Daily Archives: September 22, 2021

Generation X are heavy, risky drinkers. Will anything ever persuade us to stop? – The Guardian

Posted: September 22, 2021 at 3:10 am

My first job in journalism was editing a free magazine called Rasp. In 1995, we ran a competition for a years supply of Two Dogs lemon brew, the Australian alcopop. Two Dogs tried to send us 365 bottles, and I negotiated them up to 1,000, indignant that a bottle a day could constitute a supply. It is the only time Ive ever played hard ball. Nobody entered the competition because we didnt have any readers, and nor did we have any staff. The two of us, me and the designer, drank the whole lot in the space of two months. A constant drip feed of 4.5% ABV, all day. If anybody asked there was a much larger team upstairs running TNT, a freesheet for expat Australians wed say it was a British tradition, going back to medieval times, when workers would sip ale because of the contaminated water supply. But medieval ale would have been more like 0.5%, they might have protested, except they were also constantly drunk, and at lunchtime wed all go to the pub, 60 people in crocodile formation marching down the street, like a misbegotten nursery outing.

So the cliche of the drunken journalist happens to be true, but in the early 90s it was also true of teachers. Dave Lawrence, 56, co-author of Scarred for Life, of which more shortly, remembers his teacher training: There was a pub across the road and at lunchtime, all the teachers would head over there, and all afternoon they would reek of booze. It wasnt really sectoral this was just generation X. Colin Angus, a senior research fellow in the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group, is 39. Hes not generation X, which is usually defined as those born between 1965 and 1980. But in his pre-academic career in electrical wholesaling, Everyone was always talking about the good old days of long, boozy lunches.

I packed that magazine with drinking antics: the music reviews, the vox pops, the features. It was all basically about booze, except once I did something on what was the most reliable contraception for people who were rarely sober (spoiler: not the mini-pill). On the back page, I gave my dad a column called The Old Imbiber, and even though we pulled in no readers that we were looking for, some expat Australians did read Rasp, and any time he went into a pub with Aussie bar staff, he would be recognised, and they would invite him behind the bar to pose with his mouth under an optic. It tickled him like a trout.

That was just some anecdata for you: in generation X, we never felt as though we were drinking more than our parents, because they drank a hell of a lot, and were relatively free of ancillary taboos, such as drink-driving. As for hard facts, theres a chart that shows the proportion of each generation that drinks five or more nights a week, says Bobby Duffy, the professor of public policy and director of the Policy Institute at Kings College London, as well as the author of The Perils of Perception: Why Were Wrong About Nearly Everything. One-third of the prewar generation drank five nights a week. Its 0.2% of generation Z [those born between about 1995 and 2012]. Its one of the strongest cohort effects he can name: Its almost religious. But within that very steady downward trajectory, there are complications. Drinking five times a week doesnt necessarily constitute harmful drinking. In terms of risky drinking, theres a really strong Office for National Statistics chart, a bulge going through the age range that more or less tracks generation X.

For his part, Angus, is careful to preface his own research with its limits: HMRC knows exactly how much alcohol is being sold, so you can easily get a per capita amount of litres of pure alcohol a year. We know that peaked in 2004, but if you want to know who was doing the drinking, thats trickier, because HMRC doesnt care. Researchers rely on self-reported figures, which tend to exclude the very heavy drinkers, who arent interested in your surveys, but also downplay everyones drinking, since they ask about a typical week, and most people dont look back on their binges and think, Yes, thats absolutely classic me. If we add up how much everyone says they drink, you get to 60% of the amount of alcohol we know is sold, Angus concludes, And thats quite good there are other countries where its more like 30%.

So the steady climb up to that 2004 peak poses the question: was every generation drinking more, or were we looking at a cohort of very heavy drinkers? One overlooked feature is that it was mainly driven by wine-drinkers, who in 1950 were so rare they were basically weirdos, and 50 years later were, unit for unit, matching beer drinkers. Over a shorter period, 30 years, the pub-to-home ratio flipped; at the start of the 70s, 70% of drinking was done in pubs, by the early 00s, 70% was done at home. Its not untrue, Angus says cautiously, to say men tend to drink beer in pubs and women tend to drink wine at home. So the rise in drinking seems to centre on gen X women, or, to give us our proper title, ladettes. But ignoring gender for the time being, why that gen X bulge in the first place?

Many of us will remember the 90s for the liberalisation regulatory and commercially of alcohol. Supermarkets embarked on aggressive price reductions wine-makers to this day regard UK grocery behemoths with a combination of contempt and fear as the market for home drinking grew, while later in the decade, the brakes were lifted on pub opening hours. There was a lot of doom and gloom in alcohol policy circles, Angus recalls, when Tony Blair said, Im going to relax licensing laws and were magically going to get a European cafe culture of drinking. We were never going to acquire another countrys drinking culture.

