Category Archives: Gambling

Gambling is as human as desire, hope, despair, and joy. Predicting the outcome of an event is key to the survival of any species. Balancing risk and reward is a daily function. Do you cross the road here, or walk 200 metres and use the zebra crossing?

Ever since Caveman A sat in his cave, with Caveman B, watching their mate Dave wrestle with a sabre-toothed tiger, and uttered the immortal words: dave is in trouble. My moneys on the tiger; betting has been a reality. Its one of mankinds oldest activities.

In Asia, betting games are recorded in both the ancient Sanskrit epics: the Ramayana and the Mahbhrata. Both date back thousands of years. In China, board games are mentioned at the birth of Chinese civilisation, in 2100 BC. From the very start of recorded history, games, dice, and betting are mentioned. Archaeologists have unearthed ancient dice, tiles, and games. In the days before Netflix, entertainment came with the roll of a die and a bet on the side. Heres a breakdown of betting in Asias big three: China, India, and Japan.

Head to any land-based casino and there is a very good chance you will see, at least, a handful of Chinese players at the tables. Luck, numerology, suppression, and superstition have all combined to make gambling a huge part of Chinese culture.

Over the centuries, the Chinese imperial system has repressed betting, making it illegal and sending it underground. If life teaches us one lesson, it is that prohibition is counter-productive.

Dice-like objects have been found in Asia as far back as 3,000 BC. By 1,000 BC, there were already gambling houses in China which hosted animal fighting, dice, mah jong, and lotteries. In 200 BC, the Great Wall of China was repaired with monies raised through a game similar to Keno called the white pigeon game; named because the birds carried the results between villages.

Throughout Chinese history, the various dynasties have tried to crack down on gambling. Forced tenure in the army, 100 lashes, hand amputation, and death were all employed to dissuade the problem gambler. Even the communist party promised to eradicate the great social ill.

Today, Chinese tourists flock to Macau where old school games like fan tan and pai gow still draw a crowd, sitting alongside the blackjack, roulette, and baccarat. Lotteries in China are a national obsession and horse track racing is making a comeback.

After China, India is the worlds most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people. These days, gambling is tightly regulated; both the casino owner and the player are fined, if they are caught gambling illegally.

Historically, gambling was a hugely popular pastime in both ancient and colonial India. In the Rig Veda, an Indian text from 1700 BC, a gambler pleads with the dice to spare him. Throughout the medieval period, gambling persisted. One of the most popular forms was Satta or numbers; here the bets were made on opium, gold, and cotton prices, as well as the amount of rainfall.

Gambling continued during the British rule. It was a highly profitable form of taxation for the colonial rulers. However, political pressure and problem gambling led to the 1867 Public Gambling Act which still stands today. The act prohibits both visiting and running a gambling house. There are currently only three states in India that have casinos. A staggering statistic for such a huge country.

The first recorded reference to gambling in Japan is fairly modern by the standards of India and China, taking place in around 635 AD. A reference is made to the game of sugo-roku (double sixes), enjoyed by the nations ruler: Emperor Temmu. However, not everyone in the family approved. When his daughter Empress Jito assumed the throne, she banned the pastime.

In the next two centuries, gambling activity became rampant, with people wagering enthusiastically in cock fights, horse races, and cricket fights (the insect not the sport!). Professional gamblers, known as bakuto, were the forerunners to the modern day yakuza. They would travel from town to town with their cards and dice, hustling a living.

Popular Japanese betting games include cho-han. Here a shirtless dealer sits in the kneeling position with two dice. You bet either cho (even) or han (odd). Thats it. Pachinko is another hugely popular Japanese game and one of the few gambling games legal in Japan today.

In conclusion: gambling has deep and often troubled roots in Asia. In all three countries, gambling is still heavily regulated but popular. These days, governments can see the value in taxation and the failure of prohibition. Responsible regulation looks like the future for these growing economies.

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The Origins & History of Gambling in China, India, and Japan - blog.casino.com

Five former casino inspectors from Victoria's independent gambling regulator.

The untold story of five casino inspectors who knew Crown's dirty secrets but say they were stonewalled and silenced.

An old gaming inspector's badge sits inside Peter "Macca"McCormack's wallet. The accompanying photo ID is stamped with faint blue letters: "Retired".

But old habits die hard.

Parked beneath the concrete overpass leading into Melbourne's Crown Casino, he scans the seedy patch of the city between him and the casino, as the echoes of passing cars ricochet overhead.

