Category Archives: Gambling

Its possible that Connecticut residents may be able to place a bet on their phones by Labor Day, but not everyone is happy about it. At least a handful of lawmakers had concerns about the legislation.

It creates the potential for increased addiction, Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, said.

Hwang voted against the legislation because it could increase the potential to addict a whole new generation.

You are looking to hook 18- to 25-year-old men and women that are going to be influenced and they could be increased potential for gambling addiction, Hwang said,

The legislation, which is headed to Gov. Ned Lamonts desk, would require the two tribes to contribute $500,000 toward problem gambling. The lottery will increase its contribution to $3.3 million.

It is a scant dollar amount that is looking to address the potential increase in the dangers of addiction, Hwang said.

Other opponents of the legislation which allows for online gaming and sports wagering were upset about the East Windsor casino.

Contract between the tribes and the state of Connecticut which is going to restrict any construction of a casino on that land for 10 years, Sen. Saud Anwar.

Anwar, a Democrat who represents East Windsor, said the first selectman learned about the decision to prohibit a casino to be built in a Facebook post.

That is disappointing thats not coming through. At the same time I understand that things change, Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, said.

Kushner supported the bill but hopes the state makes things right.

I do hope we recognize the investment that was made by East Windsor and I hope we will see some legislation as we move forward that will address that.

Kushner says the bill will help the economy.

In recent years weve seen this industry change in the way that the gaming is conducted and the entertainment is conducted and those changes have really dramatically impacted our state, Kushner said.

Gov. Ned Lamont said, we want to get going. We want to get this down to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We want to get approval.

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Not Everyone Supports Expanded Gambling - NBC Connecticut

Northern Ireland is set to undergo the first significant changes to its gambling laws in over 35 years, including the establishment of a mandatory code of practice for operators.

Currently, gambling in Northern Ireland is regulated under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements Order, which dates back to 1985, but Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey said new legislation will be introduced in the coming weeks. A further update dealing with online gambling, among other topics will then follow in the longer term.

Gambling legislation has remained largely unchanged since it was enacted thirty-five years ago, said Hargey.

As a result, gambling regulation here has not kept pace with industry and technological changes. In my view change is long overdue.

Hargey listed some aspects of the upcoming legislation, including a mandatory code of practice for those holding gambling licenses and allowing gambling contracts to be enforceable by law..

Further proposed changes include making it an offence to allow children to use gaming machines, expanding the definition of cheating to include attempted cheating, and imposing a statutory levy on gambling operators.

Statutory levies has been a frequent topic in the responses to the Department of Digital Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) Gambling Act review, having been mentioned by GambleAware and YGAM in their responses.

Permitting bookmakers to open on Sundays and Good Friday is also to be included in legislation.

This was supported by the public consultation in 2019, which revealed that 66% of participants thought that bookmakers office hours should be relaxed, while almost all of this percentage thought that bookmakers should be allowed to open on a Sunday.

Politicians in Northern Ireland sought guidance from colleagues in Westminster as the inquiry progressed.

The initial legislation will be introduced in the next few weeks, and will then be followed by a second update over a much longer timescale, which will include a completely new regulatory framework, which will include the regulation of online gambling.

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Minister promises long overdue overhaul of Northern Ireland gambling laws - iGaming Business

85-year-old Anna Mae Branson was a multimillionaire businesswoman, described by those who knew her as glamorous and generous. She was beloved in the small community of Madisonville, Kentucky. Who could have wanted to murder her, and in such a vicious manner?

On January 13, 2003, an elderly man contacted Madisonville authorities to request a wellness check on hisfianc, Anna Mae Branson. When they searched her home. they eventually found her -- dead on the basement steps.

"It appeared first she could have fallen but then upon seeing all the injuries to her body it was obvious Ms. Ann had been murdered,"Kelley Rager-Sawyer, an officer with Madisonville PD, told "An Unexpected Killer," airing Fridays at 8/7c on Oxygen.

She had many stab wounds in the back as well as defensive wounds, and she had been hit multiple times in the head until it changed shape. There was no sign of forced entry, and the place hadn't been ransacked like a burglary gone wrong. The viciousness of the 85-year-old's death horrified those who knew her.

Branson was a beloved local businesswoman who made her millions by owning a Dairy Queen in town, which was a local teen hangout spot. She was known to be generous with her money, lending it to those who needed it, as well as glamorous andeffervescent. Recently, she had become engagedto a retired eye surgeon known as Dr. Bob.

"The very last thing Anna Mae acted like was an old lady," nephew Jack Branson told producers.

The autopsy came in, revealing her time of death was somewhere between 7 and 7:30 p.m. It alsoconfirmedthe attack was as brutal as authorities suspected.

"She was stabbed 97 times, and she was beaten so badly lot of the stab wounds would have been inflicted post-mortem," Kathy Senter, commonwealth attorney, Madisonville, Kentucky, told producers.

So who could have killed her? After clearing herfianc through his phone records, investigators considered an array of suspects, including as handyman who borrowed money from Branson and a tenant with psychotic tendencies. Through a polygraph test and an ironclad alibi, respectively, the two men were cleared.

Then, a tip emerged that changed everything. A call came in from someone who suggested Russell Winstead, Branson's nephew, had killed her.

Winstead was a coal mine worker whoregularly attended church and had a wife and children. However, the tipster said, he also had an extreme gambling problem and owed Branson quite a bit of money.

