Category Archives: Gambling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fontwell Park

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

Wetherby

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

Lingfield Park

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

Newcastle

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

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Gambling Commission delivers damning verdict on dispute procedures - The Guardian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Roger Goodell still doesn't like gambling, but can live with Las Vegas NBCSports.com Roger Goodell still doesn't like gambling. And don't even get him started on brothels. But neither of those things kept him from jumping in the sack with Las Vegas this week, as the NFL casually voted to put the Raiders in Sin City. The commissioner ... Gambling finally becomes nonissue with NFL ownersLas Vegas Review-Journal Roger Goodell: NFL won't budge on gambling amid Raiders' Las Vegas moveUSA TODAY Las Vegas Raiders could be the NFL's gambling tipping pointYahoo Finance Bleacher Report -Yahoo Sports -CardPlayer.com all 1,879 news articles »

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Roger Goodell still doesn't like gambling, but can live with Las Vegas - NBCSports.com

Posted March 29, 2017 19:54:25

If you are a parent who was hoping those incessant gambling ads would be banned during sporting broadcasts, and were pinning your hopes on senator Nick Xenophon's private member's bill to ban them well, bad luck.

The bill has been all but killed off by a Senate Estimates Committee, with the Coalition and Labor recommending against the reforms.

The senator and his NXT party had proposed the ban, as well as the establishment of a national regulator and a national self-exclusion register for people struggling with a gambling habit.

Senator Xenophon's private bill is separate to the Federal Government's Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill, which was introduced last year after a review by former New South Wales premier Barry O'Farrell.

The Senate Committee concluded the measures were not necessary because of the Government's reforms.

Senator Xenophon "vehemently rejects" the committee's recommendations, saying "the current (regulatory) framework, even with the recent Government amendments, is woeful".

NXT had a win last week when its amendment to the Government's bill, banning bookies from offering a line of credit, passed the Senate with the support of Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers.

But it now needs to go back to the House of Representatives where it is expected to fail.

And just last week, the Senate knocked back Senator Xenophon's attempt to insert some of his proposals into the Government's bill, including the ban on gambling ads, and the establishment of a national regulator.

The Australian Psychological Society made a submission to the Senate inquiry, and said "the proliferation of gambling advertising, particularly sports betting, is positioning gambling as an integral and 'normal' part of enjoying sports, and is paving the way for young Australians to become the new generation of problem gamblers".

The Gambling Impact Society of NSW told the inquiry that gambling advertisements often created "triggers" for those already struggling with gambling problems.

Broadcasters and sports-betting organisations argued against a ban, saying people under 18 "comprise a very small proportion of the audience for live sports events on television".

They won the argument.

And with a bounty flowing to both, the betting ads do not look set to stop anytime soon.

Topics: gambling, sport, government-and-politics, community-and-society, federal-government, australia, adelaide-5000

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Nick Xenophon's proposed bill to ban gambling ads during sports broadcasts in doubt - ABC Online

Bill could bring video gambling to...

Video gambling machines could soon be showing up at bars, bowling alleys and social clubs.

A new bill in Harrisburg would also legalize and regulate games that are being operated illegally now.

Lawmakers say there are roughly 15,000 illegal gambling machines across Pennsylvania, and the state is losing out on millions of dollars.

But, not everyone thinks the bill is a safe bet.

Eleanor Ruppert spends every Tuesday at the Haja Rose Bowl in Allentown.

"It all depends on the alley conditions," said Ruppert. "There's a little luck too."

Owner Jim Haja has his fingers crossed that soon his bowling alley will be filled with luck from video gambling machines.

He is already making enough from lottery tickets and scratchers to make a payment on his roomba-like lane cleaner.

Now, Pennsylvania legislators are considering allowing private clubs, bars, and bowling alleys, like the Rose Bowl, to have video gambling.

Senator Lisa Boscola said it's an activity that's already going on in backrooms and basements at establishments across the Lehigh Valley.

"In my opinion, they are not criminal and we shouldn't make them criminal, we should legalize them." said Boscola.

Boscola said the revenue would benefit state emergency services, opiod treatment and gambling addiction.

"I think that the state senator that is proposing this bill should go to the Gambling Anonymous rooms and see how badly gambling is destroying families," said George M., who is a Gambling Anonymous Group leader.

He said after the casinos opened, attendance at the meetings doubled. He said he fears what will happen if the bill passes and video gambling is more accessible.

Boscola said the bills would limit bars and clubs to five machines with a $5 maximum bet and a $1,000 daily limit.

Rest stops are also included in the bill, but they would be allowed 10 machines.

Boscola said this is just part of an overall gaming bill that will come out with the budget in June. She said there is also talk of online gaming in the state.

In the meantime, George M. said he is just waiting to see what happens.

He says anyone with a gambling problem can contact Gamblers Anonymous at 610-770-9588 or 888-442-7085.

