Monthly Archives: March 2017

Five University of Richmond baseball players were suspended for betting money on sporting events, an NCAA spokesperson told ESPN on Thursday. The wagering was done on gambling websites.

The amounts wagered by the players were believed to be small and there were no indications of point-shaving or game-fixing, a source familiar with the case told ESPN. It was not revealed which sports the players were betting on.

Richmond announced the suspension of five baseball players on Feb. 17, and initial reports indicated the bans were due to involvement in fantasy sports. The NCAA now says those reports were inaccurate.

"According to the facts of the case submitted the University of Richmond, the baseball student-athletes wagered money on sporting events using gambling websites," an NCAA spokesperson said Thursday. "Contrary to previous media reports, these cases did not include fantasy sports wagering."

Richmond announced Thursday that four of the players had been reinstated and were eligible to return to action next week against George Washington. The fifth player will be reinstated prior to the 2018 season, the university said. The university did not identify the players.

"We appreciate the efforts of our compliance department and NCAA staff in getting this matter resolved," Richmond athletic director Keith Gill said in a statement released Thursday by the university. "We will continue to work with the NCAA and our compliance staff to identify strategies for our student-athletes to avoid future NCAA rules violations"

Follow this link:

Richmond baseball bans were for online gambling - ESPN

Pro golfer Phil Mickelson dropped a good five percent of his salary on gambling debts in 2012, it emerged in Manhattan federal court on Thursday.

In Sept. 2012, Mickelson forked over close to $2 million for gambling debts to professional gambler Billy Walters, according to documents presented at Walters insider trading trial on Thursday.

That year, the PGA winner earned $48 million, the same court document said.

The sneak peak into Mickelsons gambling habit was presented to a Manhattan federal jury charged with deciding whether Walters illegally traded on stock tips he got from a director pal at butter company Dean Foods. Walters has plead not guilty.

The feds claim that Walters passed some of those allegedly illegal tips to Mickelson known to fans as Lefty in July 2012, at a time when Mickelson owed him money for gambling.

Mickelson earned close to one $1 million on the trades, documents showed. A few months later, the golfer handed Walters $1.95 million, documents showed.

Mr. Mickelson owed similar debt to Mr. Walters in the past, prosecutor Brooke Cucinella told the jury.

Mickelson agreed to return $1.1 million in a deal he cut with financial regulators. He was not charged with wrongdoing and has said he will not be called to testify at Walters trial.

Read more:

Phil Mickelson once spent nearly $2M to pay off a gambling debt ... - New York Post

Getty Images

As the NFL tries to balance a love of Las Vegas with a loathing of the primary activity that goes on there, what if the league also secretly lusts after gambling?

Sure, Commissioner Roger Goodell is saying all the rights about gambling being the wrong thing for the NFL. Just like he previously was saying all the right things about Vegas being the wrong place. In addition for being paid to be the pin cushion for owners who prefer rich and famous to rich and notorious, Goodells compensation package includes taking positions that he knows he eventually may have to abandon as gracefully as possible. Or not gracefully at all.

Really, what has been the cost of Goodells about-face on Las Vegas? Has anyone said anything critical about Goodell for saying one thing and doing another? Hell, inconsistency or word and deedpractically become the way of the world.

So Goodell can continue to say gambling is bad until the owners decide thatgambling is good. And then Goodell can start saying gambling is good, without ever acknowledging that he regarded gambling as bad.

When the owners (and in turn Goodell) decide that gambling is good, what happens next? Behind the scenes, efforts will be made to eliminate the federal law that prohibits the expansion of sports betting beyond the states where it currently happens. (The NFL has used that law to block the expansion of sports betting in states like Delaware and New Jersey.) When that push becomes public, well hear a lot about states rights and other situationally convenient philosophiesthat will justify America telling the United States that they can set up sports books if they want.

Then, the various states will begin to adopt betting on sporting events, one at a time until as many that will ever do it have done it. Then, as many NFL teams as possible will begin to find a way to make money from sports betting.

