Category Archives: Gambling

TUESDAY, FEB. 21, 2017, 9:41 A.M.

Jonathan Krutz with the group Stop Predatory Gambling told the House State Affairs Committee that gambling is dangerous to people and economies. Theres an army of people behind me that are not going to come before this committee that are devastated by gambling, he said. Its certainly true that gambling has enriched the tribes, but it has done so at the expense of the local economies. Theyr not bringing new money into the economy, theyre just taking money out of the economy and putting it into a different place. Committee Vice Chair Jason Monks advised Krutz to stick to the bill.

Gambling increases crime, it increases embezzlement, it increases bankruptcy, Krutz told the committee. Theres a reason why our Constitution says that gambling is prohibited. Its having a very negative impact. People who are addicted, who cant control their gambling, theyre not there to win and theyre not there to be entertained, they go into a zone. Rep. Paulette Jordan, D-Plummer, objected to the testimony on a point of order, and Monks again cautioned Krutz to address the bill. The concern that I have is that our laws are not being respected, Krutz said. Are we going to honor an Idaho statute that violates our Constitution? You cant just define away pieces of the Constitution, and thats what this statute does.

With that, the committee had run out of time for todays hearing though there still were another 10 or so people signed up to testify. Monks announced that the panel would adjourn until 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, when it will continue the hearing. Only those already signed up today will be allowed to testify tomorrow; no new signups will be taken. We apologize for the inconvenience, Monks said, but this is an important issue, and I think you can see that the committee is doing a great job of doing their due diligence and asking the questions.

The House is now due on the floor for its morning session.

Here is the original post:

Hearing to continue tomorrow; anti-gambling advocate says 'can't define away pieces of Constitution' - The Spokesman-Review (blog)

Bookies earned about 1.7bn from fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) last year. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Problem gambling experts have criticised rival factions of the betting industry for waging a selfish war of words to protect their own interests amid the threat of tighter regulation.

The UKs leading gambling charity also warned that a narrow focus on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), potentially ignoring online betting and fruit machines in pubs, amusement arcades and casinos, risks undermining efforts to help addicts.

The government is conducting a review of gaming machines that industry figures fear will lead to tighter curbs on betting machines and reduced profits.

The review has seen amusement arcades and casinos go on the offensive against bookmakers by highlighting the addictive nature of FOBTs, which make up more than half of bookies revenues at about 1.7bn last year.

The machines have been publicly reviled as the crack cocaine of gambling, a phrase thought to have been coined by President Donald Trump when he was running casinos to draw attention to video game bingo, which posed a threat to his business.

GambleAware chief executive Marc Etches said that while attention should be paid to FOBTs, which allow punters to stake 100 every 20 seconds, ignoring other types of gambling was a disservice to problem gamblers.

Theres a particular focus on machines in bookmakers but Ive observed the industry for the best part of two decades and in my experience its always been the same, he said.

When the National Lottery was introduced, elements of the industry didnt care for that.

When there was discussion of expanding casinos, there were businesses within the industry that campaigned against it. Such is the case around machines in bookmakers.

He added that it was problematic that a cross-party group of MPs, which has recommended slashing the maximum FOBT stake to 2, is backed by firms that profit from rival forms of gambling.

Groups that fund the MPs efforts include amusement arcade body Bacta, pub chain JD Wetherspoon, which operates fruit machines, and Hippodrome casinos.

The Association of British Bookmakers recently fought back against criticism of FOBTs, latching on to research published by industry regulator the Gambling Commission.

Using data compiled from real betting sessions, the commission found there was no consistent evidence that particular gambling activities are predictive of problem gambling.

The ABB also pointed to figures suggesting that on average gamblers lost more money and spent more time on amusement arcade-style games.

ABB chief executive Malcolm George warned of the danger that adult gaming centres and other forms of gambling escape proper scrutiny.

The arcade industry and elements within the casino industry, which are commercial competitors of the bookmakers, have unfairly used FOBTs as the whipping boy for far too long when it comes to problem gambling.

In particular arcades, with vastly more machines, need to wake up to their responsibility to help problem gamblers, in the same way as the bookmaking industry has.

Bacta accuses the ABB of cherry-picking data that suits its own argument, focusing on averages rather than the extreme losses that can affect higher-stakes FOBT players.