In the event, hardly anywhere took up the 24-hour drinking capability that New Labour allowed. However, everything felt very easy getting served whatever your age, getting a drink whatever the time, everything as cheap as chips. Most of this is also true now (in England, at least; Scotland in 2018 and Wales in 2020 embarked on minimum pricing), however, and millennial drinking patterns are very different.

To understand the culture, you need to go back to the 70s and 80s, formative years for generation X. Dave Lawrence and Stephen Brotherstone are authors of Scarred for Life (volume three is out soon). On paper, you might expect this compendium of the TV and media themes of the time to be very nostalgic and affectionate. But thats because you dont remember the time. The crushing sense of economic decline was a constant on TV Brotherstone flags up the documentary Tees Street Isnt Working, made in 1985, about a street in Birkenhead on which not one person had a job, except the guy who worked in the Jobcentre.

Lawrence remembers his own experience of job-seeking in the mid-80s laughingly: I got a letter back saying, We had so many applications for this job that we had to do a lucky dip to send the forms. Unfortunately, you were not lucky. The popular memory of the 80s is neon and Bucks Fizz, but the reality was the feeling that nothing and nobody would work again, waiting for the world to end. And lets not forget the nuclear threat, which permeated not just popular culture as a storyline in everything from Judge Dredd to Only Fools and Horses but mainstream education. We had a geography lesson where we learned what the damage would be if a bomb dropped on Liverpool city centre, says Lawrence. We all knew which concentric circle wed be in. Brotherstone remembers having his first panic attack about nuclear war at 13.

I used to think this was just me and other people whose mothers were quite Greenham-y. But it was all of us, and then our sexual awakenings bisected the Aids crisis, which was portrayed as a black death that the sexually active pretty much deserved. We came of drinking age, then, with an understandable degree of nihilism which tipped into the carefree 90s. A generation which had abandoned hope had its cares lifted apparently at random; the quest for oblivion met an age in which everything was fine and nothing mattered (remember post-irony?), and a fair amount of chaos ensued.

Enter third-wave feminism: I felt really strongly about this, and still do. A critical point of emancipation was that we werent the wimmins libbers of caricature, fighting the fight for other, oppressed women we were fighting for ourselves, for the right to be delinquent, to be ungovernable. Chrissie Giles, the global health editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the presenter of the podcast Smoke Screen, compares the environment in which we grew up shes 41, Im 48 to the temperance movement in the US. The good woman was a non-drinker who was a counterpoint to the man, who drank. A woman who drank to excess was mad, bad, sad. What was wrong with her?

Sloughing that off was really fundamental to asserting a destiny, one in which you werent the designated driver to your legitimately pissed man, just as you werent the gatekeeper to sex, you had your own sexual desires, which were also sometimes unmanageable; one in which you didnt just exist to manage mens excesses or fall prey to them. It was a flashpoint in the fissure between libertine and rule-bound feminism, occurring in tandem not by accident, I dont think with the exuberant ladette culture embodied by Sara Cox and Zo Ball.

Ladette, says Giles, is not a shortening of lady. Its a lengthening of lad. If the choice was between male agency and female restraint, many of us chose agency. There was a moral panic around female drunkenness at the time there was a famous shot of a girl passed out on a bench, Angus recalls. Shes known affectionately among alcohol research circles as Bench Girl. She was used to illustrate stories about alcohol use for about 15 years, he says. From an alcohol harm perspective, that was never the problem. The problem was middle-aged people quietly drinking too much at home.

Simultaneously, this emancipation became a marketing opportunity: pubs which used to be hallowed, male spaces, steamed-up windows and fag-burnt carpets, where women were stared at became tailored to women, with sofas and big windows. It was win-win; the All Bar Ones and Fox and Firkins didnt put men off, since they liked to be places where women were. Who knew? A syncopated change happened in advertising; Carol Emslie, the substance-use lead at Glasgow Caledonian University, describes it as a move from sexualising women to sell alcohol to men, to associating alcohol with sophistication, empowerment, female friendship (Emslie runs a social media campaign #dontpinkmydrink. After she mentions it, I notice this everywhere: pink gin, pink prosecco, even drinks that arent pink are packaged in pink). If emancipation through alcohol is a real thing, so is female solidarity: Giles makes a subtle, sweet point. Weve all been in the toilets of a club, and someone will be like are you alright? Have you got someone with you? That feeling of being looked after. Im not sure how that is for men.