The process could culminate at some point (maybe years from now, maybe decades) in the ability of a fan/bettor to access a team or league website or app and quickly and cleanly (and legally) place a bet.

For a successful business that constantly wants to find ways to make more and more (and more) money, theres a revenue stream that has been flowing to people other than NFL owners since the day the sport was born. Every year, billions are changing hands via wagering on NFL games, without the NFL getting a cut.

The move to Las Vegas represents a clear statement that, eventually, it will.

Continued here:

What's the NFL's end game with gambling? - NBCSports.com

Operators have been warned to act to halt a sharp decline in the number of customers who believe gambling is fair. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

The Gambling Commission, which regulates all betting and gaming in the UK, has delivered a damning verdict on the gambling industrys procedures for resolving complaints and disputes and warned that operators must act now to halt a sharp decline in the number of customers who believe gambling is fair and can be trusted.

The commissions findings were published on Thursday, a year after the introduction of an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme for the gambling industry. The first step for any gambler in a dispute with an operator is to raise it with the company which accepted the bet. But, if the issue cannot be resolved, the customer can pursue it further with one of 11 ADR providers approved by the commission.

In a report Complaints Processes in the Gambling Industry to assess how the scheme is working, the commission says the amount and quality of information supplied to customers about dispute resolution varies widely from company to company and that information supplied to the commission is not always accurate, as is required by an operators licence.

The commission also finds that some punters are unable to pursue complaints because their dispute is about the way a gambling business is being run, rather than the outcome of a transaction. It promises to look at our definition of disputes to make sure ADR providers look at the widest range of complaints about a gambling transaction, words that could offer hope to the increasing number of punters on racing and other sports who find their bets are being refused or restricted to tiny sums by online bookmakers.

In a foreword to the report Sarah Harrison, the Gambling Commission chief executive, notes that our survey data tell us that 61% of respondents who gambled during 2007 thought that gambling was fair and could be trusted [but by] 2016, only 38% of respondents agreed. The commission has also seen a 300% rise in contacts from members of the public in two years, to a record 77,000 in 2016.

For most racing and sports punters the relevant ADR is the Independent Betting Adjudication Service, although the historic Tattersalls Committee still arbitrates on disputes between gamblers and on-course bookmakers.

As a first step towards streamlining the disputes process, the commission will introduce an online tool called Resolver, currently in use in a number of sectors including energy supply and public services such as the Passport Office. This promises to lead users stepby-step through the process of lodging a complaint and resolving a dispute.

The commission report could mark the start of a difficult few months for Britains bookmakers, as the industry is also the subject of an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority into potential breaches of consumer law, including misleading promotions and unfair terms.

The CMA report is expected to be published within the next few weeks, while companies with betting-shop chains are also awaiting a review of FOBT gaming machines, which is expected to recommend a sharp cut in the maximum stake from the current level of 100.

This is conclusive proof the new regime at the Gambling Commission are listening, Brian Chappell, a long-standing campaigner on issues affecting punters via the website justiceforpunters.org, said on Thursday .

The continual pressures on the regulator mean punters are now moving towards being treated like other consumers. When you combine this report with the likely outcome of the CMA investigation, its fairly obvious that the ways these companies operate will have to be dramatically different in future.

George Baker, who suffered bleeding on the brain after a fall at St Moritz in Switzerland in late February, was reported to be making really good progress in his recovery from his injuries in a bulletin on his condition issued by the Injured Jockeys Fund on Thursday.

Baker, the winner jockey aboard Harbour Law in last years StLeger, was riding at one of StMoritzs famous meetings staged on a snow-covered lake when his mount suffered a fatal injury and fell. He was initially treated in a local trauma unit before returning to Britain at the beginning of March to continue treatment at the Wellington Hospital in London.

George has made really good progress in the last week, the riders wife Nicola said in the IJF statement, and the doctors are proposing that in two or three weeks time, he will move to another rehabilitation centre nearer to home.

