Category Archives: Gambling

What to Know

A gambling industry group wants to teach consumers how to tell if a particular sports betting or online casino site is legal or not.

Conscious Gaming, a nonprofit group associated with an online gambling technology firm, launched its Bettor Safe campaign this week to promote the advantages of licensed gambling sites, including consumer practices, and highlight the risks of unlicensed ones, including identify theft, or the outright theft of deposits.

It also began state-specific campaigns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where research shows many customers are confused about what is a legal gambling site. Additional state-specific efforts are planned soon.

Now more than ever we must educate consumers and equip them with the tools to make more informed decisions about online betting.

This campaign comes at a pivotal moment when American sports fans are gearing up for the NCAA basketball tournament amid a pandemic that continues to push individuals online, said Seth Palansky, a vice president with the group and a former online gambling executive with Caesars Entertainment. Now more than ever we must educate consumers and equip them with the tools to make more informed decisions about online betting.

Nationwide, 35% of individuals are unaware whether online betting is legal in their states, and many more, deceived by illegal operators, are wagering on unregulated sites, according to the American Gaming Association national trade group.

A recent survey by Conscious Gaming polled more than 500 adults in New Jersey and Pennsylvania on their habits and attitudes toward online betting. It found more than 25% of respondents in New Jersey and more than 30% of respondents in Pennsylvania were unaware if online betting is legal in their state, or responded that it was not legal.

Kevin OToole, executive director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, called the campaign an important resource to empower consumers.

The survey also found about 75% of New Jersey and Pennsylvania respondents could not differentiate a legal betting site from an illegal website.

The campaigns New Jersey website, for example, offers a list of all the legal sports betting web sites approved by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement.

It also offers a list of things people should look for to help determine whether a particular site is legal or not, including two New Jersey-centric logos for responsible gambling and for the gaming enforcement division.

It asks customers whether a significant amount of information is being sought during registration, saying unlicensed sites typically dont ask for as much as legal sites do.

And cryptocurrency is not legal for online gambling in New Jersey; any site that accepts it is automatically an illegal site, according to the campaign.

Conscious Gaming is an independent group created by GeoComply, whose technology is widely used in the online gambling industry to verify the physical location of a gambler to comply with state laws.

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A Push to Teach Gamblers Which Sport Betting Sites Are Legal - NBC New York

Gambling has evolved over the centuries to keep up with technological advancements, and its myths and far-fetched tales have grown to keep up with the changes. The dependency of luck and some skill gives casinos a mysterious aura that gives rise to many theories. These tales are used to explain reality loosely, but they are just figments to drive the overactive imaginations of naive players. There is a myth floating around for almost every element in casinos, and here is a look at ten of the most common ones and the facts that debunk them as theories with no grounds.

The myth that gambling is not addictive is often supported by the fact that it does not cause physical effects like alcohol and drugs. However, mental health is also established as an essential factor to consider in physiology. Gambling has been established as a leading cause for mental illness, making it as dangerous as any physical addiction. Problem gambling interferes with the social, financial, and mental wellbeing of thousands worldwide every year. Several countries have taken the initiative to nip the issue in the bud such as the United Kingdom and Australia. These jurisdictions apply laws such as:

This myth does hold some water, but not in the way most gamblers think. Some people believe that the casino has the power to influence the results of games. For instance, a dealer handling a roulette game can control where the ball lands. This theory is just fiction, and both the player and casino are in the dark on any games results. However, the odds are stacked against the player in favour of the house. Players can come out on top in the short run, but the house always wins over time. Even over a short period, the chances of losing are higher than those of winning. The math used to design the games makes the payout odds lower than the winning odds. This makes all of the slots negative-expectation games.

The superstitious community believes that every gambler is a psychic who can tell when they will be lucky. Some depend on charms like rabbits feet, horseshoes, numbers, colours, and four-leaf clovers to summon good fortune. These myths are widely entertained, but they do not quite work. Casino games produce their outcomes randomly using random number generators. These programs generate millions of codes with each round, and those that match the required results are selected randomly. This makes it impossible to tell the gameplay outcome accurately.

Card counting is a frowned-upon tactic used by blackjack players to win the game by tracking the cards being dealt and playing each hand accordingly. The practice can only be exercised in land-based casinos, and the establishments discourage it at all costs. Gaming clubs take measures to discourage anyone they suspect of counting cards by shuffling the cards after each hand, asking the gambler to play another game aside from blackjack or ban them from the establishment entirely. However, one cannot be arrested for the practice since it is not illegal. Harsher measures can be applied if one is caught card counting with a device.