Theres one other factor: the odiousness of comparison. Or, to put that more simply, generation X was never that extreme, its just the millennials, or generation sensible, are making us look bad. They drink less overall, and are more likely to renounce drinking altogether. Generation Z drink less still, though arguably, give them a chance: the oldest of them are in their early 20s and the youngest only 13. Internationally, the differences are less stark because the peaks were earlier in France and Italy, drinking peaked in the 60s, in Spain, the 70s, various countries hit a high in the 80s. It was quite unusual to hit a peak in the early 00s.

Why subsequent generations have quit drinking is a question for another day, although Melissa Oldham, 30, a research fellow at UCL working in alcohol and tobacco research, will kick us off: One explanation is that theres been a change in attitudes, which might in part be a reaction to previous heavy-drinking generations. There are hypotheses around economics and habituation the student years are not as carefree when youre heavy with debt, so people may not build the habits of binge drinking, which they then wont take into adulthood. One other thing Oldham notes: People are so cynical: they say millennials are just taking drugs or smoking weed instead. But thats not the case: weve seen declines in all drug use.

Whether we were scarred by Thatcherism, powered by emancipation, hardened by our habits, or all of these things and more, theres no question that the heavy drinkers of generation X are now deeply out of fashion and getting further from vogue all the time. But will this actually change our behaviour? The impact of social media TikTok and Instagram in particular are havens of clean living, stacked with temperate role models and slogans proselytising sobriety is more complicated than monkey see, monkey do. Even if it werent for echo chambers (my feeds, for instance, dont feature much physical purity, since Im mainly on Twitter, with the rest of my generation), Oldham counsels, the findings of social media are so mixed that you cant tell a lot from them. Emslie, who notes that putting up the price of alcohol in Scotland reduced the number of deaths, is confident that reducing marketing also has an effect, and a three-pronged approach would work. Action from government, from organisations like the Scottish womens football association, which wont accept ads from alcohol companies, and from grass roots campaigns like the Soberistas might shunt us to a place where were questioning whether we really want to associate alcohol with every single aspect of our lives.

But although the case is made strongly and often against risky drinking, Im not sure, at our great age, it would be possible for nudge impacts to denormalise regular, enthusiastic social drinking.

Fashions change. But can we?

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What We Do in the Shadows S03E04 A Ring-A-Ding-Ding Affair: Review – Bleeding Cool News

Posted: at 3:10 am

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This week's episode of What We Do in the Shadows, "The Casino", takes our vampires on a little road trip to experience the debauchery and bacchanalia of the famous "Sin City" itself Atlantic City. Yeah. Well. It's a start. With the twists and turns, it seems it might be harder to make it back than imagined. It was another great episode to add to the season's quality run supported by excellent performances and some truly great writing. I love the layers that it has added to the characters and how it has fleshed out new sides of them we had not seen before.

In this week's episode of What We Do in the Shadows, Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), and Colin (Mark Proksch) get invited by their neighbors on a road trip to Atlantic City to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Quick side note: I liked the use of the starting credits to show the travel portion. My favorite thing this season so far has been Nandor's concern to make Guillermo (Harvey Guillen) feel like part of the team. He even stood up to Laszlo and Nadja to make sure they understand he is no longer a familiar. Their awkwardness at trying to seem like they care was hysterical. I loved their faces and their poor tries. In particular, Laszlo did an excellent job looking to connect with Gizmo and I think Guillermo was pretty close to coming out to them if they had not been interrupted.

However, things take a turn when they are unable to slumber and realize their ancestral soil has disappeared all because Colin got distracted and the cleaning lady vacuumed it all up. Now Guillermo has to go on a journey to find the ancestral soil from each of their birthplaces. Seeking money to get Guillermo the plane tickets he needs, Laszlo ends up concerned about ruining the greatest friendship of his life in the process and it is actually pretty adorable to see him care. Also, their descent into madness and nihilism was pretty funny- like when Nandor's world gets turned upside-down after learning about "The Big Bang Theory" after playing a The Big Bang Theory-themed slot machine. Colin explains to him the concept of the creation of the universe and he learns that what he believed for 750 years was all a lie, having him believe there is no point to anything anymore. Bonus points for dropping a Sir Terry Pratchett/"Discworld" reference during Colin and Nandor's exchanges.

I have to say that the weakest storyline in this episode of What We Do in the Shadows was Nadja and the Rat Pack. We know Laszlo is the one who is bad with faces. However, it seemed weird to me that she would not take into account the aging process. Clearly, she is aware of it considering the older lady she encountered in the previous season. Right as they were giving up on life, Guillermo arrives with the soil and puts together a plan to save the financial situation Laszlo's friend found himself in due to gambling. They managed to pull an Ocean's 11 and gather money to pay off the friend's debt. I think that is the nicest thing they have collectively done for someone else since the show started (even if their Ocean's 11 scam turned into a scene from Rocky crossed with Halloween).

