambling at those events.

Sen. Telena Nelson is announced as the 34th Guam Legislature's majority whip at the Guam Legislature inHagtaon Dec. 26, 2016.(Photo: Frank San Nicolas/PDN)

We are closing the loophole in the law that permits casino gambling at fairs and carnivals. Nelson said in a written statement, announcing her bill. Public offices are becoming dependent on profits from professionally managed and equipped gambling enterprises at the Liberation Carnival fair grounds that are otherwise prohibited from operating under the laws of Guam.

Speaker Benjamin Cruz, D-Tumon, who co-sponsored the bill, said, The people of Guam have decisively rejected casino-style gambling at the voting booth five times since the year 2000. Its time our laws honestly reflect that fact.

Cruz, a former family court judge in the Superior Court of Guam, said he has witnessed the impact of gambling addiction.

Until you look in the eyes of a child who is forced to sell herself to feed her little brother because her mother gambled away her paycheck, dont tell me addictive gambling is a victimless act, Cruz said.

The casino at the Liberation Carnival fairgrounds at Tiyan is being used by mayors for their village fiestas, with the governors permission, months after the summer carnival ended.

Sen. Mike San Nicolas, D-Dededo, in February introduced a bill to prevent the casino from being used outside of the Liberation Carnival by requiring all fiesta-related gambling to be conducted within the village celebrating the event.

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Extensive gambling ban proposed - Pacific Daily News

By Dara Kam | The News Service Of Florida

TALLAHASSEE - A key House committee Tuesday approved a gambling measure aimed at creating a new agreement with the Seminole Tribe, though a tribe representative recently called the proposal a "non-starter" and major differences remain with the Senate.

The proposal (HB 7037) would continue to allow the tribe to have exclusive rights to operate "banked" card games, such as blackjack, at five of its casinos. In exchange, the Seminoles would have to guarantee $3 billion in payments to the state --- earmarked mainly for education --- over seven years.

Despite the House Ways and Means Committee's 11-7 vote in favor of the legislation, the proposed agreement remains troubled.

The Seminoles have objected that it is unlikely the U.S. Department of the Interior, which must sign off on gambling-related agreements between tribes and states, would approve the deal. And the Senate is expected to approve a bill next week that would be much more friendly to the pari-mutuel industry.

Lawmakers are tackling the thorny gambling issue after a federal judge late last year decided that the Seminoles can continue to offer the blackjack games, even though a 2010 agreement giving the tribe the authority to conduct the games expired in 2015.

Rep. Mike La Rosa, a St. Cloud Republican sponsoring the House legislation, called his proposal a "straightforward bill" that provides certainty for the state's gambling industry which "has been in disarray for the past few years."

But critics objected that the proposal gives short shrift to pari-mutuels. The measure would, among other things, ban popular and lucrative "designated player" poker-style games operated by numerous cardrooms throughout the state, an activity at the heart of the legal dispute between the Seminoles and the state.

"The pari-mutuel industry has been a friend to this state. They've helped provide a lot of dollars for a lot of things to happen. They by-and-large are getting treated less well than they deserve for the service they've rendered the state," Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, said.

Rep. Joe Abruzzo, D-Boynton Beach, said lawmakers need a special session to fully address the gambling issue.

"There's no way the Senate is going to remotely take any of this that doesn't have anything for our existing businesses and pari-mutuels," Abruzzo, a former senator, said.

But Sen. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican shepherding the upper chamber's proposal, was more optimistic.

"It's only week three (of the 60-day legislative session) and at this point I am more focused on the fact that gaming bills are moving than the differences," Galvano, who is slated to take over as Senate president in November 2018, said in a text message late Tuesday.

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House gambling bill gets ok as questions remain - Holmes County Times Advertiser

Smartphones have been hailed in Africa for everything from improving emergency and rural health care to enabling e-commerce and better supply chains. But in some cases, their contribution to improving society may be debatable.

According to the Digital Skills Observatory, a research group funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and run by Mozilla, smartphone usage in Kenya seems to increase the amount of time people spend gambling.

One third of respondents in seven regions of Kenya reported using their phones for betting. In some cases, being able to use gambling apps and sites was the primary reason for getting a smartphone.

Gambling provides them with a (false and risky) promise of better days, the report (pdf. p 49), released notes.