The two sides have also drawn opposing conclusions about whether studies suggest that reducing the maximum stake on FOBTs would stem players losses.

Etches said the back-and-forth between competing firms in the same industry suggested that they were losing sight of the need to address problem gambling.

The industry needs to think more carefully about that bigger reputational issue and recognise that those who are thoughtful can see through some of this selfish behaviour, he said.

There are a lot of people who have a problem so we need to have a better discourse. A narrow focus that gets very shouty between campaign groups puts people off having a more grown-up more mature discussion.

The row over the role that FOBTs play in addiction reflects the limited amount of hard evidence on problem gambling.

One of the most comprehensive studies, by research group NatCen, looked at whether people who hold loyalty cards with bookmakers changed their behaviour over time, in an attempt to show whether FOBTs coincide with a slide into addiction.

It found a correlation between the use of machines in bookmakers and a descent into problem gambling, with the unemployed and ethnic minority groups worst affected.

But NatCen associate research director Heather Wardle, who sits on the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, is wary of drawing too many conclusions from this.

It shows an association, we just dont know whats driving that association. In all likelihood there are some people for whom the machines are causing them difficulties.

Others have immense problems with all types of gambling and happen to play machines.

She points out that similar research has not been done into amusement arcades, fruit machines or online betting, so it is difficult to compare the risk of addiction.

This raises the possibility that while FOBTs do pose a risk, a blinkered focus on them could allow other forms of betting whether its amusement arcades or online poker to escape scrutiny.

Like Etches, Wardle is concerned by the tendency of the warring factions to highlight data that suits their cause.

There is a lot of energy expended on different interest groups trying to make a case that one activity versus another is the most harmful thing, she said.

You end up with a polarised debate that misses the complexity of whats causing people harm and what you do about it.

I can perfectly understand why different stakeholders do that but its not particularly helpful. Id like to see people combine their energies into really thinking about how we help people and stop the horrendous problems they experience.

See the article here:

Betting turf war is torpedoing efforts to help problem gamblers - The Guardian

Though states often pledge to fund public schools with taxes levied on lotteries and casinos, that money tends to get funneled elsewhere.

In 2008, after years of political squabbling over whether Maryland should host casino gambling, the question came up before voters in a referendum. The state government and the gambling industry lobbied hard for the votes, pledging that taxes levied on the gambling establishments would go to public education. TV commercials promised that casinos would bring hundreds of millions of dollars directly into our schools, and warned that if Maryland missed this opportunity, those stacks of cash would instead benefit students in the bordering casino-friendly states of West Virginia and Delaware.

The referendum passed. In 2012, after the most expensive political campaign in Maryland's history, a ballot question expanding gambling to table games also passed, narrowly. Maryland now has six casinos, including the Horseshoe Casino in downtown Baltimore, which opened in 2014. In the last seven years, these facilities have welcomed tens of millions of visitors and generated around $4.5 billion in profits. That has translated into $1.7 billion in funds for education, including $200 million from Horseshoe.

Yet Baltimores schools are in dire straits: Last month, city schools CEO Sonja Santelises announced that, due to a $130 million budget deficit, she is considering laying off more than 1,000 workers, including teachers.

That same week, the Baltimore Sun reported that the casino money the state had promised for public schools is instead being siphoned to pay for other government expenses, such as salaries and roadwork. As a result, Maryland schools have received the same amount of money they would have without the casino tax. And Baltimore schools have received less state money than they did before the casino opened.

The casino pitch that Maryland voters went for in 2008 is one that was honed over decades, as one by one states agreed to host the gambling industry. Its been a big turnaround for an industry that was all but banned nationwide in the early 20th century. Though Nevada legalized casinos in 1931, most states began to allow them in the 1990s. The promise of reaping economic benefits has driven the trend: Statistics from the American Gaming Association show that casinos bring thousands of jobs to host communities, and they also have a multiplier effect, in which new businesses then open in the surrounding area. This is particularly helpful, says Erik Balsbaugh, the associations VP of public affairs, for struggling post-industrial cities like Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Springfield, Massachusetts.

To win support, casino boosters often emphasized that a percentage of these benefits from lotteries and casinos would be funneled directly into public education. They countered fears of gambling with this emotional reference, says Patrick Pierce, a professor at Saint Marys College in Indiana who has studied the topic. Americans, at least on a symbolic level, place a great deal of emphasis on public education.