Before it ends, our vampires present Guillermo with a wrinkled doily saying he is a good bodyguard. Once again, Laszlo is the one that always gets me with his little gestures. Berry is just amazing, and he presents Laszlo in ways that make him more than just a one-note horndog. I do think it is a great step to help Guillermo start feeling like a part of the gang, especially after seeing how much they really need him on these past few episodes. I am looking forward to seeing where this new interest in Guillermo's life and family goes and what happens when he starts opening up to them for real.

What We Do in the Shadows Season 3 Episode 4 "The Casino"

Review by Alejandra Bodden

8.5/10

This week's episode of What We Do in the Shadows, "The Casino", takes our vampires on a little road trip to experience the debauchery and bacchanalia of the famous "Sin City" itself... Atlantic City. Yeah. Well. It's a start. With the twists and turns, it seems it might be harder to make it back than imagined. It was another great episode to add to the season's quality run supported by excellent performances and some truly great writing. I love the layers that it has added to the characters and how it has fleshed out new sides of them we had not seen before.

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What We Do in the Shadows S03E04 A Ring-A-Ding-Ding Affair: Review - Bleeding Cool News

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Gambling – History | Britannica

Posted: at 3:08 am

Gambling is one of mankinds oldest activities, as evidenced by writings and equipment found in tombs and other places. It was regulated, which as a rule meant severely curtailed, in the laws of ancient China and Rome as well as in the Jewish Talmud and by Islam and Buddhism, and in ancient Egypt inveterate gamblers could be sentenced to forced labour in the quarries. The origin of gambling is considered to be divinatory: by casting marked sticks and other objects and interpreting the outcome, man sought knowledge of the future and the intentions of the gods. From this it was a very short step to betting on the outcome of the throws. The Bible contains many references to the casting of lots to divide property. One well-known instance is the casting of lots by Roman guards (which in all likelihood meant that they threw knucklebones) for the garment of Jesus during the Crucifixion. This is mentioned in all four of the Gospels and has been used for centuries as a warning example by antigambling crusaders. However, in ancient times casting lots was not considered to be gambling in the modern sense but instead was connected with inevitable destiny, or fate. Anthropologists have also pointed to the fact that gambling is more prevalent in societies where there is a widespread belief in gods and spirits whose benevolence may be sought. The casting of lots, not infrequently dice, has been used in many cultures to dispense justice and point out criminals at trialsin Sweden as late as 1803. The Greek word for justice, dike, comes from a word that means to throw, in the sense of throwing dice.

European history is riddled with edicts, decrees, and encyclicals banning and condemning gambling, which indirectly testify to its popularity in all strata of society. Organized gambling on a larger scale and sanctioned by governments and other authorities in order to raise money began in the 15th century with lotteriesand centuries earlier in China with keno. With the advent of legal gambling houses in the 17th century, mathematicians began to take a serious interest in games with randomizing equipment (such as dice and cards), out of which grew the field of probability theory.

Apart from forerunners in ancient Rome and Greece, organized sanctioned sports betting dates back to the late 18th century. About that time there began a gradual, albeit irregular, shift in the official attitude toward gambling, from considering it a sin to considering it a vice and a human weakness and, finally, to seeing it as a mostly harmless and even entertaining activity. Additionally, the Internet has made many forms of gambling accessible on an unheard-of scale. By the beginning of the 21st century, approximately four out of five people in Western nations gambled at least occasionally. The swelling number of gamblers in the 20th century highlighted the personal and social problem of pathological gambling, in which individuals are unable to control or limit their gambling. During the 1980s and 90s, pathological gambling was recognized by medical authorities in several countries as a cognitive disorder that afflicts slightly more than 1 percent of the population, and various treatment and therapy programs were developed to deal with the problem.

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Do I owe taxes on my gambling jackpot? – NJ.com

Posted: at 3:08 am

Q. Im retired and live on Social Security. I hit a small jackpot of $1,205 on a $1 bet. Do I have to remit income to the IRS even if Im still below the taxing limit?

Lucky

A. Congratulations on your gambling winnings.

Whether you will owe taxes to the IRS depends on whether you are required to file a tax return in 2021.

Assuming you are single, you need to file a tax return this year if your gross income is more than $12,400, or $14,040 if over age 65, said Gail Rosen, a Martinsville-based certified public accountant.

Social Security does not count as taxable income, she said, so based on the income you stated, it appears no taxes will be due on your winnings.

Under your scenario, you will not be required to file a tax return for 2021, although you may want to consider filing if you did not receive your $1,400 Recovery Rebate Credit in 2021, she said. Filing a 2021 tax return allows you to receive the Recovery Rebate Credit that you deserve.

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.