After searching Branson's residence again, they found her ledger and discovered it was true: Winstead owed Branson close to $100,000. The day before her murder, there was a note adding thathe had written her a check for $1,200. They also learned Winstead had visited the casino 236 times in one year, losing hundreds of thousands in cash.

When questioned by police, Winstead proclaimed innocence and used his wife as an alibi. She backed his story up, but wasshocked to learn the extent of his gambling problem. Investigators also got a warrant to comb through the WInstead residence, finding a burner phone that confirmed Winstead was cheating on his wife with a casino waitress.

Still, cheating and gambling doesn't mean someone is a murderer.

"When we found out Russell had been living a literal double life, we were shocked, but we felt there was no way Russell had done this. We believed it with all our hearts," Branson's niece-in-law, Mary Branson, told producers.

But then Winstead's wife came forward to reveal Winstead coerced her into giving him an alibi and that he actually hadn't come home until later the night of the murder, meaning he was unaccounted for between 7 and 7:30 p.m., the time of the killing.

Police went to arrest him, but at this point Winstead had already fled the country.

Desperate to find him, the family had him featured on "America's Most Wanted." He was eventually located in Costa Rica, but extradition between U.S. and Costa Rica is tricky.

As authorities plotted their next move, they discovered Winstead's father, Earl, had been wiring his son money from Branson's estate so he could live comfortably in Costa Rica. This devastated the rest of the Branson family -- and Earl Winstead was found guilty of seven counts of hindering apprehension and given seven years probation.

Finally, in May 2005, Winstead was arrested at a casino in Costa Rica and sent back to the United States, although the U.S. had to agree not to seek the death penalty in the case.

"I felt like a burden had been lifted. I knew justice was going to be done," Jack Branson told producers. "[...] We all thought he was a family man, we all thought he was a church-goer."

In July 2007, the case went to trial. Prosecutors argued Winstead realized he couldn't afford the $1,200 check he had given Branson, had gone to her home to ask her to tear it up, and when she refused, he had simply snapped, stabbing her and hitting her over the head repeatedly.

Russell Winstead was found guilty of murder and first-degree robbery, and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

For more on this case and others like it, watchAn Unexpected Killer," airing Fridays at 8/7c on Oxygenor stream episodes here.

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'We Thought He Was A Family Man': Identity Of Man Who Murdered 85-Year-Old Woman Shocks Relatives - Oxygen

The popularity of online casino games in India has grown so much over the years. Indians are known to love gambling. Aside from being the second most populated country in the world, India is also known to be home to so many gamblers. In fact, around 80% of the Indian population admit to gambling at least once a year. In India, gambling can be manifested in many different forms such as house card games, sports betting, and casino games. However, recently, there has been a very big boom in terms of the people who play online casino games in India. The entire gambling industry in India as a whole is worth roughly around US$60 billion every year with around only half of that being regulated. This means that theres a lot of underground and unregulated gambling going on in India. But what about online gambling?

The way that legislation surrounding gambling in India is so weird and ambiguous that it places online gambling on some kind of a grey area. In total, only two states in India are allowed to legally operate physical casinos. These are Goa and Sikkim. The only kinds of gambling that are allowed in India as a whole are lottery sweepstakes and horse race betting. Despite that, there is still a booming online gambling industry in India. There arent any current federal laws that bar or regulate online betting in India. Its mostly up to the individual states to decide on the legality of online casinos in their respective jurisdictions.

Considering that online gambling makes up so much of the Indian economy and the fact that many people are still apprehensive about going to physical spaces for gambling, theres reason to consider that governments are looking closer into legalizing and regulating the online gambling industry in India. But this is all dependent on the state. Goa is one of the most attractive states in India for gambling because it has very loose regulations for both real world and online casinos. However, there are also states like Maharashtra that prohibit gambling in all forms, whether online or offline.

The Federal Information Technology Act that was passed in India in 2011 was made to restrict the online gambling activities in India. The act sought to penalize internet service providers for allowing foreign betting sites to be accessed by Indian users. However, the laws language didnt cover the third-party online betting operators that are very popular in India. So, it has been very easy for Indian online gamblers to circumvent these restrictions by going through the third-party operators who accept rupees or alternative e-wallets for transactions on their sites.

As of this moment, many gambling companies all over the world are eager to penetrate India and try to take a bite out of that large market. Many prominent companies like William Hill and Ladbrokes are desperate to try to win over licensing rights for their operations in the state of Sikkim. It just goes to show that many industry experts understand the potential of the Indian market when it comes to online gambling. This is why many are eager to invest in the penetration of this highly powerful market with lots of spending power.

There are primarily three reasons why Indians have come to really accept online gambling. First, its the fact that Indians consider gambling to be one of their favorite pastimes, as we have already established. Aside from that, India boasts one of the most technologically literate populations in the world. This means that more people are just generally comfortable with integrating and receiving technology into their lives. It makes it easier to seek alternative forms of leisure and gambling as opposed to traditional real-world setups. Lastly, India is also the place that the global COVID-19 pandemic hit the hardest. Many Indians are still hesitant to go out into public spaces and have grown rather reliant on digital alternatives. Online gambling allows many Indian gamblers a safe space to still partake in their favorite hobby while staying safe from the virus.