This myth is a ridiculous theory that is told about land-based casinos. Pumped oxygen is used to make people stronger and more alert, but it would be impossible to use it at brick-and-mortar establishments. Not only is it expensive, pumping oxygen into crowded casino floors with electrical gadgets all around and smoking people would open the doors for a fire disaster like no other. Rumour has it that this myth originates from Fools Die, Mario Puzos novel, where one of the characters pulls off a similar stunt.

Most myths that need debunking are related to winning over the casino. However, it is possible to come out on top in the long run. Some sets are unbeatable, such as no download slots where no skill can be applied to influence the odds. In other games such as blackjack, poker, and video poker, players can gain enough experience to have the advantage over the casino. These sets accommodate different techniques that allow the gambler to edge over the casino in the long run. One such tactic is counting cards, which is applied in blackjack. Some players go on to forge professional careers in gambling and earn millions of dollars annually. It is also possible to win through sheer luck over the long run.

It is a common belief that playing using casino bonuses affects a games winning odds for the better or worse. The RNGs used to run pokie machines are not connected with gambling incentives, making it impossible for players to influence the other. Whether a spin is played with real or bonus money, the results remain random and cannot be predicted. The winning chances are always the same in the previous round as they are in the next one.

This statement is either a myth or not depending on ones country of residents. Most countries around the world open their doors to the gambling industry in one way or the other. In some countries, the sector is among the highest revenue-generating ones that support the economy. The United Kingdom, Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand are some of the countries where casinos are thriving. However, in others, the practice is banned entirely due to varying reasons. Countries like the UAE, Iran, and Israel apply the law due to religious reasons.

Myths about gambling and casinos will always be around, and it is your responsibility to establish that they are false. These theories are often rooted in superstition, ignorance, and paranoia.

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10 Most Common Gambling and Casino Myths Analyzed - ABCmoney.co.uk

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)The month of March is recognized across the country as gambling awareness month. Here in Michigan, with online betting now legal, experts are worried about one particular group, our youth.

I can sit at home on my phone, on my computer and I can gamble and thats a concern, says Gambling Disorder Program Manager for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Alia Lucas.

She says despite the legal age to place a bet being 18,addiction can start much earlier than that.

When our clinicians talk to them and they start the assessment and theyre starting to get into the history of the gambling activity what they learn is that these individuals start gambling at the ages of nine to eleven years old, said Lucas.

Mae Lambert is a licensed clinician and an expert in youth gambling. She says gambling activates a reward system in the frontal part of the brain that is not fully developed until the age of 25, priming the brain for future addictions.

The frontal lobe is where we create all of our rationalizations and where we understand consequences, said Youth Gambling Community Coordinator for the MichiganDepartment of Health and Human Services, Mae Lambert.

Lambert says online betting age restrictions are easy to get past.

They can say yes Im 18 and over. Theres no way for the vendor to know that this is someone who is under 18.

Lambert and Lucas say 80% of teenagers have gambled within the past year. Its a number they expect to increase this year due to more time spent at home. Experts also worry even pay to play video games could become a problem.

While it might not seem harmful for a lot of the youth to play these online games and pay for the things necessary to progress, it is something to pay attention to, said Lucas.

Lucas says the best thing you can do to help your kids prevent a gambling addiction is to have an open conversation with them about it.

Ask them if they are gambling, you know what kind of gambling, what kind of gaming are you doing and have an upfront conversation about the potential dangers of gambling.

Below is a list of resources, and ways to get help.https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71550_2941_74002,00.html

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Experts weigh in on the dangers of youth gambling - WLNS

This is an opinion column.

Gambling is an answer in search of a problem just not Alabamas problem.

If you want to see one of the biggest reasons Alabama lags behind in most measurements of quality of life, I can show you with a chart. Its a little old as data goes three years but like Alabama, little about the data has changed for the better.

Three years ago, the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy calculated what Alabamians pay in state and local taxes and put that data on a chart. On the left side are the poor folks. On the right are the rich. Its an ugly picture. This is what it shows.

If you made $11,000 that year, you paid about 9.9 percent of your income in one state or local tax or another sales, property and income.

On the other hand, if you made $500,000 that year, you paid about 5 percent.

For sales tax the biggest draw or drain, depending on which side youre on the poorest 20 percent paid 7.1 percent of their income. The richest one percent paid just one percent.

Alabama's dependence on sales taxes puts a greater burden on the poor than the rich, perpetuating poverty instead of solving it.

In short, the less money you make, the greater percentage of that money you pay in state and local taxes. The only major change since then was in 2019, when Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama lawmakers raised the states gas tax, which made this regressive tax structure even worse.