The tactic did the trick: Today, you can play the lottery and/or bet at a casino in most states.

Experts on gambling and state funding say that Maryland is only one of dozens of states taking gambling revenue meant for education and using it for other purposes.

In almost every case states either earmark the funds for education but then decrease the general fund appropriations for education by a similar amount, or, in more cases, they simply put the money in the general fund, says Denise Runge, a dean at the University of Alaska Anchorage and editor of Resorting to Casinos: The Mississippi Gambling Industry.

In the first year of operation, taxes from lotteries generally do go toward education, according to a study Pierce co-authored that looked at the period 1966 to 1990. You saw an initial bump in education spending by about $50 per capita, he says. But after a number of years, the practice of using the money for other expenses became commonplace. After eight or nine years, says Pierce, states with lotteries were spending less on education than states that didnt have the lottery tax.

State lawmakers welcome the lotteries and casinos for this very reason: The tax revenue gives them the flexibility to fund other programs or even cut other taxes. If youre a state legislator and youre telling citizens that you supported gambling because it improves childrens education, and then you used the money someplace else, you did a bait and switch, says Pierce.

And politicians become dependent on the moneysomething the gambling industry understands well. Pierce notes, for instance, that while Nevada is famous for its casinos, it doesnt have a state lotterycasino operators dont want the competition. The industrys pull with Nevada lawmakers is a major reason why we havent seen an effective push to put a lottery in place, he says.

Earl Grinols, an economics professor at Baylor University, says this relationship between government and gambling amounts to crony capitalism, in which the industry and state politicians stand to gain from each otherand do. The public system should be designed so that it leads people to do the right thing, he says. When you set up a system in which the gambling industry and state government have interests in common, you do the opposite. You create a system that encourages back-room deals.

But not all gambling-sourced school funds are fated to disappear: The exception are scholarships like Georgias Hope Scholarship program, which provides merit-based funding to students pursuing an undergraduate degree. The program didnt exist before Georgias lottery, which began in 1992, and so wasnt financed through a general fund that could be monkeyed with.

Every dollar from the lottery that comes in for the Hope Scholarship program goes to that program, says Ross Rubenstein, a Georgia State professor who studies lotteries and education funding. Whats more, Georgias model spurred states such as Tennessee, South Carolina, and Florida to create similar lottery-funded scholarship programs.

Still, because these scholarships are merit- rather than need-based, they often benefit middle- and upper-income students rather than their poorer counterparts. Thats particularly problematic, because virtually every study on lotteries shows that lower-income households spend a larger amount of their earnings on lotteries or casino gambling than higher income households. Youre redistributing wealth from poor people to wealthier people, says Pierce. (Rubenstein notes that Georgia also straightforwardly distributes lottery money for pre-kindergarten programs. Benefits for pre-K are a little more even across income groups, he says.)

Politicians also like taxes from casinos and lotteries because theyre voluntary: However regressive these taxes are, no one has to pay them. As a result, theyre less likely to complain to state legislators about them. But this also makes these revenue streams unstable.

Runge of the University of Alaska notes that over time, casinos tend to make less money, as general interest drops off. Baltimores Horseshoe Casino, for instance, has seen a 14.5 percent decrease in its revenue in the past year. Rubenstein says theres a similar trend with lotteries. Everyone wants to play them when they are first available, he says, but then many people start to realize theyre not going to win, or they get bored with the games. So even if public schools were benefiting from these taxes, the revenue stream is not reliable.

The key, then, is not to reform this flawed system, but to scrap it for a better one. Pierce wants politiciansstate governors in particularto have the courage to tell constituents that taxes from stable sources, such as income or sales, are needed for education. And then they need to actually raise taxes.

If everyone really wants to support our schools, we need to make a public commitment to them, says Pierce. The way to do that is not through gambling.

More:

For Schools, Gambling Funding Is No Jackpot - CityLab

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Top 5 Online Gambling Sites in 2017 - Best Casinos & Betting

At a gas station on Austell Road, a line of video gambling machines displays a colorful spinning reel. The demonstration video on the machines shows three BAR symbols lining up. The word jackpot appears on the screen in large, capital letters.

But the only jackpots these machines are supposed to give out are lotto tickets, free replays and store merchandise worth less than $5, according to state law. Giving out cash prizes for video gambling devices is illegal.