"As inspectors, we believed our role was to keep the casino crime-free," he says.

Four Corners

His eyes dart as he surveys the scenes that play out before him; a group of cleaners bundle out of a visibly unroadworthy car, a momentarily unaccompanied child is reunited with her mother, and a petty thief and regular patron at Crown is spotted passing by in the rear-view mirror.

This is a spot he would come to before he began his shifts at the casino, during his 30-odd years as a senior inspector and team leader for Victoria's independent gambling watchdog.

"We would walk the gaming floor, we would always be dressed in corporate clothing," he says.

"All the dealers and the pit bosses, they knew who we were."

Inspectors work for the regulator and are supposed to have oversight of the casino one of their most important functions is to keep out criminal influence and infiltration.

While Peter's eye for detail served him well to observe criminal activity, he says he was told by management it was not their responsibility to act on it.

"I would often see loan sharking, in the gaming pits," he says.

"We were told, 'That's not our problem, that's a police matter,' or, 'It's Crown's problem if there's loan sharking.'

"I had drug deals happen right in front of me, where a little plastic bag of powder and the money's exchanged right in front of me.

"But again, we were told, 'No, it's a police matter, not our matter.'

"A lot of the things that we would report up the chain of any sort of criminal activity, just disappeared into oblivion, we never heard of anything further about it."

Over the years, inspectors say they lost access to parts of the casino, were shadowed by Crown staff in high-roller rooms, and felt their presence was unwelcome.

"I felt that Crown were running our office. When they wanted things changed, things got changed," he says.

"We'd be told off by a manager for doing our job, because Crown had complained about what we had been doing on the gaming floor, who we might've spoken to, or how we dealt with it."

Peter is one of five former inspectors now speaking out for the first time.

Four Corners

He says they feared if they told the media what was happening they'd be fined or fired.

"I haven't got a job to lose anymore, so I'm not worried." Peter says.

As Crown casino became engulfed by scandals revealing mass money laundering and the pursuit of commercial relationships with a parade of organised crime figures, these men watched on as the dirty secrets they'd been forced to keep unravelled.

They've told Four Corners their roles at the casino were constantly undermined as the watchdog they worked for gave Crown what it wanted again and again.

One of the inspectors on Peter's team was former Victoria Police officer Danny Lakasas.

Danny says he once ran a 12-month operation to track the use of counterfeit notes at the casino methodically tracking dates, times and gaming table numbers, as well as who the dealers and patrons were.

He says when he compiled what he'd found and passed it up the chain, nothing happened.

Four Corners

"Somebody from intel came down then, took all the information, said, 'Thanks very much.' That was the last I heard of it," he says.

"You get disheartened after a while, and you start thinking, well, why am I busting my backside in doing all this work when it's not going to go anywhere and nothing's going to happen?"

Danny and Peter were employed by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR).

It was formed in 2012 when the then-Liberal state government merged the gaming and liquor authorities saying it would increaseefficiency.

Inspectors on the ground say it created chaos. Budgets and staff numbers were cut by 30 per cent.

Experienced gaming inspectors were routinely called away from the gaming floor to conduct liquor licence checks at cafes, bars and restaurants.

"It was a takeover by liquor, clearly. There seemed to be a directive from above, whether that was at state government level, to focus in on liquor activities," says Rod Walker, another former Victorian gaming inspector.

Rod says the liquor inspections became "tick and flick events, just so that you could reach your KPIs".

Four Corners/Unsplash

The inspectors' reaction to the new policywas visceral.

"Whoever invented the word KPIs, in my opinion, should be shot," Peter says.

"Morale went down considerably. They weren't interested in doing proper investigations, it was alltick and flick.

"What I wanted to do was investigate proper crime."

Peter says there were many shifts where the casino had no inspector at all.

"That's still happening," hesays.

"It is in the legislation that we must have casino inspectors there all the time."

As the regulator was undergoing this upheaval, James Packer ramped up Crown's aggressive expansion into the Chinese high-roller market.

VIP gamblers were brought into Melbourne by third party agents known as junket operators.

To Danny, the casino suddenly became more vulnerable to organised crime.

"What changed then with the junkets coming in was the amount of Chinese people coming in, having their own rooms, and gambling basically millions of dollars," Danny says.

Four Corners

"What we saw was a lot of money change hands.