As access to e-wallets continue to roll out and as technology becomes more sophisticated, its easy to see that the online gambling industry will thrive in India within the near future. Only time will tell how high it can really grow.

(guest article)

Originally posted here:

A Brief Look into the Indian Online Gambling Industry - India West

Barnacled and throttled, the underside of the Santa Monica Pier is the shadowed obverse of the cheery tourist destination above it.

Id come to the pier in search of California history and realized it was that gloomy underside that symbolized what I was interested in, a darkened world of waves and wet timber.

Because this was Tony Corneros domain.

The story of Cornero the gambling boat kingpin who squared off against future U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren at the Battle of Santa Monica Bay seems like it should be a well-worn tale in the Southland and beyond. But its not.

Maybe its because unlawful gambling seems quaint now, when its easier than ever to do it legally. Or perhaps its because much of the physical evidence of the era has been scuttled in some cases, literally.

Either way, collective memory of the gambling boats of the 1920s and 1930s has faded, making it difficult to get a handle on this louche L.A. moment and the infamous Cornero, the subject of Wednesdays Column One.

Tony Cornero, left, chats with law enforcement officials aboard the S.S. Rex gambling ship on May 14, 1938.

(Los Angeles Times)

Trying to understand Cornero, the enigmatic owner of the S.S. Rex, I immersed myself in a version of his world. I reread Raymond Chandlers 1940 novel Farewell, My Lovely, which includes a character who is modeled after Cornero, scholars say. I watched the 1943 film Mr. Lucky, in which Cary Grant plays the owner of a gambling ship who was also patterned after the businessman.

I searched antique stores and marketplaces for artifacts from Corneros ship, which anchored a little more than three nautical miles off the coast of Santa Monica supposedly beyond Californias jurisdiction. Matchbooks, casino chips and dice I thought it would somehow help if I could hold these things in my hands.

Column One

A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times.

Like a mysterious ocean current, something kept pushing me along. To Santa Monica.

Before long, I was crisscrossing the city, whose coastal waters had accommodated the Rex and other gaming barges until 1939, when the battle put an end to the scene. I wanted to understand how the tony city had contended with Cornero, a cavalier ex-bootlegger who once cheekily claimed that his Prohibition-era rumrunning exploits were actually a public service meant to protect 120,000,000 people from being poisoned to death by bad hooch. (He went to prison over it.)

Cornero wasnt the first to open a gambling boat in the Southland Long Beach saw one debut in the late 1920s but he knew how to stand out. His 300-foot-long Rex, the most opulent of the barges, promised all the thrills of Riviera, Biarritz, Monte Carlo and Cannes surpassed and attracted all manner of Angelenos.

And the water-taxi ride to the Rex began not far from where I was standing on the pier.

::

In a little, wood-paneled room above the piers carousel, Jim Harris jiggled a pair of red dice in a loose fist and opened it onto his desk. There was no money on the line, but that wasnt always the case for these cherished artifacts because they were from the Rex. Clutched by croupiers and criminals, those dice mustve seen their share of stakes.

The deputy director of Santa Monica Pier Corp., Harris has worked there for 31 years, starting as a bartender at the erstwhile Boathouse restaurant.

Jim Harris, the Santa Monica Piers historian, said the operators of L.A.s gambling ships of the 1930s were certainly of questionable character.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Back then, he said, street gangs roamed the pier at night, but behind the bar he was serving crusty regulars a cocktail he had co-created. It was called the South of Malibu a union of Southern Comfort, Malibu rum and pineapple and cranberry juices that Harris said was not for lightweights.

Harris, the unofficial historian of the pier, offered me a tour, beginning with the area where, he said, Cornero had painted a red X on the side of a building to show customers where they should line up to buy tickets for water taxis that would spirit them to the Rex. The X was very much a code or a secret handshake for those in the know, said Harris.

The vessel embodied Corneros style and personality. Calling a ship the Rex I mean, its Latin for king, Harris said. That was the biggest feather in his cap he was the king of the ocean.

We walked down to the sea-sprayed platform near where water taxis once picked up patrons and ferried them to the floating casinos.

A journey out to one of the gambling boats would be risking your life, Harris said. The people who were running these operations were certainly of questionable character, and you didnt want to cross them in the wrong way.

A photograph of a law enforcement agent examining roulette wheels confiscated from the S.S. Rex rests on a box of books.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

We made it to the end of the pier. Fishermen cast their lines 30 feet below in search of halibut, perch and mackerel. I squinted at the horizon. A wind lifted off the ocean. From this spot, on a clear day like this one, Harris said, the Rex wouldve been visible.

But I couldnt envision it. At least not yet.

::

Its easy to experience bits of L.A.s history firsthand: You can ride the funicular at Angels Flight or put your hands in the prints at Graumans Chinese Theatre. But not the gambling vessels several rest at the bottom of the Pacific, their slot machines and secrets forever out of reach.

Still, you can talk to the people who were there, though only a few are left.

Florence Kinney was one of those who remembered. In pre-pandemic days, I met her at the Santa Monica History Museum, where the centenarian sat in a wheelchair with hands like maps she kept folded in her lap.

Florence Kinney, photographed at the Santa Monica History Museum, came of age in the city in the 1920s and said the gambling boats were a drawing card.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Born and raised in Santa Monica, a stones throw from the residence of movie stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Kinney who died Jan. 1 at 108 came of age in the 1920s. She recalled Saturday nights promenading on Third Street and trying to snatch the brass ring at the piers merry-go-round to get a free ride.