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Do I owe taxes on my gambling jackpot? - NJ.com

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Coming out of the sports gambling closet – Kitsap Sun

Posted: at 3:08 am

Jim Moore| Sports columnist

Sports betting is now legal at Washington State tribal casinos, many of which will be open to take your wagers sometime next month. In fact, the Snoqualmie Casino sports book is already operating.Ive seen videos of the sports book there andat the Emerald Queen,and they look very similar to what youd see in Las Vegas.

This is great news and long overdue. I have never understood why sports gambling is illegal when its been OK to place bets on horse racing and spend money on lottery tickets and pull tabs.

You can tell me why its a potential problem because of its addictive nature that leads to compulsive gambling. Ill give you that, but you can have the same issues with liquor and marijuana, and theyre both legally available at a store near you.

Ive been betting on sports for about 40 years. Its the first time Ive publicly admitted this for a variety of reasons. First of all, it wasillegal. Secondly, it just seems to be one of those hush-hush activities you dont want to say much about, particularly in my line of work when I was a sportswriter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and sports talk show host at 710 ESPN Seattle.

Ive bet on games that Ive covered, which I knew was wrong but figured what the hell, as long as my bosses didnt find out about it. This was a bigger concern at the radio station, especially after an edict two years ago instructing the hosts not to talk about alcohol or gambling anymore.

I thought that was crazy since manysports radio listeners were probably fans who liked to drink during games and bet on them, but the station's ownership, Bonneville International, isowned by the LDS Church, and that was their call. It caused the end of a segment I enjoyed doing called The Smokin Lock of the Week, where I would pick one team that was a sure bet, only to typically have it blow up in my face.I was so bad at it that listeners routinely bet on the opposite team and won hand over fist.

But it was all in fun, just like sports gambling is forme. Before the proliferation of offshore gambling sites, I had a bookie. If youre unfamiliar with that term, a bookie is a guy who takes your bets and you settle up with him at a later date.

I lost more often than I won, and that makes sports betting no different than any other form of gambling. Think about it theyre building those big, beautiful casinos with our money, not theirs. Very few consistently win betting on sports. How is that different from playing craps, black jackor slot machines?

Ive always felt like you have better odds picking one team or the other a 50/50 chance, no? comparedto other forms of gambling, and your wager typically lasts longer. Say you bet $50 on a game.That $50 is going to give you three hours of entertainment if you bet on a football game. In craps, that $50 might last only five minutes.

Whats happening here is happening elsewhere in the country more than half of the 50 states have legalized or are in the process of legalizing sports betting. And what I love is that its becoming more acceptable on networks like ESPN, where point spreads are routinely talked about when theyre not flashing in front of us on the ticker at the bottom of the screen.

The NFL has partnered with seven sports books, and were going to see moresports betting ads during football games this season. An estimated $12 billion will be wagered on NFL games at sports books in 2021. The NFL finally and wiselyfigured out that it wants part of that action.

Even if Im not betting on a game, Ive always wanted to know the spread. It just makes it more interesting to me for many reasons I like thinking about the guy who bet a bundle on a game and is sweating it out in the last two minutes or just getting an idea of how much better the oddsmakers think one team is than its opponent.

If I told you I was a recreational sports bettor, youd probably tell me Im kidding myself, and maybe I am. I do know that some things are in the back of my mind all the time my mom telling me about my grandfather losing their house once in a card game and the fact that Im unemployed, making it even dumber to blow money on acant-win-over-time endeavor.

I typically bet $10, $20 or $40 on a game now. But I made some ridiculous wagers a long time ago. At the end of the NFL playoffs during the 1984 season, I was up $1,200 on my bookie and decided to let it ride on the Dolphins +3 against the 49ers in the Super Bowl. San Francisco won 38-16 and I cant remember what I felt worse about losing the $1,200 or a friend of mine mocking me the entire game for being stupid enough to bet on Miami.

Its always baffled me that sports betting has been considered taboo and yet fantasy football is universally accepted even though its technically gambling too. Youre just betting on players instead of teams and somehow thats perceived to be OK.Same thing with March Madness pools.

It feels good to come out of the sports gambling closet, and Ill just bet tsk, tsk that many others feel the same way.

Jim Moore is a longtime Pacific Northwest sportswriter and sports radio personality, and writes a regular column for the Kitsap Sun. Contact Jim atjimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.comand follow him on Twitter@cougsgo.

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Coming out of the sports gambling closet - Kitsap Sun

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Gambling addiction: What you need to know and what to look out for – KTIV

Posted: at 3:08 am

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - When it comes to gambling, addiction doesn't just affect the gambler, but that person's family and friends, as well.

Annie Meier is the compliance manager at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino- Sioux City. She said their team is trained to look out for signs of gambling addiction, like upset or anxious guests.

"We train our staff so that they know how to handle somebody if somebody comes in and has an issue with gambling. We know where they're supposed to go to get help. We have brochures and different cards that we can hand out for them to help if they choose to do it," said Annie Meier, Compliance Manager.