Morando, the ante-post favourite for Saturdays Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster, will miss the race after suffering a minor setback at the yard of his trainer Roger Varian on Thursday morning. A full field of 22 was declared for the race a few hours later, and Roger Charltons Yuften, who has been drawn in stall 14, now heads the market at 9-2.

Fontwell Park

2.10 Benatar 2.40 Clondaw Banker 3.10 Flanagans Field 3.40 Tara Bridge 4.10 Carnspindle 4.40 Remember Forever 5.10 Dell Oro

Wetherby

2.20 Master Of Finance 2.50 Chestnut Ben 3.20 Magic Dancer 3.50 Treat Yourself 4.20 Manwell 4.50 Ardea 5.20 Duc De Beauchene

Lingfield Park

2.00 Captain Courageous 2.30 Right Action 3.00 Our Channel 3.30 Stepper Point 4.00 Amanto 4.30 Anonymous John 5.00 Ajman Princess

Newcastle

5.45 Mazaaher 6.15 Cheval Blanche 6.45 Multicultural 7.15 Athollblair Boy (nb) 7.45 First Excel 8.15 Little Miss Daisy 8.45 Indian Pursuit (nap)

Link:

Gambling Commission delivers damning verdict on dispute procedures - The Guardian

Subscribe today for full access on your desktop, tablet, and mobile device.

16

Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about

New York now has more than a dozen casinos or racetracks with video-lottery terminals.

Try Another

Audio CAPTCHA

Image CAPTCHA

Help

CancelSend

A link has been sent to your friend's email address.

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Lindsey Riback, Albany Bureau Published 5:38 p.m. ET March 30, 2017 | Updated 14 hours ago

Tioga Downs officially opened its new gambling floor and poker room on Dec. 2, marking its first day as a full casino.(Photo: ANDREW THAYER / Staff Photo)Buy Photo

ALBANY New York now has more than a dozen casinos or racetracks with video-lottery terminals, so problem gambling is a growing concern.

To address the issue, the state on Thursday said it will create seven problem gambling resources centers across New York.

The state announced requests for proposals to provide up to $4.7 million in annual funding for gambling outreach, education and treatment services across the state. The funding will include $3.3 million allocated to create the resource centers.

This funding will help educate the public on gambling addiction and help ensure those in need of help receive access to the resources and treatment they need,Cuomo said in a statement.

The centers run by the organizations selected will be responsible for coordinating with local gambling facilities to provide information and referrals to patients.

The money for the centers is partially funded through $500 annual license fees that New York casinos must pay for each gambling table and slot machine in their facility.

Three upstate casinos are open, including Tioga Downs in Nichols, with a fourth set to open in the Catskills next year.

The fees from the casinos go into the "Commercial Gaming Revenue Fund," which was created in 2013 after the state legalized casino gambling at a November referendum.

The organizations picked to run the centers would get a five-year contract with state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

The first two centers are expected to open in the Finger Lakes and the North Country in May 2018.

The governor also issued a proclamation Thursday as Problem Gambling Awareness Day in New York.

The full request to run the centers can be found atoasas.ny.gov/procurements/documents/StatewideProblemGamblingServicesRFP.FINAL033017.pdf

Read or Share this story: http://press.sn/2oE22GK

0:20

1:11

0:49

0:56

0:32

0:38

1:09

0:55

1:00

1:04

0) { %>

0) { %>

The rest is here:

More casinos, more problem gambling centers - Pressconnects - Press & Sun-Bulletin

Researchers based at the University of Massachusetts Amhersts School of Public Health and Health Sciences identified 11 factors that correlate with problem gambling, including demographics.

People with a gambling problem are most likely to play the lottery each day and have a greater portion of friends and family who gamble themselves, a study has found.

The report, based on a survey of almost 10,000 Massachusetts residents, was released Thursday at a meeting of the state Gaming Commission.

Advertisement

Researchers based at the University of Massachusetts Amhersts School of Public Health and Health Sciences identified 11 factors that correlate with problem gambling, including demographics. Blacks, immigrants, and people with less education are more likely to be problem gamblers, researchers found.