I get people coming in all the time asking if I pay cash, said the owner of the station. I always say no. Its not worth it. I dont want to go to jail. You can get lottery tickets or you can get gas.

The owner did not want to give his name because he said he did not want to be associated with operations that do not play by the rules.

He was referring to a recent case in which three men were arrested on charges of allegedly running illegal gambling operations out of convenience stores on Franklin Gateway and Windy Hill Road in Marietta.

According to warrants, Khubaib Hussain, the owner of Gantt Foods on Franklin Gateway, operated the two locations, and Arif Muhammad and Samson Beye handed out the cash.

Other owners of gas stations in Marietta and Smyrna said they could not or did not want to speak on the record about gaming machines. Some said they only gave out lottery tickets as prizes, others also offered gas, but they all said they never give out money.

The MDJ looked at machines at 12 convenience stores. All had inspection stickers from the Georgia Lottery Corporation, and they all had stickers advertising a helpline for those with gambling addiction.

The Georgia Lottery began regulating what they call Coin Operated Amusement Machines, or COAMS, in 2013.

In addition to posting the stickers on their machines, owners of COAMs in the state must pay a licensing fee, and all machines need to be connected to a central accounting system to ensure they are being used properly.

Warrants allege Hussain operated at least 14 COAMs outside of compliance with the state regulations at the two locations.

Marietta police said the investigation into the operation began as an investigation into drug trafficking in mid-2014. It since expanded into an operation involving the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the department of revenue and Cobb and Douglas County Police Departments.

On Feb. 13, officers served warrants on the stores and Hussains home in Douglasville, seizing $250,000 in cash, a large tote full of gold jewelry, eight computers, one cellphone and five high-end vehicles.

In a post on his law firms website, criminal defense attorney Sandy Wallack of Wallack Law said paying out cash for COAM games can incur harsh penalties, including seizure of cash and bank accounts as well as revocation of the owners lottery license and privileges.

While there are a plethora of ways you can violate Georgia law and/or (Georgia Lottery Company) rules and regulations pertaining to COAMs, the cardinal sin remains paying cash as a reward for successful play of a COAM, Wallack wrote.

The three men arrested in connection with the recent case are currently out on bond; Beye and Muhammads bonds were set at $2,970 each, and Hussains was $38,720.

Marietta Police said the investigation was ongoing and could involve charges of money laundering.

See more here:

Video gambling cash payouts violate state law - MDJOnline.com

A gambling researcher is calling on Canada's provincial lottery corporations to enter the controversial business of daily fantasy sports, citing their ability to best regulate the activity that has been characterized as illegal gambling by some U.S. states.

Daily fantasy sports differs from the more familiar season-long game where fans act as managers for a roster of selected real-life players over the course of a season.

In DFS, fans select a roster of players who are competing on the same day. Those selections are then entered into contests against other fans' fantasy rosters with the players' real in-game stats determining the winners.

In this March 18, 2016 file photo, daily fantasy sports player Scott Burlingame poses with the Syde site on his smartphone at his home in Aldie, Va. (The Associated Press/Harry Hamburg)

While some competitions are free to enter, DFS becomes controversial due to the entry fees providers collect and the payouts they provide to winners.

"When you're putting money down to win money and there's a probability that you're not going to win money, then that's gambling," said Prof. Jeffrey Derevensky of McGill University.

Derevensky is encouraging provincial governments to consider adopting DFS into their stables of online games, saying they're best equipped to label the activity as gambling, and lend their expertise enforcing identity and age verification, self-exclusion programs and voluntary daily limits.

"Any form of fantasy should have those same kind of responsible gambling features built into their site," said Derevensky.

He is one of many experts who assert that DFS is a form of gambling, but legal opinions aren't as clear and vary widely between jurisdictions.

In Canada, the federal government has shown little interest in exploring the legality of DFS. And, even if it considered daily fantasy to be gambling, Ottawa has historically only prosecuted sites with servers in Canada, which most DFS providers do not have.

But in the U.S., industry leadersDraftKingsandFanDuel havefaced a more hostile legal environment and spent much of 2015 and 2016 fighting legal battlesfor their survival, as a number of states moved to shut them down as a form of illegal gambling.

This despite DFS branding being increasingly hard to miss with providers securing sponsorship deals with pro teams across all major sports and even entire leagues.