If you think your friend or loved one, might be addicted to gambling, there are signs to look out for.

"They're secretive about things. They're not opening up about where they're at, or what they're doing. Money may become missing at home. Maybe a child's birthday fund, or a house payment, a car payment. That kind of stuffed gets missed because the money is disappearing. You also want to look for that they might be angry or upset about things that seem out of line with how they normally are," said Meier.

Meier said, if you're looking for help, Rosecranse Jackson Centers in Sioux City offers services.

If you're not in Sioux City, 1-800-BETS OFF is a 24/7 helpline that can get you in touch with services near you.

Meier added, there's no shame or judgment when it comes to getting help.

"It affects one percent of the population and it's important for them to know that gambling is supposed to be a fun experience. It's supposed to be entertainment. And if it's not, we need to get these people to get some help," said Meier.

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Ohio For Responsible Gambling taking part in Responsible Gaming Education Week – SBC Americas

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Ohio For Responsible Gambling is taking part in the national effort during American Gaming Associations (AGA) Responsible Gaming Education Week 2021 (RGEW) to increase problem gambling awareness among gaming industry employees and customers.

AGAs Responsible Gaming Education Week, taking place from September 19-25, educates consumers on responsible gameplay and highlights responsible gamings central role in gaming and sports betting.

Lori Criss, Director of Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, stated that RGEW provides an opportunity to offer education to employees of the gaming and hospitality industry, as well as highlight responsible gaming resources available to all Ohioans.

Criss commented: Gambling is a source of entertainment for many, but it can be problematic for some. With so many enticing new ways to access gambling, we want to make sure Ohioans can identify common red flags for friends, families, and coworkers.

Derek Longmeier, Executive Director of Problem Gambling Network of Ohio, declared that people with gambling problems have a 15 times higher risk of suicide and higher levels of drug and alcohol abuse. Problem gambling also impacts friends and families, with nine out of ten people impacted by someones problem gambling suffering their own social and emotional stress.

Every Ohioan faces the consequences of problem gambling whether they know it or not, he said.

With more forms of gambling on track towards becoming legal in Ohio, Criss noted its essential for people to know where to get help for those who might be struggling. Two campaigns have helped spread awareness:

Longmeier highlighted the variety of options allowing bettors to self-exclude from gambling, including technology banning products like GamBan, GamBlock, or GAMSTOP to block access to online gambling providers. Ohioans can also exclude themselves from gambling locations in the state and from receiving a propertys mail and email advertising.

Anyone can visit http://www.beforeyoubet.org to access free tips and resources. Ohios Problem Gambling Helpline is available any time of day or night at 1-800-589-9966.

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Karnataka passes bill to ban online gambling – The Indian Express

Posted: at 3:08 am

The Karnataka legislative assembly on Tuesday passed a bill to amend the Karnataka Police Act, 1963 to ban all forms of gambling in the state, including online gambling.

The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced by Home Minister Araga Jnanendra and was passed amid the oppositions scepticism of polices capabilities in tackling new forms of gambling including online betting on sports, online gaming and poker.

The home minister said that the new law was necessary since it has been increasingly difficult for the police to tackle gambling and betting in the context of a recent order from a bench of the state high court at Dharwad which has barred the police from carrying out raids on gambling dens.

There is a lot of gambling happening using electronic devices and this has to be controlled, the home minister told the legislative assembly while introducing the new bill.

The bill aims to strengthen provisions of the Karnataka Police Act to make gambling a cognisable and non-bailable offence and include the use of cyberspace including computer resources or any communication device as defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000 in the process of gaming to curb the menace of gaming through the internet, mobile apps.

The amended law prescribes a three-year jail term for gambling instead of one year and a fine of up to Rs one lakh. The law exempts only bets on horse races from the purview of gambling.

Major gambling is happening in an organised way in many places, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said.

Congress leader Ramesh Kumar said no gambling activity could take place without the knowledge of the police and that efforts should be made to improve police capabilities to tackle the crime.