At the heart of Alabamas problems is this: We ask more from people who dont have the means to bear the burden of state expenses than we do those with the most means to pay. Our tax structure perpetuates poverty instead of alleviating it.

And soon we might turn to gambling.

A lottery isnt going to fix Alabamas big problem.

Casinos arent going to fix it, either.

But some lawmakers are determined to try.

A proposal to legalize gambling in Alabama, introduced by state Sen. Del Marsh, promises to rake in hundreds of millions in new revenue for Alabama, but theres nothing new about it. Its the same old thing this state has always done. Our officials are searching for another way to do the same thing weve always done.

And were likely to get the same weve always gotten.

Im not against gambling itself. As a moral issue, if someone wants to set their money on fire in the backyard, its theirs to do with as they please. And lets face it, its not hard to find a place to blow your money these days, either by crossing a state line or day trading stocks on your phone.

But there is one question I cant get past. Why is it OK if the state taxes the heck out of it, but a crime if not?

I dont believe the sole criterion for a thing being legal or illegal should be whether a state gets a cut.

And the very worst reason we could have for making a thing legal is to again rob from the poor to give to the rich.

Every year in Alabama, we have this debate. And every year it ends the same way. Gambling legislation fails not because of religious prudes or high-minded navel-gazers like me, but because of gambling interests. The Poarch Creek Indians and the dog tracks-turned-bingo-halls fight over who will get the biggest piece of the action and their squabbling kills the bill. Every time the Legislature tries to split the baby, it actually splits the baby.

But maybe this is the year all that changes. Maybe the bad ideas time has come.

And maybe when its done and when it doesnt work we can move on to the good ideas nobody yet wants to try like removing sales taxes on groceries and medicine, or taxing farm and timberland like Mississippi.

Maybe.

But I wouldnt bet on it.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group.

You can follow his work on his Facebook page, The War on Dumb. And on Twitter. And on Instagram.

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Why is this taking so long? Failure and a big, big number

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Whitmire: Alabama doesnt have a gambling problem. Its worse than that. - AL.com

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The Bureau of Internal Revenue in the Philippines has said that the tax revenue from Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) will drop this year.

BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa told senators that the latest projections show POGO tax collections settling at 3.92 billion, just half the 7.18 billion raised in 2020.

This is based on the January revenue of 327.2 million, down 69% compared to a year ago, multiplied by 12 months.

Victor Padilla, senior manager for offshore gaming of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), said there are only 38 license holders operating from a peak of 61 companies pre-pandemic.

POGOs were forced to shut down due to COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. They were allowed to reopen in May, but were told to settle all their unpaid dues with the BIR.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee tackled bills that would set the tax rules for POGOs. In the measure, license holders will pay a franchise tax worth 5% of gross gaming receipts while foreign employees will be subject to a 25% withholding tax. This assumes that they are earning at least 600,000 a year or 50,000 monthly.

These tax rates were originally passed under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, but POGO companies ran to the Supreme Court to stop its implementation.

It is their contention that once the foreign national acquired their working visa, these foreign nationals should be taxed like the ordinary Filipino citizen or resident alien employee, Guballa said during the hearing.

The BIR official added that POGO firms also insisted that they should not be paying any dues to the BIR as they registered abroad and do not derive income from the Philippines.

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Rajasthan Government to Ban Online Gambling, Betting European Gaming Industry News - European Gaming Industry News

BOSTON (SHNS) Massachusetts casinos have been making hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes available to gamblers since they reopened last summer, but players at MGM Springfield will now be presented with only Clorox products.

Clorox is now the Official Guest Disinfectant and Hand Sanitizer Brand of MGM Resorts, the casino company announced Tuesday. The cleaning products brand will supply disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer throughout guest-accessible areas of 20 MGM properties in Las Vegas and around the country, including MGM Springfield.

The health and safety of guests and employees remains our top priority, and were thrilled to partner with Clorox to support those efforts, John Flynn, MGM Resorts vice president of administration, said. Disinfecting and hand sanitizing are key components of our Seven-Point Safety Plan, and Cloroxs century of expertise and trusted brand make it a valuable ally in our ongoing mission to build confidence at our resorts and help keep guests and employees safer.