Kenya is home to the third largest gambling market on the continent after South Africa and Nigeria. The explosion of the industry over the last decade has boosted cyber cafes, online betting platforms, makeshift casinos, and imports of inexpensive slot machines from China. Kenyas betting revenues are expected to reach 5.1 billion Kenyan shillings by 2020, a 142% rise from 2014.

Other African countries home to large populations of unemployed youth are also seeing an increase in gambling, especially sports betting. In Uganda, local communities have tried to ban it.

SportPesa, a Kenyan online sports betting platform, was the second most-visited website by smartphone users polled in the projectafter Google and ahead of Facebook. The survey found that three other gambling sites were among the 20 most visited URLs by smartphone users.

Bettors can place wages as low as 10 shillings ($0.10) and use the web to research and place their wagers. Respondents said they used winnings to furnish their homes or buy new electronics. Some believed crime in their neighborhood had been reduced because local men are preoccupied with betting.

Still, the harm appears to outweigh the good. According to the survey, half of respondents spent more on gambling than they earned.

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Smartphones are making Kenya's gambling problem even worse - Quartz

March is Gambling Awareness Month, which aims to educate people about the dangers of addictive play and that there's treatment for those in need.

Nobody starts out thinking theyre going to lose their house, family or commit suicide from an addiction. Yet those are familiar horror stories in the world of problem gambling.

March is Gambling Awareness Month, which aims to educate people about the dangers of addictive play, ways it can be prevented and that theres treatment for those in need.

A Wilmington man working as an administrator at the Delaware Council on Problem Gambling decided to share his story about the dark side of gambling addiction and how it nearly cost him everything.

For whatever reason, I just thought I was a defective human being, said the former gambler, who requested anonymity. I grew up in a very loving home. I didnt have any addicts for parents. I didnt have anything in my past that would suggest maybe this is why I acted the way I did.

The Wilmington man began gambling when he was 18 and living in New York, where hes originally from. It was 1973 and he and his friends bet on horse racing at Belmont Park, home to the third and final leg of the Triple Crown.

At the time, he said, betting was for recreation, and he only did it at Belmont a total of three or four times.

Wasnt really a problem

In 1982 he was 27 and in his final year of law school at Widener University. His gambling had increased tenfold. He said hed travel to Atlantic City about six times a year. And he lived close to Brandywine Raceway in Wilmington, so hed go there about 24 times a year.

It was a form of entertainment to get away from school, he said. It wasnt really a problem.

The same year he graduated law school, he also got married and began working at a law firm.

He said sometime around the late 80s or early 90s he started to lose lots of money gambling. The more his career progressed, the more stressful his job became. So gambling became his coping mechanism.

Adding to the stress: becoming a proud father to two young children.

Although his wife had always known he gambled, the man said he wasnt telling her how much he was losing. While he didnt keep track of how frequently he was gambling at this point, he did say he was spending a minimum of $300 per visit at the casino.

Sometimes if Id lose that, Id hit the ATM and get out a few hundred dollars more, he said. Thats what led me to not be open and honest.

Its easy for gamblers to hide their habit because there arent any physical signs or symptoms. Nonetheless, he said, it could still prove devastating.

Despite his frequent loses, he said it wasnt an issue to him because he was earning six figures from his job.

I was making good money, he said. But I was also spending. Through gambling, I was wasting a lot. I rationalized it saying, hey, we live in a nice home. My wife drives a nice car. Were used to going on vacation. Shes not really lacking anything. So whats the harm?

The truth, however, is that it was harmful.

We couldve had a lot more for our kids college educations, he said. But I just thought this is the price that we have to pay for me to be able to continue with a high-stress job.

Money is crack

He said he was able to keep his wife in the dark about his habit because he handled their bills and finances, which is common among closet gamblers.

His wife first learned of his addiction in 2007. The mans brother, who was his accountant, told him he owed tens of thousands of dollars. His brother told him to break the news to his wife.

Obviously, as you could imagine, it caused a lot of turmoil in our relationship, he said. I had promised and swore to her I wouldnt gamble anymore at that point.

But those were empty words.

I couldnt stop. And I continued to gamble and continued to lie more, he said. I continued to be deceitful and exploit the trust my wife had in me as a spouse, because I felt I needed to gamble in order to function.

He said his addiction was so bad that winning didnt really matter. He instead got his high off of gambling itself.

When you get to the point when you are a disorder gambler, the money is secondary. The money is basically our crack, he said. Thats what we use to get high.

And that meant more debt.

Once you are in such a deep hole, you come to the point where you assume youre never going to get out, so it didnt matter anymore, he said.