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Karnataka passes bill to ban online gambling - The Indian Express

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Showing No Signs of Slowing Down, Global Online Gambling Market Expected To Reach A Total Market Size Of $66 Billion In 2025 – PRNewswire

Posted: at 3:08 am

PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Online Gambling Market is another survivor that thrived in during the COVID-19 pandemic. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has led to a sudden rise in the revenues of online gambling service providers, thus positively impacting the overall market growth. According to Google Trends, gambling has moved online amid the closure of physical gambling venues coupled with cancellation of various sports events and tournaments. Accordingto ResearchAndMarkets, the figures show that the online gambling has emerged as one of the biggest winners during the shutdown alongside services such as online retail, food delivery, and subscription services.The report also said, "Increasing number of cost-effective mobile applications to play different online gambling games on smartphones is also contributing to the market growth of online gambling worldwide. Ease of sports betting using a portable connected device such as smartphone, laptop, and tablet has increased the number of players in the online gambling industry. The report projected that the global online gambling market, which was valued at US$44.317 billion in 2019, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.13% over the forecast period to reach a total market size of US$66.994 billion in 2025. Active gaming and tech companies in the markets today include: Esports Technologies(NASDAQ: EBET), NeoGames S.A., (NASDAQ: NGMS), Score Media and Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: SCR) (TSX: SCR), Boyd Gaming Corporation(NYSE: BYD), Penn National Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN).

ResearchAndMarkets continued saying, "Growing popularity of betting across different regions around the globe is significantly driving the global online gambling market. According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), around 2,800 sites are active online and offer games and activities such as poker, lottery, and bingo, as of 2018. Growing adoption of smartphones coupled with rapid penetration of better internet connectivity across various regions/countries is supporting the easy access to various online gambling platforms. With companies offering freemium model to their customers, the number of people engaged in various types of online gambling is rising at a considerable rate which, in turn, is boosting the growth of global online gambling market. Moreover, proliferation of sports betting along with other online gambling ads is further attracting people to try online gambling, thus positively impacting the market growth during the forecast period."

Esports Technologies (NASDAQ: EBET) BREAKING NEWS - Esports Technologies Odds Modeling and Wagering Technology to Integrate with Aspire Global's Platform - Esports Technologies Signs Strategic Deal with Aspire Global - Esports Technologies, a leading global provider of advanced esports wagering products and technology, announced today a strategic license agreement with Aspire Global (STO: ASPIRE) to integrate Esports Technologies proprietary odds modeling, market creation, and trading feed into Aspire's esports platform. Through this agreement, Esports Technologies will have access to Aspire's range of offerings and managed services.

Aspire Global is a leading B2B-provider of iGaming solutions, comprising a robust technical platform, proprietary casino games, a proprietary sportsbook, and a game aggregator. Aspire also operates several B2C brands, including Karamba, the premier showcase of its B2B offering.

Tsachi Maimon, Aspire Global's CEO, said, "We are happy to welcome Esports Technologies as an esports partner. We look forward to providing the esports proprietary solutions for iGaming operators. We are also thrilled to integrate Esports Technologies groundbreaking and engaging wagering products on our platform."

Bart Barden, COO, Esports Technologies, said, "We are at an exciting rapid growth phase, expanding our business across multiple markets and service offerings. When executing on our plan to expand our presence in key markets, Esports Technologies searched for a solution that would allow us to further differentiate ourselves in our goal of becoming a leader in esports wagering and technology. In Aspire Global, we have found a long-term partner that meets our high demands." CONTINUED READ THIS AND MORE NEWS FOR EBET BY VISITING: https://esportstechnologies.com/news/

In other entertainment and gaming recent news of interest:

NeoGames S.A., (NASDAQ: NGMS), a technology-driven provider of end-to-end iLottery solutions, recently announced the rollout of a multi-game progressive jackpot feature in selected eInstant games to be rolled out across its customer base.

NeoGames Studio's progressive jackpot can be implemented flexibly across clusters of eInstant games. The greater chance to win in a shared progressive jackpot heightens the attraction for players, increases overall player engagement and accelerates jackpot growth.

Score Media and Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: SCR) (TSX: SCR) recently announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Score Digital Sports Ventures (Canada) Inc. ("theScore Bet"), has entered into a multiyear agreement with Golf Canada to become its Official Gaming Partner. The exclusive partnership makes theScore Bet the first ever gaming partner for Golf Canada and its prestigious National Open Golf Championships - the CP Women's Open and the RBC Canadian Open.

The partnership, which begins in 2022, provides theScore Bet with access to activate across Golf Canada's high-profile events and large digital footprint. As an exclusive gaming partner of the RBC Canadian Open and the CP Women's Open, theScore Bet will be able to engage fans through a variety of on-site activations, including creating members club experiences for theScore Bet users, as well as digital activations through both tournaments and Golf Canada's channels.

Boyd Gaming Corporation(NYSE: BYD) recently reported financial results for the second quarter endedJune 30, 2021.

Keith Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boyd Gaming, said, "Our second-quarter results reflect the strength of our operating strategy as our streamlined cost structure, enhanced capabilities, and focus on our core customers all continue to drive strong results throughout our portfolio. We achieved record results for Adjusted EBITDAR and operating margins, with Companywide margins exceeding 43% and Las Vegas Locals margins approaching 57%. During the quarter our business continued to strengthen, as gaming revenues surpassed 2019 levels. We are encouraged that the strength from the first half of the year has carried into July and are confident in our ability to continue delivering robust levels of EBITDAR and margin performance. These outstanding results are a tribute to the hard work of the entire Boyd Gaming team and their shared dedication to our transformed operating model, which will continue to create long-term value for our stakeholders."