"I don't know where this money came from, or how it was accounted for, or whether the state was receiving their cut of taxes at that time, because it was all mainly cash."

Crown had an ace up its sleeve.

Years earlier, in 2004, the state government had given the casino the power to approve the same junket operators that it would end up making hundreds of millions of dollars from.

The former head of the regulator, Peter Cohen, has told Four Corners it was his idea to hand over the power to Crown.

"The idea at the time was that Crown actually had more resources than we had to undertake due diligence checks. They could engage private investigators," Mr Cohen says.

The regulator's job was to audit the process to ensure Crown was adequately assessing the junket operators.

"Like Ronald Reagan would say, 'Trust, but verify,'" Mr Cohensays.

Barry McGann, who was a gaming inspector from 2007 to 2018, says this was a key moment that opened the door to money laundering.

"For the commission to give up their powers to allow Crown to approve their own junket operations, in my opinion, was a mistake," Barry says.

The inspectors still had the ability to audit junket operators and the VIP players Crown flew into Melbourne, but the regulator had to rely on the casino to provide accurate and extensive information for any background checks.

"I'd order the report.If there were any players there that [Crown] didn't want me to see, there was nothing stopping them from wiping them out, or taking it off the database. I'd be none the wiser,"Barry says.

Four Corners

Because of the lack of access to independent information, Barry says"it would be hard to associate [the players] with any illegal play or triads".

The junket audits were also rarely done.

From late 2013, audits stopped for close to a year, until a Four Corners program exposed that Crown Melbourne was dealing with junket operators linked to criminal syndicates.

After the story ran, Danny Lakasas says he received a panicked phone call from management asking to see the latest junket audit.

"I said, 'Well, there hasn't been an audit done for probably six to 12 months.' When they said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because we were told not to do any audits, because they were being reviewed.'"

Crown was not only approving these junket operators, some of whom had links to organised crime, but the regulator was doing little to scrutinise the individuals who were coming in and gambling hundreds of millions of dollars in the casino's private rooms.

Terry McCabe understands better than most how the fear of punishment can be a strong motivating force for compliance.

Before becoming a gaming inspector in 2004 he was a senior detective in Victoria Police's Arson Squad.

"For a regulator to be completely effective, there needs to be a climate of likely being caught out, likely being exposed. [While I was there] I'm not sure that that risk really existed," Terry says.

Crown pays the Victorian government over $200 million a year in taxes, and Terry believes this ends up influencing how the state-based regulator operates.

"Governments all around the world are addicted to gambling as much as many patrons are, and regulation of a casino is extremely difficult against that background."

Terry noticed the growing frustration amongst inspectors who felt they were not able to properly hold Crown to account.

"The troops worked hard. Many of the troops were among the original casino inspectorate and had done a lot of great work, but it didn't come as any surprise that, when that good work was done, it would amount to very little."

"The disappointment became disenchantment and disenchantment became, not disinterest, but, 'Here we go again.'"

Short of cancelling a casino's licence, one of the strongest powers at the regulator's disposal is the ability to force the casino to cease a relationship with one of its players or junket operators.

The VCGLR has only used this power once, despite a series of connections that have been identified between junket operators and organised crime syndicates.

The one case where the regulator used this power was with high-roller Richard Yong, who was convicted of illegal bookmaking after an undercover FBI sting at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in 2014.

ButFour Corners has revealed that after the regulator twice wrote to Crown ordering it to cease dealing with Yong, the casino resisted and continued to deal with him.

The regulator also had concerns about one of Yong's close associates who was also a VIP client at Crown, Paul Phua a well-known Malaysian poker player and unregulated bookmaker. He is also alleged to be a high-ranking member of the 14K triad.

The regulator dropped its pursuit of Phua, claiming it had "insufficient evidence" to order Crown to cease dealing with him.

In 2016, Four Corners revealed that Victoria Police had serious concerns about Phua's alleged links to triads and his status as a Crown VIP.

Terry McCabe is not familiar with either case, but says the casino had a reputation for pushing back against the VCGLR.

"I think Crown had a very robust legal department who were very strong and very aggressive in the way they dealt with the regulator."

"I don't believe in all instances we were as strong back."

In 2019, frustration inside the regulator reached a tipping point.

Two whistleblowers contacted the office of independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie with evidence of suspected money laundering at Crown Melbourne.

One unnamed inspector provided footage of a young man with a cooler bag full of cash exchanging it for chips inside a room run exclusively by the junket operator Suncity.