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Gambling, brought to you by Clorox - WWLP.com

(Reuters) - Las Vegas Sands Corp , founded by late casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, will sell its Vegas properties for $6.25 billion, exiting the U.S. gambling hot spot after three decades to focus on Asia, home to the worlds largest gambling hub, Macau.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Las Vegas Sands Corp is pictured at the Japan IR EXPO in Yokohama, Japan January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The sale comes nearly two months after the death of Adelson - widely credited with helping transform the Chinese territory of Macau from a den of hard core gambling parlors into a center of luxury resorts and convention centers with revenue that now dwarfs Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Sands said the deal underscores its strategy of reinvesting in its Asian operations, with a focus on Macau and Singapore. Macau and Singapore accounted for 48% and 35% of the companys total revenue in 2020, respectively, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

The deal further strengthens the companys balance sheet to fund future growth in other domestic and global markets, Jefferies analysts said, viewing the sale as a net positive.

The properties being sold by the casino operator include the Venetian Resort Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. A possible sale of the properties was widely reported late last year.

The gambling industry, which thrives on air travel and large groups of people in close proximity, has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For 2020, Las Vegas Sands reported a loss of $1.69 billion, the biggest in its history, as travel restrictions and lockdowns brought the gambling industry to a virtual stand-still. The companys cash and short-term investments halved to $2.12 billion at the end of 2020 from 2019.

(Graphic: COVID-19 pandemic hits casino operators in 2020: )

However, widespread vaccinations are expected to aid in the travel recovery. Last month, rival MGM Resorts signaled a pickup in demand later this year as vaccines become more widely available.

Apollo Global Management Incs affiliate-managed funds will buy the operating company of the Venetian for $2.25 billion and VICI Properties will buy the land and real estate assets of the Venetian for $4 billion.

Apollos Alex van Hoek said the investment underscores our conviction in a strong recovery for Las Vegas as vaccines usher in a reopening of leisure and travel in the United States and across the world.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands were up 1.2% at $65.74 in morning trading. The S&P 500 casinos and gaming index has gained 15.2% this year, compared to a 3% rise in the S&P 500.

Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Manojna Maddipatla. Writing by Sweta Singh; Editing by Maju Samuel, Bernard Orr

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Las Vegas Sands shuts door on U.S. gambling hub with $6.25 billion asset sale - Reuters

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Several Pennsylvania organizations to participate in Problem Gambling Awareness Month - TribLIVE

If the devil went down to Georgia in the 1950s, he probably wouldnt have made it past Phenix City, Alabama. The city on the western bank of the Chattahoochee River offered a level of vice that would make Las Vegas blush. Gambling, illegal booze, drugs, and prostitution were commonplace. Babies were even for sale. The bedlam culminated in 1954 when organized crime assassinated Albert Patterson, the Democratic nominee to become Alabamas attorney general. Todays gambling debates seem tame by comparison, so its easy to miss the political sleights of hand.

The first illusion is that all gambling is the same and ought to be addressed by one piece of legislation. In truth, there are three main issues: a lottery, class III or casino-style gaming, and sports betting. Combining them is a political tool to push through bad policies with more popular ones. On a simple up-or-down basis, each of the three issues probably draws enough support to become law. The details and political wrangling are where it gets messy.

A state-run lottery is an absolute failure of sound governance. For as inept as government can be, it must not knowingly harm citizens. Regardless of politics, that should be a minimum threshold for the role of government in society.

We engage in plenty of activities that arent good for us because theyre entertaining or enjoyable. Through government we make decisions about what activities we want to allow, regulate, or outright prohibit. Like tobacco and alcohol, the potential harms of gambling abuse are well documented, and theyre largely borne by lower-income individuals and families. While regulatory constraints are significant, the state doesnt own, operate and market distilleries or tobacco manufacturing facilities.

Just imagine a state-owned cigarette company using public resources to advertise smoking, downplay its harms, and suggest that people should smoke more for the children. If you think thats nuts, so is a state-run lottery.

If Alabama must scratch an itch for lottery tickets, it should consider private lotteries and tax them. Most people dont know that private lotteries were actually commonplace in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Lottery operators could compete on odds for the benefit of players, and its a lot easier to regulate them in the 21st century than it was in the past. The social harms still exist, but at least the government isnt an active participant.

Casino-style gaming is a different animal with a patchwork of regulations across the United States. Only Louisiana and Nevada allow casino-style gambling statewide, but about half the states in America allow some form of commercial casino-style gambling and a few more allow it on tribal lands only.

For decades, the state and various other gambling operators have battled over which gaming activities are legal. The most contentious issue has been over slot machine look-alikes. Since charitable bingo is permitted in Alabama, gaming operators have long argued theyre offering lighting fast games of electronic bingo in a format which is effectively indistinguishable from an illegal slot machine. The issue became so ridiculous that the Alabama Supreme Court issued a six-part test defining bingo. Over the years, law enforcement has seized machines VictoryLand, Greenetrack, and others resulting in serious expenses on both sides of the issue.