Santa Monica was a wonderful town, she said. We had no fear of going anyplace.

Indeed, in the years before the gambling boats arrival, Santa Monica had been a quiet tourist destination.

We were a sleepy town, said museum archivist Sara Crown, noting that in the late 1910s, there had been a local temperance movement that preceded Prohibition. It [was] a pretty wholesome place. You know, a family community.

Then the gambling boats arrived. The closest Kinney ever got to them was the shore, where you could see their lights at night, she said. But her husband, Ray, made a trip with his pals, who knocked back whiskey cocktails while they lost money at the card tables.

The boat took quite a bit, said Kinney, laughing.

But Kinney said she never heard anything negative about Cornero or his venture. So she was disappointed when authorities went after the Rex, hitting its operators and those of other gambling vessels with public nuisance charges in a prelude to the raid that became known as the Battle of Santa Monica Bay.

The S.S. Rexs crew used powerful water cannons to keep law enforcement agents from boarding the gambling vessel during 1939s Battle of Santa Monica Bay.

(Los Angeles Times)

The barge and its ilk had been a drawing card for the city, Kinney said.

But her rosy remembrances obscured a truth: There was plenty of trouble. It seemed to follow Cornero wherever he went. And it hastened the demise of the gambling boats.

::

Searching for a piece of tangible history, Id spent weeks chasing Corneros ghost across Santa Monica mostly in vain. But there supposedly was a treasure hidden amid the rattan and rust of the citys oldest restaurant that could transport me to that time of swashbuckling gambling impresarios and their gilded pleasure boats.

An out-of-print book, Shipwrecks of Southern California, said that after another gaming vessel, the Texas, was sunk following its seizure during the battle, salvors recovered its starboard light and donated it to the Galley on Main Street. The light is still doing good service by providing illumination for the establishments pay phone, the book said.

Ron Schur, the Galleys owner since 1989, said over the phone that he didnt know about the lamp. Still, the man known as Captain Ron welcomed a hunt.

Ron Schur, owner of the Galley restaurant in Santa Monica since 1989, heard intriguing tales of the citys gambling boats from a regular named Bobby.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

On a quiet weeknight, Schur eased me into one of the restaurants dim booths, where a tin sign on the wall said CERTIFIED FOR ACCOMMODATION OF MASTER. A waitress offered to select my drink, and I obliged. Before long, the glass was empty with another mai tai on the way and Schur was telling me about a former regular who worked as a water-taxi operator. Schur doesnt know Bobbys surname and he died years ago but he remembers the old man telling him that he transported movie stars, including Errol Flynn and Cesar Romero. Mobsters, too.

These guys appreciated what he did, said Schur. They gave him big tips.

A starboard light from the Texas gambling ship was unearthed at the Galley restaurant during a recent visit to the Santa Monica landmark.

(Daniel Miller / Los Angeles Times)

I poked around the restaurant, which opened in 1934. It teems with maritime ephemera: fishing nets, buoys, diving helmets. But the wall above the pay phone was barren.

A ponytailed barman whod watched me from afar gestured to follow him onto the back patio. He walked up to a row of bushes that lined the rear of the property and plunged his hands in. He pulled out a lamp and set it on a barrel. Its tarnished flanks managed to catch a little light. The metal badge read Starboard.

My God ... a piece of history! said Schur, who then remembered that hed taken down the lamp years earlier, when the pay phone stopped working. I have something thats part of history. And I didnt even know about it.

Schur studied the lamp, and I put my hands on it. The surface was rough, almost mottled, a kind of patina that can be earned only at sea.

Finally, I felt connected, too.

Times researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.

Read more:

Recovering the memory of L.A.s seedy gambling boats - Los Angeles Times

In January 2021, a group of anonymous traders on Reddit took on a group of Wall Street hedge funds at a game of high-stakes betting in the stock market (re: GameStop saga). The popular narrative says the Reddit traders won.

However, there's emerging evidence suggesting the GameStop saga wasn't as clear cut as hedge funds vs retail traders. In fact, many large institutions made big money as well.

The Wall Street 'bad guys' lost billions of dollars. People around the world cheered that David had defeated Goliath.

Inspired by these events, another group of traders proposed another coordinated 'buy and hold' this time for the cryptocurrency XRP (commonly called Ripple). The target date: 1 February 2021, 8:30am.

The XRP price surged. It went up almost 300% in the week before 1 February. And then at 6am, two-and-half hours before people were supposed to buy together, the price started dropping. Right on cue at 8:30am, it crashed.

XRP's price lost 49% on that day leaving buyers who'd hoped for quick riches in tears. I'm fairly certain now the coordinated 'buy and hold' was actually assholes pulling off a pump and dump.

Two stories, wildly different. But from questions I was being asked right before 1 February, I realise many people actually thought the GameStop and XRP situations were very similar.

Perhaps the organisers purposely misrepresented it as the same thing large groups of common people FIGHTING against the establishment.

But in GameStop, the opponents were (supposedly) evil hedge funds. In XRP, the 'opponents' were actually their fellow investors.

It was a very different situation, but you might not have realised it unless you have experience trading.