Penn National Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) recently announced that it has opened a career center and is accepting applications for approximately 375 new positions at Hollywood Casino Morgantown, which is expected to open by the end of 2021, pending customary regulatory approvals. The career center is located at the Holiday Inn Morgantown at 6170 Morgantown Road. In addition, the Company will be hosting a number of Table Games Dealer School Open House hiring events over the next two weeks at the career center.

"We are thrilled to begin accepting applications for our newest property from residents of Berks, Lancaster, and Montgomery counties, and other neighboring communities," said Erin Chamberlin, Senior Vice President of Regional Operations for Penn National. "We look forward to interviewing candidates for the vast array of jobs that will support our expected grand opening later this year."

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates Financialnewsmedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third-party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. Except as set forth below, FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein.FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts, and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material.All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks.All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM was compensated two thousand five hundred and ninety-five dollars by Esports Technologies Inc. for news coverage of the current press releases issued by Esports Technologies Inc. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or Form 1-K, as applicable, and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

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Showing No Signs of Slowing Down, Global Online Gambling Market Expected To Reach A Total Market Size Of $66 Billion In 2025 - PRNewswire

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Macao Nightmare: What We Know About the Future of Gambling There – The Motley Fool

Posted: at 3:08 am

It's been a rough week, to say the least, for gambling stocks with exposure to Macao's once-thriving market, with most of the industry down double digits over the last five trading days. Melco Resorts (NASDAQ:MLCO), Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) have been the hardest hit because they generated a majority of their revenue in Macao before the pandemic began. MGM Resorts (NYSE:MGM) has two resorts in the region as well, but most of its properties are in the U.S., so it's been spared the worst of the market crash, while Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) is trading higher because it doesn't have a presence in Macao at all.

Sometimes a sell-off like this is an overreaction by the market, but in this case the underlying business operations in Macao could be under threat. Here's what we know today, and what we'll need to know by June 2022 when Macao's current gambling concessions are expected to be renewed.

WYNN data by YCharts

The biggest news of the week was the government potentially looking to add restrictions to gambling companies. We don't know what final rules will be yet, but the government opened a 45-day public consultation period on September 15 looking for comments on topics including:

We don't know exactly what the government is thinking, which isn't new for investors in Macao, but if the rules are changing to restrict the revenue opportunity or squeeze margins it could be very bad for a region that was once a cash machine.

There are two areas where I think we're clearly seeing the government focus over the next year. One is that it would like to see more mass-market tables, rather than high-limit junket rooms, which once accounted for 70% of Macao's gambling revenue. The second is that Macao would like to see more non-gambling revenue.

Gambling companies have been talking about adding more non-gambling products for many years, so that wouldn't be a surprise for most companies. A focus on mass-market gamblers has also been a trend for every operator, although it's hard to turn down a player who might lose millions of dollars in a weekend.

It's possible that new rules would have very little impact on Macao operations and that these will become great growth stocks coming out of the pandemic, but the opposite could also be true. I think the best-case scenario for gambling stocks is that the status quo holds.

Image source: Getty Images.

Complicating matters for Macao casino companies is China's crackdown on businesses and consumers over the past year. The government has put rules on activities it doesn't approve of or sees as vices, like kids playing video games, for-profit education companies, and ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs.

As China looks to crack down on "undesirable" activities by its citizens, investors have to wonder if there will be restrictions on visiting Macao.

Worse yet, Macao's relationship with China is complicated. The region is what's known as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, with economic autonomy and separate borders but some control from China. It's one of the "One Country, Two Systems" regions, just like its neighbor Hong Kong.

As China exerts more control over Hong Kong and puts limitations on businesses and consumers within China, there's a risk it will do the same in Macao. Until now, that risk has seemed small -- but it's absolutely worth taking it seriously now, even if we don't know what the outcome of any reforms or Chinese intervention will look like.

I own shares of Wynn Resorts, which has two casinos in the U.S. and two in Macao, and MGM Resorts, but I'm not selling yet. I think there's a significant risk to the casino business in Macao, but if the regulations the government puts in place are light, we could see a rapid recovery in Macao's casino stocks, which are still down big from where they traded pre-pandemic.

Like a bet in a casino, there's a big risk to holding Macao's casino operators today, and it's possible the bet will go against me. Until we learn more about what the rules will be like after June 2022, when concessions are due to expire, investors should be ready for anything -- because investing in Macao got a lot more complicated this week.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Macao Nightmare: What We Know About the Future of Gambling There - The Motley Fool

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