Other predictors of problem gambling, defined as those who have significantly impaired control over their gambling and the negative consequences as a result, include being male, gambling online, and having other addictions.

Get Fast Forward in your inbox:

Forget yesterday's news. Get what you need today in this early-morning email.

Rachel Volberg, a principal researcher on the study, said the findings will guide prevention and treatment programs.

Its a road map for how the state should go about addressing problem gambling, Volberg said. What this study shows is that some groups are at greater risk for problem gambling and that they may warrant special attention.

Volbergs previous research found that about 2 percent of adults in Massachusetts are problem gamblers.

Advertisement

The survey, mandated under the states 2011 casino law, asked respondents about their health behaviors, attitudes toward gambling, gambling participation, problem gambling, and demographics. They then analyzed the data to identify factors that best predict problem gambling.

The findings come as construction continues on two resort-style casinos in Everett and Springfield and lawmakers ponder whether to allow the state lottery and other forms of gambling to operate online.

Under the states casino law, a portion of revenue from slots machines and table games at the MGM Resorts casino in Springfield, set to open in late 2018, and the Wynn Resorts casino in Everett, slated to open in 2019, is earmarked for problem gambling programs. Plainridge Park Casino, a slots parlor in Plainville that opened almost two years ago, also finances such programs.

The survey, touted as the largest problem gambling survey ever conducted in the country, is intended to establish a baseline for comparison as casino gambling becomes more prevalent in Massachusetts.

The survey did not ask respondents directly whether they considered themselves problem gamblers. Instead, researchers identified likely problem gamblers by analyzing their answers to a dozen questions on gambling habits and found correlations with other behaviors and factors.

See original here:

Daily lottery play linked to gambling addiction, study finds - The ... - The Boston Globe

Theres going to be a gambling measure on this falls ballot but there doesnt have to be just one.

A lot of people in Maine have raised a lot of good questions about Horseracing Jobs Fairness, the self-serving York County casino ballot campaign. So its a slap in their face that the firm thats funding the campaign hasnt presented satisfactory answers. By choosing to send only an unprepared attorney to this weeks public hearing on the casino bill, Bridge Capital has thrown down the gauntlet, and lawmakers should respond by crafting a competing measure that gives voters a real choice at the ballot box this fall.

Though its touted as a citizen initiative, the ballot question, if approved, would grant a casino license only to someone who owned at least 51 percent of a commercial racetrack in Penobscot County in 2003. In other words: Shawn Scott, a major player in the development of Hollywood Casino in Bangor. Hes also a principal at Bridge Capital, the offshore investment firm that is funding the casino referendum campaign.

Invited to testify before the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Bridge Capital sent Dan Riley, an attorney theyd hired just before the hearing. He didnt have much information to offer about his brand-new client though he was able to confirm legislators suspicions that Bridge Capital intends to sell its rights to the casino if this falls ballot question passes, despite the framing of the measure as evidence of a commitment to bolstering Maines ailing harness racing industry. Nobody spoke in favor of the bill except Riley.

Backers collected enough signatures to put the casino proposal on the November ballot, so lawmakers cant keep the measure from being put to voters. The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committees only other option is to recommend that the Legislature adopt the measure without a referendum.

So despite its obvious shortcomings, the Horseracing Jobs Fairness measure will appear on this falls ballot. But that doesnt mean that it has to be the only such bill on the ballot. Lawmakers have the authority to amend the proposal so that the application process would be opened up and the state would get a bigger share of the proceeds. Then that version of the bill could be put before the people of Maine alongside the original.

Citizens could vote in favor of the original, or they could support the amended initiative. If neither option receives more than 50 percent of the vote, there would be a runoff to determine which one would become law.

The original Horseracing Jobs Fairness bill is a citizen initiative in name only, enabled by a Legislature that has taken a passive approach to the regulation of gambling for far too long. This has to change. Amending the casino referendum and sending it to this falls ballot will mean more work for Maine lawmakers, but its the route they should pursue.

Read more from the original source:

Our View: Maine voters deserve a real choice of gambling bills - Press Herald