"[The chips] shortly thereafter were cashed in a very easy, quick and effective way to launder millions of dollars," Mr Wilkie says.

"Importantly, that inspector came to me after he had tried to send that footage up the chain within the regulator and it was not acted on.''

The regulator identified the man in the vision as Chenkang Pan, a junket representative and premium player at Crown Melbourne.

While the watchdog wanted him banned, the casino refused to accept it was him because his face was blurred in the leaked video.

Crown hada copy of Pan's photo ID and access to the dates he was in the Suncity room, but still said it wasn't enough.

Andrew Wilkie takes issue with Crown refusing to accept the regulator's word.

"Crown Casino is treating us like mugs. They know the big names that are in their casino. It's part of their business model."

Inspectors from the Victorian regulator, who were the eyes and ears in the casino, say they were not only discouraged from looking at money laundering, but actively blocked.

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Crown Casinos power concerned these gambling inspectors. Now theyre speaking out - ABC News

KUALA LUMPUR: Anti-gambling raids have led to the arrest of two suspects believed to be part of a gambling operation.

Brickfields OCPD Asst Comm Anuar Omar said in a statement on Wednesday (July 7) that the raids were conducted on Tuesday (July 6) in Taman Sri Sentosa and Taman Yarl here.

"The second raid led to the seizure of a computer which we believe was used in the gambling operation, as well as RM40,000 in cash," he said.

Both suspects, aged 27 and 51 years, will be brought to court for a remand order.

In an unrelated incident, a report lodged by a man over a supposed snatch theft was deemed false after several queries were left unanswered by the complainant.

"The 28-year-old man lodged a report on July 6 stating that he had been attacked by two unknown men. He claimed that a bag containing RM200, documents and his IC were stolen then.

"However, during questioning the man was unable to provide the location of the supposed incident, and was drunk," ACP Anuar Omar said.

The man has been granted bail.

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Two held in anti-gambling raids in KL thought to be part of syndicate - The Star Online

COLUMBUS, Ohio When the Ohio sports betting bill was introduced on May 6, there was one date lawmakers had circled on their calendars. "We want to get something done by June 30, said co-sponsor Sen. Kirk Schuring of Stark County.

It wasn't a wishful target. It was one the bill's sponsors told supporters they could confidently hit.

"I will commit to you that if this isn't done by June 30, you can come into my office and yell at me, State Sen. Niraj Antani told a constituent at a hearing last month.

But barring the longest of long shots, he may soon have a visitor after Ohio Speaker of the House Bob Cupp put the brakes on the bill last week, wanting to hold his own hearings on it.

"Sitting I guess is where they stand right now, is how industry analyst Jeff Edelstein put the current status. He has been covering the back and forth for the website Sportshandle.

"The House Speaker is in no rush to get this done until he has a chance to set up his own committee ... after the Senate went through three-plus months of committee hearings, Edelstein said.

Changes were made to the bill late last week to win over supporters, mainly allowing for more licenses for counties like Cuyahoga in a move to open up sports betting to the state's casinos and racinos, which were in danger of being shut out. When that wasn't enough, the sports betting bill was attached to a Veterans ID bill that was sure to pass, but that, too, was tabled.

It would seem that the concerns that members of the House were going to have were the fact that the casinos were just basically being bounced out of being able to get a brick and mortar sports book. That concern was raised by two senators even during the vote in the Senate. They fixed that basically when they added it to HB 29 so that basically the casinos would be on equal footing with sports teams. Sports teams would still get preferential treatment, but there would be enough licenses to go around for the casinos to also get one, said Edelstein. "I'm not sure what more the House would be looking for."

For Antani, the delay was a blow.

Im very disappointed. We definitely wanted to get this done by June 30. It is very unfortunate that we havent, he told News 5. I think we all need to make a concerted effort to work over the summer to get this done during September when we come back into session.

Sponsors had hoped to open the license application process on January 1 with the licenses themselves to be awarded no later than April 1. New dates are anyone's guess.

"You know do the math, said Edelstein. You push it back three or four months. I'm assuming they're going to have to push the start date back three or four months. So now we were talking two months ago saying, 'Yeah I think we might be able to be on football this year. Not betting on football this year. Hopefully, maybe betting on football next year."

We asked Antani if hes heard yet from the constituent who he told could yell at him if they missed the deadline?