Escape

He hit rock bottom when he suffered a mental breakdown in the summer of 2015. His debt ballooned to six figures.

I was contemplating suicide, he said. I reached the point where I was either going to kill myself or take a flight to a country where there was no extradition agreement within that state, and Id never see my family again.

He said he thoughtfully considered death for months. But on the day of reckoning, he decided to come clean to his family, because he didnt want to leave them behind.

He checked into the Rockford Center, a psychiatric facility in Newark. He was there for a week. On the same day he was discharged, Aug. 3, 2015, he attended his first Gamblers Anonymous meeting.

For the first time, I heard people sharing their experiences and emotions and what they went through. And I totally connected, the Wilmington resident said. I found there were people that were from my planet. That gave me hope that maybe I still had value as a human being.

He said it wasnt until he quit playing that he learned gambling addiction is a mental disorder. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association classified problem gambling as a non-substance-abuse-related disorder in edition five of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The APA is the leading psychiatric organization in the world and has members in 100 countries, according to its website.

After the Wilmington mans first GA meeting, he spent six to nine months working on his recovery. This included going to GA meetings four times a week and meeting with a therapist.

He was prescribed Naltrexone, a medication that substance-abuse addicts use to decrease their urges.

He said he also gave up his legal practice in August 2015, because the high stress on his job is what led him to addiction.

He instead took a job at the Delaware Council on Problem Gambling in late 2016. Hes heard heartbreaking tales about people with gambling addiction.

I know people who have actually attempted suicide and ended up hospitalized, ended up in comas for weeks and had to relearn how to do their daily activities, he said. I know people that had to live in their cars because theyve had their homes taken away.

Fellow Delaware Council employee Charles Sygowski echoed those tales.

Ive talked to people whove definitely had their cars repossessed or had gone to foreclosure on a mortgage or were kicked out of apartments or houses they were renting, said Sygowski, DCPG director of office administration.

This August the Wilmington man will celebrate two years of abstinence. Although he quit playing, he doesnt condemn casinos.

Ask me if I think gambling should be illegal and I think the answer is no, he said. Just like I dont that because there are alcoholics that we should ban alcohol. Most people gamble for recreation.

Through all of his gambling troubles, the mans wife and adult children have stuck by his side. He still is six figures in debt, but he said hes not worried, because hes happy.

This is the best time of my life, he said. It sounds like a real Hollywood ending, but its absolutely the truth. First of all, I became a grandfather six months ago. And I think how close I became to missing that. Its pretty chilling.

Prevention

The DCPG relies on educating people about ways they can prevent themselves from becoming problem gamblers.

This includes going into high schools. The councils director of office administration said students should be aware of the dangers of gambling, similar to the effects of doing drugs or drinking alcohol.

Research shows that the brain is not fully developed until your early 20s, Sygowski said. We advise or try to make kids aware that it is to their advantage to wait until they are of legal age before engaging.

Dover Downs Hotel & Casino advocates for responsible gambling. Steven Keener, assistant vice president of casino operations, said its important for guests to recognize when theyve reached their limit.

When the fun stops, when they are at the property too long, they should recognize it is time to call it a night, Keener said. Customers judgment is used when it is time to leave a ballgame, an evening out at a dinner or any other events. A guests judgment will serve them well at these events, including the casino.

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A bet with your life: Gambling addiction - Hockessin Community News - Hockessin Community news

A new gambling deal is creeping forward in the Florida House, but serious doubts remain that any deal can get done before the legislative session ends in May.

A wide gap exists between the House bill and a proposed deal in the Senate. Adding to the difficulty, the Seminole Tribe of Florida opposes both bills.

The House gambling bill, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee on a largely party-line vote of 11-7 on Tuesday, essentially keeps the current regime in place, with a few important updates.

The original deal with the Seminoles, signed under Gov. Charlie Crist in 2010, covered 20 years but gave the tribe the exclusive right to blackjack for the first five years.

But after 2015, the tribe kept right on dealing. Thats because it maintained that so-called designated player games, blackjack-like card games that the state allowed to take place at parimutuels, were too similar to blackjack and therefore violated the 2010 agreement. Such a violation allowed the tribe to have blackjack through 2030, and after back and forth lawsuits between the tribe and the state, the courts agreed with the tribe.

Under the House gambling bill, these designated player games would end. The bill also would end long-dormant gambling licenses and would up the amount of money the Seminoles owe to the state each year.