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Bill could bring video gambling to bars, bowling alleys - WFMZ Allentown

Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby, Sen. Eileen Donoghue, and Rep. Joseph Wagner (L-R) heard testimony from online gaming experts Tuesday. The Lottery is worried about the possibility of being shut out of the online gaming marketplace. [Photo: Sam Doran/SHNS]

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.

By Colin A. Young

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON -- As the commission looking into online gaming and online gambling presses ahead in its study of ways to regulate and possibly make money from the developing industries, the Massachusetts Lottery is concerned that it could be left behind.

The Lottery is seeking authority from the Legislature to offer its current products -- scratch tickets, draw games, Keno and more -- to customers over the internet, arguing that its survival and the hundreds of millions of dollars it returns as local aid are otherwise at risk.

Meanwhile, a special commission formed by the Legislature is looking into legalizing and regulating fantasy sports, eSports and non-Lottery online gaming, and has been tasked with making recommendations for legislation by July 31.

The two interests collided Tuesday: the Lottery Commission met at 10:30 a.m., and commissioners and staff noted that the Special Commission on Online Gaming, Fantasy Sports Gaming and Daily Fantasy Sports had scheduled a hearing for 11 a.m.

After the monthly Lottery sales report, discussion among the commissioners turned briefly to the possibility that Massachusetts could begin to allow online gambling. Keying off media appearances by Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg raised concerns about that possibility.

"It's interesting. You're hearing about the Gaming Commission saying they want online gambling, and then the comment that I read in the paper was that there are only so many entertainment dollars," Goldberg said.

Crosby, who serves on the Special Commission on Online Gaming, Fantasy Sports Gaming and Daily Fantasy Sports, said Monday on WGBH that the Gaming Commission has no position on whether online gaming should be legal, but does have thoughts on how to regulate it if it's made legal.

"The Gaming Commission has been absolutely emphatic that there is a two-step process here. One is, should online gaming be legal in Massachusetts? That's not up to us, that's up to the Legislature, pure and simple," Crosby told Great Boston host Jim Braude. "If it is legal, then we definitely have opinions on how it should be done and we've made recommendations. But we're not lobbying in favor, nor are we against it. That's not a decision for us to make."

Crosby previously told the special commission that online gaming could become "another modest but real economic engine" for Massachusetts if "you have a stable legal environment, where the law was clear and the parameters were clear and the rules of the road were clear, people would come here to develop new games."

Though the special commission has until July 31 to make recommendations to the Legislature and the chairwoman of the commission said Tuesday she expects the commission to work up to that deadline, the notion that lawmakers could authorize online casino gambling but not online Lottery products struck a nerve with the Lottery Commission.

"As the apolitical and independent comptroller of Massachusetts, I have to tell you that that's enormously disturbing to me, from the standpoint that you have the most successful lottery in the nation, and what you're really doing is not only kneecapping it from the standpoint of not allowing it to participate in any kind of online way, but also you're literally, as the treasurer said, handing the keys over to private industry," Comptroller Thomas Shack, a member of the Lottery Commission, said.

Shack added, "To take those revenues away from cities and towns and to then share them in a significant way with private industry just goes against what we're designed to do as a commonwealth and as a lottery."

The special commission heard Tuesday from experts in online gaming legal and regulatory structures, online game technology and security, and from Marty "Lazerchicken" Strenczewilk, the owner and CEO of eSports team Splyce.

After the hearing, Chairwoman Sen. Eileen Donoghue said she thinks the commission has a lot of work left to do before it decides what it should recommend to the Legislature.

"The more we get into it, I think the more we can appreciate how enormous this task is, to look at all three sectors -- fantasy sports, online gaming and eSports -- and any one of them could be daunting," the Lowell Democrat said."But my sense is we have a ways to go in terms of our research, in hearing the information and then deciding what is the appropriate action to take. And it may not be one size fits all, that's something...we'll see as we go forward."

When asked about the possibility that the Legislature could approve one form of online wagering but not another, Donoghue declined to comment, citing the fact that the Lottery is expressly excluded from the special commission's focus.

Last year, the Senate voted 22-17 to give the Lottery the authority to move online but the matter was never taken up in the House. This year, Goldberg has filed legislation (H 26) to allow the Lottery to sell online, and Lottery Executive Director Michael Sweeney has touted the importance of being online, especially if casinos or other private companies will be allowed to offer online gambling.

"If the Massachusetts Lottery is not allowed to take a significant step into that online world, we will never be able to compete with the advertising dollars that the private casino industry will pour into that effort, if they're allowed to go online," he said Tuesday. "So establishing the brand online, establishing the Lottery's presence online, to me it's really, really critical."

-END-

03/28/2017

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Lawmakers caught up in collision of online gaming, gambling ... - Lowell Sun