Im waiting for him to schedule that with me, but he deservedly should do that, Antani said. We did not meet our deadline, thats on us, but its time to pick up the ball and get this done in September.

RELATED: Ohios professional sports teams want in on legalized sports betting

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Ohio sports gambling bill will most likely be pushed back to fall - News 5 Cleveland

Swedens independent online gambling trade association has released a draft framework to ensure customers are safeguarded by fair terms when engaging with online gambling services.

Published by Spelbranschens Riksorganisation, the advisory framework outlining best practices on consumer terms and conditions for its members to follow has been developed in response to criticism by Swedens Consumer Agency, Konsumentverket.

Commenting on the guidelines, SPER chief executive, Jenny Nilzon, noted: The Swedish Consumer Agency has pointed out that there is great potential for improvement when it comes to agreements.

This framework is intended as a help and guidance. Our recommendation is based on it being clear and comprehensible to consumers what applies when you become and are a customer.

As part of the nine-point framework, SPER emphasised that clarity is deemed as the overriding dynamic, in which operators must provide customers with a clear understanding and interpretation of its contract terms.

Additionally, these terms must divulge full customer information on operator technicalities related to sign-up verifications, documentation required, data storage, deposits/withdrawals and customer deregistration rights.

Moreover, SPERs states that whilst operators can choose to apply foreign laws within their T&Cs the use of foreign laws cannot deprive or override mandatory consumer protections set by Swedish law.

Licensed operators must maintain a fair complaints procedure, in which customers are made aware of their rights to challenge operator decisions by using an authorised dispute resolution solution ARN (General Complaints Board) or EU online Dispute Resolution platform.

Last December, Konsumentverket alerted Swedish gambling inspectorate Spelinspektionen of a litany of deficiencies on consumer protections, following a review of 13 licensed operators terms and conditions.

At present, Swedish gambling sees itself at a critical crossroads as licensed operators await on whether the government will proceed with implementing the recommended measures of the Gambling Market Enquiry.

However, the long-term impacts of the vote of no confidence will not be truly felt until the successful appointment of a new Prime Minister by the Speaker of the Rikstag, Swedens parliament, and the conclusion of elections in September this year.

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SPER publishes draft framework for gambling terms and conditions - Casino Beats

Mackenzie Hughes (left), his caddie and the gallery look for a ball in a tree on the 11th hole in the final round of the 2021 U.S. Open.

USA Today

The ads are everywhere nowadays, especially on TV, where the girl with the blonde hair and overactive arms refers to the 60 years of incredible history on the 18th green at TPC River Highlands, which actually opened in 1984. Of course, the facts are insignificant. What really matters is that you can go to DraftKings.com, press a few buttons and instantly test your powers of prognostication against the millions of others who oppose the notion that you cant buy a thrill.

Three years have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned legislation prohibiting legalized gambling nationwide. If the decision was a huge victory for the gaming industry, it also appropriated jurisdiction on the ruling to each of the 50 states about half of which still havent ratified laws that allow betting on sports. While were all keenly aware of how ponderous the political process can become, one might easily get the sense that full-blown legalization would have been further along by now.

Reality tells us its a foregone conclusion. There is far too much revenue at stake for reluctant states to continue resisting the value of such a resource. With prudent regulations, sports gaming can become a healthy financial asset despite its myriad, potential downsides, which is another way of saying its a really good idea until something really bad happens.

In pro golf, a corruption of the competitive element immediately comes to mind.

Few sports leagues have been more proactive in embracing the world of live wagering than the PGA Tour. Camp Ponte Vedra jumped into the pool with both feet, forming business partnerships with The Action Network, DraftKings and IMG Arena, then launching GolfBet, an endemic platform designed to drive fan engagement and expand our overall audience, according to Norb Gambuzza, the Tours vice president of media and gaming.

Without question, our game has so much to offer in terms of appealing to the gambling public. Almost every field over the duration of an 11-month season includes more than 100 players. Those guys strike the ball somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000 times each week, which easily translates into a lot of money won and a lot more lost. If DraftKings wasnt raking in the dough from such a multitude of frenzied action, it wouldnt be able to afford the girl with the overactive arms, much less all that commercial space.

Since the Tour itself provides the product, an abundantly rich organization gets even richer. And everyone with a vested interest walks away happy, at least until one Sunday ticket-holder sneaks an airhorn (or even a whistle) into a tournament and decides to use it on the green of the second playoff hole with someone standing over a 6-footer to force a third.