Legalizing casino-style gaming would allow operators to drop the act. Opening up fully-functioning casinos can be quite profitable, and its even more so if Alabamas government kills off potential competition. Anyone who has an inside-track to land one of the initial casino operator licenses will fight to keep that circle as tight as possible, and its easy to understand why.

This is where the political games ramp up. The state could give the Poarch Band of Creek Indians a monopoly on casino gambling in the state. It might expand it to existing gaming and racing facilities. But whats the rationale for preventing others from being able to compete as well? The current legislative excuse seems to be, We dont want it everywhere. If thats all the political class has to offer, then the process for limited casino operator licenses should be competitive. Otherwise, its legislators picking economic winners and losers from the word go. Like Mississippi, Alabama should also give local governments a voice in approving or disapproving casino locations.

The last piece of the gambling puzzle is sport betting. Limiting sports betting to physical casinos in Alabama is possibly the most egregious home cooking Alabama politics has produced in a while. There is no reason to require a physical presence to place a bet on a sporting event. The fig leaf from proponents of the provision will be reducing addictive gambling that could happen if online sports books were open. Dont buy it. Its just routing the money hose to the incumbents.

Perhaps the most important sleight of hand to spot is the political pressure campaign suggesting that this is Alabamas last chance to expand gambling options. Nobody should believe that for even a second. There is certainly a path for expanding gambling in Alabama, but it shouldnt be rigged in favor of folks a select few who have flaunted state law for decades.

Cameron Smith is CEO of the Triptych Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The Triptych Foundation promotes a virtuous society through investments in socially impactful media and business. He was recently executive director of the Republican Policy Committee in the United States House of Representatives. You can reach him at cameron@smithstrategies.org.

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The sleight of hand in Alabamas gambling politics - AL.com

I know everybody was shocked to find out the Alabama Senate delayed action on the lottery, casino bill this past week. It used to be just a lottery bill, but because of the way gaming laws work, the casinos in the state are set to expand as soon as the law changes.

This same Senate that delayed the gambling bill just passed the medical marijuana bill. But since it will still have to make it over the House vote hurdle, you may want to wait before you stock up on rolling papers and Bics. It is not a safe bet, by a long shot.

Poor Del Marsh. Lets all pray for the man. He has been carrying around this gambling bill that would establish an Alabama Education Lottery. He has been trying to explain the benefits, the logic, and the money it would generate. He is trying. We cant ask more of a state senator than that he try. I guess trying is about all the Lord requires of any of us.

The latest block is that the gambling bill is not inclusive enough of all the small gambling entities already operating in the state. And Marsh has to fix the bill, before it can be discussed further.

If you have followed the lottery bill for a while, you already know that even if he fixes the bill to include every entity in the state that offers bingo, then another senator will immediately find something else wrong with it. That is just how the process operates.

Gambling is already allowed in the state and the legislature tries every year to reinvent the wheel, rather than just accepting that it is a form of entertainment. It is not a moral dilemma. Legislatures are not elected to make moral laws. They are not the moral police. And for that matter, what is immoral about gambling? And how does anybody differentiate at this point, with the backdrop of the world behind it?

Alabamians play neighboring states lotteries every day and they flock to Mississippi casinos. If you havent had a day away at one of the casinos in our state, you should maybe give it a spin too. It is as they say electric.

In addition to the lotteries and casinos Alabamians have access to, they can also legally have a fantasy sports team, bet on greyhounds, and play the ponies.

Thats why so many people cant comprehend why there is now a delay of the lottery bill, but the delay balances on class.

The current Class II gambling law allows for competition or bingo-style betting. This is the type of gambling currently operating in Alabama casinos. Class III gambling is centered around random-based numbers. Like dice, or cards, or slot machines that are not based on a bingo card. Since a lottery is based entirely on random numbers, it is a considered Class III gambling.

The same law that makes way for a lottery would simultaneously allow casinos to expand too. And in order for any of it to happen to change the law from Class II to Class III the voters have to vote on it. But first the legislature has to agree to put it on a ballot.

Usually what happens though, if it starts to look like lawmakers can more or less agree on the money aspect which has proven to be extremely difficult for them is one of the them will play the obligatory morality card and start talking about irresponsible people and small children.

Wager as you will, but gambling is clear cut. There are winners, and there are losers, and there are no places in between. Numbers and finish lines dont lie. Politicians thoughthey might.

Amanda Walker is a contributor with AL.com, The Selma Times Journal, Thomasville Times, West Alabama Watchman, and Alabama Gazette. Contact her at Walkerworld77@msn.com or at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.

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Legal gambling may be more honest than most politicians - AL.com