Gambling is when you don't know what you're doing with your money, but still hope to profit.

The rest is here:

What's The Difference Between Gambling And Investing? - SAYS

The government boats knifed across the Pacific, cutting a line toward the ship floating a little more than three nautical miles off the California coast.

The S.S. Rex was the biggest and most opulent gambling boat anchored off Santa Monica in 1939. And the man at the helm was a brash bootlegger-turned-gaming-kingpin who wore a white Stetson, lived in a Beverly Hills bungalow and held court at the Trocadero nightclub.

His name was Tony Cornero.

Cornero and others like him saw a way around California laws prohibiting gambling by operating floating casinos in waters they believed to be beyond the states jurisdiction. But the authorities disagreed with their interpretation of geography.

On this August day, the Rex had 600 passengers, an assortment of Angelenos enticed by booze-soaked games of blackjack, poker, roulette and more. But 250 law enforcement agents were fast approaching Corneros vessel at the direction of California Atty. Gen. Earl Warren, who had labeled the Rex and its peers the states single greatest nuisance.

Agents raided three other ships, and those operators quickly surrendered. But not Cornero. He had the Rexs gangway barricaded and set loose powerful water cannons on officers who tried to board.

The S.S. Rex deployed powerful water cannons to fend off agents trying to board it during the Battle of Santa Monica Bay on Aug. 1, 1939.

(Los Angeles Times)

Nobodys coming aboard this ship! Cornero shouted, according to the Los Angeles Examiner. Were on the high seas and were prepared to defend our rights. Try to use force, and well use it, too.

The Battle of Santa Monica Bay was on.

::

They were converted lumber schooners, steamships and minelayers, transformed into vessels with names evoking glamour: Star of Hollywood, S.S. Tango, S.S. Monte Carlo. And the Rex.

VIDEO | 03:49

The forgotten history of Santa Monicas gambling ships

In 1939, there was a fierce battle in the waters off Santa Monica over a gambling ship operated by a notorious kingpin.

In Santa Monica, beachcombers could hear the faint, eerie sound of swing music wafting from the ships, but only when there was an onshore wind. A pamphlet for Corneros Tango promised dinner, dancing and entertainment that lasted from 6 p.m. to ??

The gambling boats of the 1920s and 30s may seem quaint now, given how easy it is to legally gamble in California, and the aquatic raids just a curiosity. But in a roundabout way, what the press called the Battle of Santa Monica Bay helped launch Las Vegas as we know it. And key to it all was the enterprising man few remember, Tony Cornero.

Column One

A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times.

Born Anthony Cornero Stralla in 1900, he spent his earliest years in Italys Piedmont region, the son of a hard-luck farmer. After three years of bad corn crops there finally was a bounty, but, as Cornero later told the Saturday Evening Post, his father lost everything in a card game.

Meantime I was playing out in the fields and accidentally set the harvested corn afire, Cornero told the Post. My mother said: Theres nothing left; well all have to go to America.

Artifacts from the S.S. Rex gaming chips, dice and a matchbook rest on a photograph of the gambling boats owner, Tony Cornero.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The family immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area. Living in Los Gatos a few years later, Cornero had a childhood epiphany while shooting craps. Like his father, he lost everything.

I saw that in playing the other fellows game, I was only making a squirrel of myself, Cornero said. So I decided that the smart caper was to make the other fellow play my game, and thats what I have been doing ever since.

By his teenage years, Cornero was dabbling in crime; robbery charges in 1916 he confessed to leading a gang of jitney bandits, the Oakland Tribune reported led to a stint in reform school.

The advent of Prohibition created an opportunity: People needed their booze, and Cornero provided it. The 1920s saw him arrested multiple times for allegedly violating the National Prohibition Act, the FBIs 539-page Cornero dossier shows. There was even an arrest on suspicion of murder, but apparently no charges were filed.

Gambling boat kingpin Tony Cornero, shown in L.A. County jail on Aug. 8, 1946, was arrested several times over the years.

(Los Angeles Times)

Early on, Cornero developed a flair that served him well in his illicit pursuits. When authorities put up a roadblock to keep him from trucking liquor to the Napa River, he devised a workaround, according to Fred Grange, the son of Corneros business partner.

On one side of the roadblock, they shut off the fire main, said Grange, 77. On the other side, they shut off another pipe. They just pumped the hooch ... underneath where the G-men were.

Safely past the roadblock, the bootleggers pumped the booze out of the pipe and back into containers on their vehicles.

His brain was supercharged, Grange said.

Eventually, Cornero wound up in prison due to another bootlegging operation, but he was a free man by the start of the 1930s. And a rich one. Cornero made $1 million as the Southlands King of Rumrunners, The Times reported in 1955.

But that was nothing compared to the Rex. Cornero spent $200,000 transforming a 300-foot-long former windjammer into a casino. It boasted 150 slot machines, a 250-foot bar and ladies in form-fitting dresses to lure customers, the L.A. Herald Examiner reported years later. It also boasted something sinister on the off-limits top deck: machine guns set up fore and aft, according to the Saturday Evening Post. Three shifts of gunners man them every minute.

The Rex opened on May 5, 1938; Cornero promoted it with skywriting and ads assuring it was run honestly.

The ships many gaming offerings and that promotion added up to an innovation: making gambling appealing to the middle class.