In almost every other sport, crowd noise is encouraged frequently, sometimes vehemently, throughout the contest. When Giannis Antetokounmpo shoots a free throw in a visiting arena these days, thousands of spectators count the number of seconds it takes him to finally stop dribbling and attempt the shot. The Seattle Seahawks have long celebrated the effects of their 12th man, a euphemism given to the 69,000 who gather eight times a year to support their beloved NFL team.

Pro golf is very different, and therefore, far more vulnerable to the one-in-a-thousand knucklehead who intentionally yells during a crucial backswing. Its something akin to a minor miracle that it doesnt happen more often while covering a Hawaiian Open back in the early 2000s, I watched John Cook basically lose the tournament to a ringing cellphone on the 71st hole. For such occurrences to remain rare is a tribute to the games remarkable level of decorum, but with each passing year, galleries seem to get larger, more boisterous and less golf-centric.

Lets just say that legalized gambling does nothing to minimize the undesirable possibilities.

When Mackenzie Hughes tee shot got stuck in a tree at the par-3 11th during the final round of the U.S. Open, a viewers sense of hard-luck bemusement might quickly have succumbed to a whimsical scenario. What if a nearby patron with a substantial sum invested on the third-round co-leader were to climb the tree and knock the ball back to earth? Do we have a rule for such an assist? How could anyone (notably a USGA rules official) determine that the ball wouldnt have fallen from the tree without the aid of a fan?

Hughes, two off the lead before his misfortune, walked away with a double bogey and finished tied for 15th, seven shots back. The golf gods chose to look the other way on this occasion, but the lack of containment between players and observers on many wayward shots and the potential for result-altering spectator behavior in any number of forms is a matter the Tour should address.

If Steve Bartman can be accused of preventing the Chicago Cubs from playing in the 2003 World Series, there is no such thing as a $10 million golf tournament impervious to the hazards of negative fan interaction. It might sound farfetched. So does a ball stuck in a tree or $5,000 on the guy trailing by three.

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The PGA Tour has Embraced Gambling and Fantasy, But Could Fans Spoil the Action? - Sports Illustrated

Its estimated that the net worth of the illegal gambling industry in the United States is $150 billion. Please think about this speculation. It has relevance beyond it revealing how pointless it is for politicians to try and legislate behavior, morality, or both.

Just as rent controls dont make apartments cheap, neither do laws deter us from living as we wish. Politicians can decree apartments inexpensive, and they can decree behavior they dont like unlawful, but markets ultimately have their say. Whats made cheap by law is instantly scarce, and whats enjoyable but illegal is eventually enjoyed underground.

So again, despite all manner of laws limiting illegal gambling in the U.S., its a fact of life here. Americans love betting on games, cards, and all manner of other things, and bet they do. A valuable industry has sprouted up against the wishes of the political class.

So has the market for illegal mood altering substances. Does anyone want to guess what the value of that industry sector is stateside?

Its hopefully a reminder of a bigger truth: the Federal Reserve is a legend in its own mind, along with the economists who yearn to curry favor with the worlds biggest employer of economists, along with the economists who seek and receive high pay for analyzing and predicting the musings of those inside the central bank. Anyone else should turn their attention elsewhere. Think about it.

In thinking about it, were supposed to believe that the Fed, an outsourced functionary of Congress, the U.S. Treasury, or both, can somehow bring out the proverbial punch bowl on the way to an easy money extravaganza? Oh please. Does anyone outside the cushy world of policy really believe this?

The Fed projects its always well-overstated influence through a banking system that is already small and shrinking relative to total credit in the U.S. And then theres the matter of illegal gambling and illegal drugs. Does anyone think traditional banks finance them, or does finance for illicit industries ever at risk of having their profits expropriated have a much higher risk, tighter quality to it? The question answers itself. Major industries have sprouted up in the U.S. and elsewhere without Fed or central bank easy money, but were supposed to believe economists when they say the Fed can turn on and turn off economic growth? These views are not serious.

After which, we dont borrow money as much as we borrow money for what it can be exchanged for. We borrow trucks, tractors, and smartphones on which we keep digital ledgers of all those placing bets through us, at which point we borrow access to WiFi that keeps us connected to all our gambling clients.

The Fed produces none of these resources. In other words, credit is a consequence of production. When theres lots of production, theres lots of borrowing. Abundant production is the path to surplus that makes it possible for entrepreneurs and businesses to go into the market in order to rent access to the surplus from those with savings.