According to tribal spokesman Gary Bitner, the Seminoles are on track to pay $306 million to the state this fiscal year.

But the House bills sponsor, state Rep. Mike La Rosa, R-St. Cloud, said his bill would require the Seminoles to pay $325 million the first year of the deal and more in subsequent years, for a grand total of $3 billion in the first seven years.

In return, the Seminoles would get nothing more than they already have.

A similar payment plan, created under a proposed gambling deal Gov. Rick Scott hatched with the tribe last year, would have given the Seminoles the exclusive right to craps and roulette, but the Legislature didnt approve the deal. This years Senate bill keeps those terms.

The House bill also would not allow parimutuels to stop horse or dog racing but continue operating casinos, and would not allow counties to bring in slot machines upon voter approval, two things the Senate bill also allows.

This seems like the one area where its OK to restrict business, Ways and Means vice chairman Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, said of the House bill. I dont believe in all cases that that is fair and right.

Abruzzo called for a special session specifically on gambling issues, or else a constitutional amendment.

Getting a compact signed with the Seminole Tribe is our first goal, La Rosa said. Unfortunately, the actions of others have undercut the deal and cut the revenues we receive.

La Rosa said the state now receives about $250 million a year, considerably less than the $306 million the tribe says it will pay this year.

According to Bitner, the tribe has continued to make the same payments to the state, despite the court decisions in its favor.

While the Seminoles would appear to pay more and get nothing in return under the House deal, the tribe also opposes the Senate deal because of the expansion of slot machines. Voters in eight counties, including Palm Beach, have already approved slot machines in their counties. And in some cases, parimutuels that would get slots under the Senate deal would be in direct competition with Seminole-owned casinos.

The House bill has one more hearing before going to the floor for a vote. The Senate bill has already cleared committees. But its only after the bills reach the full House and Senate, when the two chambers have to iron out a bill that the tribe will agree to, that the game truly begins.

dsweeney@SunSentinel.com, 954-356-4605 or Twitter @Daniel_Sweeney

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Gambling bills inch ahead, but agreement is elusive - Sun Sentinel (blog)

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

Would the president consider suggesting to one of his own staff that they should apply?

"Ability to detect fake news."

That's just one of the necessary characteristics for a job opportunity that will surely entice thousands of applicants.

Posted by Irish gambling site Paddy Power, the job title is one that would spawn one of the world's great business cards: Head of Trump betting.

Please imagine how that would go down at networking events.

The job description on the Paddy Power Betfair job board (Paddy Power and Betfair merged in 2016) is written with marvelous sleight of hand and tongue in cheek.

For example: "We are looking for a Head of Trump Betting to manage our newly launched 'hub' of specials around the president. We're looking for a marriage of more convenience than Donald's to Melania."

Which is swiftly followed by: "With more than 100 special bets online, the successful candidate will monitor and manage existing Trump markets while devising new specials to launch. They will also need to build a wall around the hub to ensure foreign bets don't get in."

You might think this job sounds easy. Please consider some of the Trump bets that are already on the site.

Currently, Trump is a 3-1 shot to be impeached this year. North Korea stands as the 9-1 favorite for its citizens to be banned. Ireland is merely a 100-1 shot.

Already existing as a Trump Special is: "The UN to relocate their headquarters outside of the US during Trump's presidency." That's a 9-1 shot. Also at 9-1 is "Trump to have a US Navy ship named after him."

Perhaps, then, the imagination required in this job will only give some candidates a sinking feeling.

You might think this job rather frivolous, a mere PR exercise. In some sense, that might be true. But as Paddy Power explains in the job description, this requires technical acuity, as well as personal strength.

Here's one accountability point: "Being able to harness high volumes of data using real-time trading applications in a high-pressure environment when timing will always be of the essence. Or, failing that, an ability to make something up on the spot and stand by it resolutely, shouting down anyone that disagrees."

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

There must be some temptation, however, for those on the inside who already leak a little, to take advantage of some of these bets, given their insider knowledge.

Here are three more current bets that might sway insiders.

"Trump to convert to Scientology" is at 25-1. "Trump to re-open Alcatraz as a working prison" stands at 14-1.

For the more daring, at 100-1 is: "Joe Biden meets Trump at an event and punches him right in the face."

Technically Incorrect: Bringing you a fresh and irreverent take on tech.

Batteries Not Included: The CNET team reminds us why tech is cool.

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Gambling site seeks 'Head of Trump betting' - CNET - CNET