Gambling was either the purview of the very wealthy or the very poor; it was either in luxury surroundings or in some kind of snake pit, said historian Alan Balboni, whose book Beyond The Mafia: Italian Americans and the Development of Las Vegas covers Cornero. He did open it to the middle class. For any of his failings, he was a real entrepreneur.

A 1939 advertisement for Tony Corneros S.S. Rex gambling ship that appeared in the Los Angeles Times invited guests to enjoy an atmosphere of unbridled luxury.

Soon, the Rex was claiming a daily profit of as much as $12,000 the modern equivalent of $231,000. By then, Cornero was tied to a constellation of high-profile criminals, among them Benjamin Bugsy Siegel. Cornero had nicknames of his own: Tony the Hat and Black Tony. Out on the water, he went by another: the Admiral.

Still, if not for the gambling boat plotline in Raymond Chandlers Farewell, My Lovely, which includes a character scholars say is modeled after Cornero, its doubtful many Angelenos would have even a foggy sense of this era.

Cornero certainly seems lifted from a noir novel, but was the gambler also a gangster?

An answer appeared elusive, because the dead dont talk, and sometimes the living wont, either. One of Corneros few remaining relatives declined to be interviewed and warned that a writer shed spoken to years earlier wound up mothballing a project on Cornero under mysterious circumstances.

She implied that organized crime was involved in the silencing.

::

In some accounts, Cornero was ruthless; in others, merely a provocateur.

But further insight into him comes from a surprising source: the unpublished autobiography From Grunt to Colonel in 33 Years by Louis J. North. His mother was Corneros sister. North completed the manuscript in 2016, two years before he died at 93.

He taught me how to shoot craps on the living room rug, North wrote of his uncle. The memoir also revealed a secret.

Louis J. North, shown here in a 1974 photo, was a retired U.S. Army colonel who was the nephew of Tony Cornero and wrote about his uncle in a memoir. North died in 2018.

(Jan North)

During Prohibition, Cornero and Norths father, Charles North, started a bootlegging outfit on a small island along Canadas Pacific coast. They would buy Canadian booze, load it on their boat, run it across Puget Sound, and offload it on the beach near Bellingham, Washington, North wrote.

But one night things took a turn. Some banditos thought it would be a great idea to hijack a load of their booze, the manuscript read. A shootout ensued, and one of the banditos died.

The brothers-in-law fled and eventually made it back home. Norths autobiography, however, spotlights an enduring mystery, according to his widow, Jan North.

Who shot that guy and killed him? she wondered. Nobody ever did know for sure if that was my father-in-law that shot and killed that person. Or if it was Tony.

North told her the story a handful of times over the years, though she doesnt know if he knew more than he shared. But she knows this: After the killing, Charles stayed the heck away from Tony forever.

::

Cornero mastered the ocean. Its murk and churn. Its bounty.

He was the ultimate impresario, welcoming 1 million-plus patrons to the Rex in its first year or so he claimed and making them feel special as he emptied their pockets.

He had a photographic memory, said Ernest Marquez, 97, author of 2011s Noir Afloat: Tony Cornero and the Notorious Gambling Ships of Southern California. He could meet you one week, a month would go by, and youd come back hed call you by name.

Author Ernest Marquez in his West Hills home office, which is filled with books on Southern California history.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Cornero remembered the nobodies, but there were plenty of somebodies, too.

Robert Galbreath, whose father captained water taxis to the Rex, recalled him talking about celebrities that would be on his boat.

Thats no surprise: Errol Flynn, Cesar Romero and other Hollywood types stopped by. The Saturday Evening Post reported on one high-stakes game of Faro involving legendary gambler Nick the Greek Dandolos that drew spectators Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures, and Academy Award-winning producer Winfield R. Sheehan.

Ferrying such luminaries to and from the Rex was an exotic gig for Galbreaths father, then a young USC student in need of part-time work.

Gamblers line up to board a water taxi that would take them out to the S.S. Rex gaming vessel in the late 1930s.

(UCLA Daily News Collection / Los Angeles Times)

Much better than parking cars, Galbreath, 81, said.

The elder Galbreath, also named Robert, never shared much about his Rex days but left his son a memento from that time: a yachting cap.

Revving the engine of a powerful boat, helping fancily dressed flappers in and out, the prospect of big tips from the perspective of a male college student, it seems like a dream job, Galbreath said.

Corneros FBI dossier tells a darker story about the Rex one of trick dice, pickpockets, crooked croupiers, gun-toters and bunco men.

According to the Herald Examiner, Cornero called the patrons squirrels. It was supposedly a term of affection, but the story said winners often complained they were beaten and/or robbed, and lawmen discovered more than one body washed ashore with a bullet hole in the head.

Local authorities filed criminal charges against the operators of the Rex in 1938, but not for violence or theft. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Buron Fitts alleged the Rex was anchored in California waters and thus operating illegally.

Fitts legal team argued that Santa Monica Bay was actually part of the coastline. The prosecutors contended that the three-mile limit for Californias waters should be calculated from an imaginary line in the Pacific connecting the bays two headlands: Point Vicente and Point Dume. Under these parameters, the states jurisdiction would extend much farther from shore.

After several legal skirmishes, the matter headed to the California Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Rex kept operating, which seemed to inflame Warren, whod later dub Cornero a symbol of the underworld.