And then its worth pointing out that production is global. If a pencil is the end result of global cooperation, does anyone think the automobile, airplane, laptop, and smartphone have emerged from autarky? This question similarly answers itself. Better yet, increases in production around the world naturally result in soaring credit on offer around the world.

The above is important given the tendency among economists and those who play them to pretend that the Fed can put out or retrieve the previously mentioned punch bowl. Supposedly thanks to its regulatory power over banks, the Fed can shrink credit availability stateside. No, not really.

Credit is borderless. What the Fed could only in theory take away would be made up by global sources, not to mention domestic ones. As evidenced by the compensation at investment banks alone, theres enormous amounts of money to be made matching talent with resources. The Fed cant tighten credit that it doesnt have in the first place; rather it can at best create opportunities for infinite funding sources when it tightens.

Economist Alexander Salter believes soaring credit is inflationary, so does former Fed Vice Chair Kevin Warsh, but credit is resource accession. How could production be inflationary? Better yet, even it if were inflationary, why do both thinkers assume the central bank can control it? Their analysis implies that the U.S. is an economic island, as opposed to a lending and financing destination for the rest of the world.

Never forget that the Fed is but a tiny, outsourced-to player in a crowded, global marketplace. And it cant shrink or expand the worlds most dynamic economy despite what you read. Evidence supporting what should be obvious is the $150 billion illegal gambling industry stateside. Somehow whats illegal can be matched with copious funds, but were supposed to believe the Fed can dampen growth?

So while economists need the Fed to be important, their needs dont correlate with reality. In reality, if youre engaging in profitable endeavors credit sources will find you; the Fed be damned. In truth, multiple credit sources will compete to finance what youre doing. The Fed, as always, is a legend in its own mind.

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Illegal Gambling Mocks The Economics Professions Fed Obsession - Forbes

To the Editor;

As the Veteran Outreach Coordinator at the New York Council on Problem Gambling (NYCPG), I felt the month of June -- Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) Awareness Month -- would be a good time to raise awareness on the connection between PTS and problem gambling.

Veterans are often first associated with PTS. The number of veterans with PTS varies by service era:

However, PTS can occur in all people of any ethnicity, nationality, culture, and age. PTS affects approximately 3.5 percent of U.S. adults every year, and an estimated one in 11 people willbe diagnosed with PTS in their lifetime. Women are twice as likely as men to have PTS.

A study (Hierholzer, R. et al., 2010) found the presence of current PTS symptoms to be one of the strongest predictors for at-risk gambling behavior.

The good news is that most cases improve with time, especially with professional treatment.

Help is available. Anyone struggling or negatively affected by gambling problems should visit https://NYProblemGamblingHELP.org/ for information, resources, and local treatment services.

Jonathan Crandall, BSW, CASAC-T|Veteran Outreach

East Syracuse, NY

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Be aware of connection between veteran PTS and problem gambling (Your Letters) - syracuse.com

A royal commission into Western Australias outdated gambling laws and operations at Crown Perth is scheduled to hand in its first findings later today.

Former Supreme Court justices Neville Owen and Lindy Jenkins and former WA auditor-general Colin Murphy are expected to send an interim report to Governor Kim Beazley.

The report will largely focus on the suitability of the existing regulatory framework regarding casinos and casino gaming in Western Australia. A final report from the commission, which will have a more narrow focus on the suitability of Crown Perth to hold a gambling licence, is scheduled for 14 November 2021.

It follows a New South Wales report into Crowns operations earlier this year, which found the operator unsuitable to hold the licence for its new Sydney casino in Barangaroo.

At the beginning of the WA commission, Owen announced that the inquiry would be informed by both the NSW inquiry and the royal commission currently being undertaken in Victoria into Crown Melbourne.

Owen noted that the inquiry will evaluate Crowns corporate social responsibility, as opposed to considering the morality of gambling.

So far as we are aware, this is the first time since the grant of the casino licence in 1988 that there has been an inquiry into these issues and given social changes in over 30 years, there is an increased importance to an inquiry of this kind, said Owen.

We will be concerned with grave matters of private and public interest and we enter into this investigation with that firmly in mind.

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Interim report on WA gambling laws expected today - Gambling Insider - In-depth Analysis for the Gaming Industry

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City of Kamloops expecting big drop in gambling revenue in 2021 - Kamloops This Week