The attorney general hit Cornero and other gambling boat operators with public nuisance charges, which they ignored. Thats what prompted the afternoon raid of Aug. 1, 1939.

The Rexs top-deck guns stayed silent as 250 government agents approached. But Corneros crew barricaded the gangway and flung huge nets over the sides of the ship, according to a United Press account of the drama. The nets could be maneuvered from the deck as a barrier against anyone seeking to board. And soon, officers were trying to clamber up the netting.

Tony Cornero, third from right, huddles with associates aboard the S.S. Rex amid 1939s Battle of Santa Monica Bay.

(Paul Calvert)

Stand off! Cornero yelled into a megaphone, the United Press reported. Were beyond the three-mile limit.

But the agents kept coming, and two made it to the top of a net. As they tried to pull themselves up onto the deck, Cornero unleashed the water hoses. The officers tumbled ... ignominiously into the sea and had to be fished out by their colleagues. The United Press added, Other officers, attacking in groups, met the same fate, some being helped to it by a seamans rough straight-arm to the face.

But Warren had an advantage: The Rex, converted from a windjammer to a barge, couldnt move under its own power. Escape was impossible.

Still, at least one member of Corneros inner circle tried, according to Grange, whose father served as the vessels purser. My dad apparently jumped overboard and tried to make it back to shore, said Grange, recalling a story told by an aunt.

A law enforcement agent aboard a government boat, left, keeps an eye on the Rex during the Battle of Santa Monica Bay.

(Los Angeles Times)

Before he leaped, the purser gathered all the money he could and stuffed it in his raincoat, all the way from his feet to his shirtsleeves, said Grange, adding: Just imagine, youre going to swim three miles, its cold water and youve got a bunch of cash what else are you going to put it in?

His father was apprehended before he got very far.

Cornero was defiant. As the standoff began, he boasted to the press that he had a loyal crew of 200 and plenty of food aboard for his 600 guests. But onshore, The Times reported, friends and relatives of the temporary prisoners apparently werent assuaged and anxiously milled about the Santa Monica docks with the hopes of an update on the standoff.

Warren, who watched the raid from a beach club binoculars in hand was defiant, too, according to the Examiner. Well starve em out, he said.

Nobodys coming aboard this ship! Were on the high seas and were prepared to defend our rights. Try to use force, and well use it, too.

Tony Cornero

As the first night wore on, the weather grew colder and Cornero flashed his characteristic cheek, tossing bottles of top-shelf scotch down to officers on two of the government boats that circled the Rex, according to Noir Afloat.

But a U.S. Coast Guard commander assessed the situation more gravely, telling Warren that the patrons needed to be evacuated because panic might start in [the] night, which would cause loss of life, according to an FBI report.

Cornero relented, and the guests were removed. The early-morning evacuation took hours, with the usually efficient water-taxi system becoming snarled by the scale of the endeavor, a United Press report said.

It then became a waiting game.

For days, the government boats which Cornero derided as Warrens Navy kept circling. At one point, Cornero was said to have hauled down the Rexs U.S. flag and threatened to raise that of the Empire of Japan. The provocation, Warren told The Times, revealed the character of the gentleman operating these barges. (Cornero later disputed the characterization of the episode, telling The Times it was bull.)

Though Cornero had boasted, If I go off, it will be in a box, after 10 days, he gave up. But he did it with more cheek.

Reaching the pier, he said: I have to get a haircut, and the only thing I havent got aboard is a barber.

Cornero soon lost the courtroom battle, too. On Nov. 20, 1939, the states Supreme Court sided with Fitts. As a result, Californias jurisdiction was extended about 15 miles from Santa Monicas shore. The Times concluded: The day of the gaming ships is done.

A day later, the Rex, which had sat empty since the battle, was boarded by ax-wielding agents who hacked up craps tables and roulette wheels and heaved the scraps, along with dozens of slot machines, into the ocean. In photos, the pillaging officers faces are twisted with emotion its hard to say whether in agony or in glee.

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The epic battle that sunk Los Angeles' gambling boats - Los Angeles Times

Are you interested in online gambling? If you are, you must be wondering: is online gambling legal in the US? Well, youll be excited to learn that online gambling is legal in many US states.

However, keep in mind that the form of gambling allowed differs from state to state and there are still states where you cannot bet online.

Most online platforms have different forms of gambling: theres sports betting, online horse race betting, daily fantasy sports (DFS), and online gambling.

Lets take a look at where you can place online bets and what kind of bets you can place to get a clearer picture of where you stand with regards to online gambling. If youd like to learn more, GamblingGuy.com has a wealth of information on gambling and game betting for online gambling enthusiasts.

States Where Online Gambling is Allowed:

Sports betting has been legal in Delaware since 2018. Full-scale operations allow bettors to participate in all kinds of sports betting. It became the first state after Nevada to take such a huge step.

All kinds of horse betting are allowed in Delaware whether it's online or in person. They have a vast network with many kinds of offers. Youll be thrilled to know that you can even bet on the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown races if youre a resident. DFS became legal in Delaware in 2017.

Since 2012, most Delaware-based casinos have been offering online and offline gambling. Today, residents who want to try their luck without physically visiting a casino can do it online.

West Virginia is another state where sports lovers can go for online gambling. They also have other forms of online betting if youre interested in online poker and online horse racing (TVG, BetAmerica, TwinSpires, etc.)

The state of New Jersey has sports betting, DFS, online poker, horse betting, etc. New Jersey is the perfect state to live in if youre interested in gambling.

The best part is you dont have to be a resident of New Jersey to place a bet. You just need to be in the state. Isnt that amazing!

With a wide range of online gambling options, Pennsylvania has gambler-friendly laws. You can opt for many online betting options such as: online sports, horse racing, DFS, etc.

The state of Michigan made online gambling legal in 2019. As long as you are at least 21 years of age you can play online poker, DFS, etc.

You may be shocked to learn that although Nevada has one of the most well-established sports gambling industries, only online horse betting is legal in this state. However, there are only a few websites that offer it. DFS and other forms of online gambling are prohibited.

Just like Nevada, there are other US states where only online sports betting has become legal. They are:

Iowa

Rhode Island

Oregon

Indiana

Online poker and other forms of online gambling have yet to become legal in these four states.

If you dont live in any of these states, dont lose hope just yet. If you live in any of the following states, there are imminent policy shifts looking to relax online gambling laws:

In a few years, we may have more US states where online gambling is legal.

Risks Involved in Gambling Online

As online gambling has become more accessible over the years with more types of gambling being allowed as well as smaller minimum bets, its no wonder youre thrilled to try online gambling. However, we still encourage you to exercise caution when placing online bets.

While online gambling laws are becoming more relaxed, you should still be wary of the sites you transact with. Just like any online deal, there are sites and scammers who prey on unwitting online gamblers.

Another thing to be on the lookout for are specific laws on online gambling. Many states might offer online gambling, but the laws differ with each state. Look into your states specific legislation on online gambling before placing any bets.

Originally posted here:

Is Online Gambling Legal in the US? | Sponsored | state-journal.com - State-Journal.com

Posted: May 24, 2021 / 09:31 PM EDT / Updated: May 24, 2021 / 10:44 PM EDT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WDVM) Governor Larry Hogan recently signed a bill to legalize sports betting in Maryland. Now, experts are weighing in on how this will increase gambling addictions.

As many as 10 million Americans live with a gambling addiction. Specifically, online sports betting brings implications to those who suffer from a gambling addiction, because of its easy access. Bob Cabaniss is a recovering gambling addict and the founder of Williamsvile Wellness, so he has first hand experience on how gambling can take control of your life.

Therell be people that will be wagering on it, and theyll think that they got a bad break and then theyll bet twice as much on the next game Cabaniss says. And next thing you know theyre in serious trouble and theyre addicted.

Cabaniss says if you do find yourself with a gambling addiction, the best thing to do is seek treatment and once you get past the addiction the relapse rate is less than what it is for substance abuse.

Maryland has a state-run gambling recovery program ran by the University of Maryland. For more information, click here.

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Experts concerned about an increase of gambling addictions following legalization of sports betting in Maryland - WDVM 25

Some may be aware that Alabama has continuously struggled with the idea to allow the state to operate, and tax, gambling activities such as a lottery. Problems that can arise from such activities has well been on the radar of the Alabama Council on Compulsive Gambling. Since opening in 2012, this council has served as the official state affiliate of the National Council on Problem Gambling. While the name may bring some assumptions with it, it is important that we get a few things straight about this groups service.

This council is a non-profit organization that aims to educate the public about problems associated with gambling develop path toward identification and treatment of the identified gambling problem. The problems one faces from a gambling addiction functions similarly to those of alcohol and narcotics addictions. Symptoms are similar regarding acting on impulses toward the problem, draining of money, damage to social and family relationships, etc. A key difference would be that it can be even harder for loved ones to notice a gambling problem even exists until actual financial or legal troubles. Furthermore, a gambling addict can place a bet from the comfort of their chosen room, on any device from a computer, smartphone, or still via telephone call.

While the behavior and mode of addiction are different, the results of this addiction are the same as other addictions: incarceration, poverty, and sometimes even suicide. Addicts of any drug or behavior seem to realize they have a problem and seek help, have help from loved ones to such a realization, or hit rock bottom. This rock bottom appears when the addict runs out of money. Theyll beg borrow or steal for the funds to continue their addiction. Jack Galassini, President of the Alabama Council on Compulsive Gambling even pointed out that once the addict has burned through begging or stealing from family, or friends, they may even start stealing from their workplace or company.

Its a devastating problem that they continue to learn more and more about. While discussing a 2016 study, Galassini explained that approximately 5% of gamblers will experience manifestations of such addictive problems. These problems can even be present on college campus. What the Council wants, more than anything, is to make sure everyone knows they have an option for help. Furthermore, it seeks to educate, train, and provide expert councilors. Now the 211 call service includes the option for a caller to connect with a local councilor for the caller, or the callers loved one. Also, the Council has been trying to advertise their existence and services through billboards throughout the state.

While neutral on whether Alabama should, or should not, expand gambling, its mission is to make sure that any state that develops an office will have the resources needed to help anyone. Furthermore, the council is a non-profit organization that aims to educate the public about problems associated with gambling develop path toward identification and treatment of the identified gambling problem. Should you or anyone you know be struggling to stop gambling, please contact the Alabama Council on Compulsive Gambling at 334-277-5100, visit their website at alccg.org, or contact 211.

Read more here:

Compulsive Gambling Help Available To Those Who Need It - Montgomery Independent