Logos of daily fantasy sports companies like FanDuel are easily found at many sporting events, including this NCAA college basketball game in New York state. (The Associated Press/Kathy Willens, File)

Currently, DFS is restricted in 10states while seven more have partial restrictions.

Somestates, including New York,Massachusetts and Virginia, have regulated DFS and require providers to pay registration fees and implement age-verification policies.

While the game may be labelled as fantasy, there is serious money at stake with an estimated 57.4million fantasy players in North America,according to theFantasy Sports Trade Association.

Those who play daily fantasy sports compile a roster of real-life players with pre-assigned values. (Yahoo Sports)

Derevensky says DFS represents an opportunity for Canada's provincial lottery operators to add a new and growing product.

He's scheduled to speak in Vancouver on Tuesday at the New Horizons in Responsible Gaming Conference, an event hosted by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation where experts share new research.

BCLC says its aware of DFS' popularity, adding thatit's seen double-digit growth in the amount wagered on sports compared to last year. But, spokeswoman Angela Koulyras says there are no immediate plans for BCLC to offerDFS on its site just yet.

"We recognize that DFS is growing in popularity and interest and we're just keeping a close eye on it at this time."

Those already in the businesssaythey'renot afraid of newcomers and stand by their product.

"We have competition everywhere. That's what drives us," said James Chisholm, DraftKings's director of public affairs.

"No one has a greater incentive to ensure people who are playing our game are who they say they are than we do."

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Gambling expert calls on provinces to step into daily fantasy sports arena - CBC.ca

A section of a Watertown city zoning ordinance pertaining to gambling establishments could go by the wayside.

The Watertown City Council is set to conduct a first reading amending Title 21 of Ordinance 17-02 removing zoning restrictions on those entities on March 6. The potential revision would put the city in compliance with a 2011 South Dakota Supreme Court ruling that municipalities could not regulate gambling institutions, including casinos and video lottery establishments.

The proposed amended ordinance was put forth by City Attorney Justin Goetz, who has been busy in working with the Plan Commission and City Council in updating the ordinance book since assuming his position last summer.

Under the current ordinance, gambling establishments are confined to commercial zoning areas under a conditional use permit, similar to restaurants, motels, and other businesses.

However, in 2011, the Supreme Court sided with the South Dakota Department of Revenue over the City of Sioux Falls as the Department of Revenue argued that the City of Sioux Falls ordinance on gambling establishments was invalid because it infringed on the sovereign prerogative of the state.

While the proposed ordinance wouldnt be able to explicitly restrict gambling establishments in commercial districts, that doesnt mean that those establishments are going to be able to pop up anywhere in the city.

Goetz noted to the Plan Commission last week that in issuing the ruling, the Supreme Court said municipalities such as Watertown could effectively enact restrictions on the placement of gambling establishments.

There is still the ability of the city to determine locations of alcohol licensees. The gambling license is effectively attached to the alcohol license it is a certification attached to the alcohol license. That allows the city to be able to regulate placement, Goetz said.

According to Goetz, the proposed amended ordinance would allow Watertown to get out ahead of any potential legal challenge against the current ordinance brought forward by either the state or another party.

No lawsuits against the City of Watertown on the issue are pending or currently underway, which left Plan Commission member Dennis Arnold questioning the timing of the proposed ordinance.

(At any given time) there are a lot of court cases and things around the county where organizations are challenging something and it gets changed, Arnold said. I think the residents of Watertown have liked our (gambling locations) ordinance the way it is, or at least thats what I assume. Nobody has challenged it. Why do we have to change it if nobody has challenged it?

While Goetz said he empathized with Arnolds point of view, he also said that the proposed ordinance reflecting the court ruling is an extension of the state establishing its authority back in the 1980s when the original law cited by the court was written, thereby not leaving it up to different interpretations by municipalities.

In interpreting the courts ruling, Goetz said, If localities were allowed to determine where gambling establishments could be in South Dakota, there would be a lot of dry communities, if you will, for these kind of establishments These forebears at the state level saw that writing on the wall and saw that municipalities would have issues certain municipalities more than others. In order to ensure that this was provided statewide, municipalities couldnt butt in and occupy the field of state regulation that they had set for themselves.

After the first reading of the ordinance amendment occurs on March 6, a second reading, and possible approval, may occur at the following City Council meeting scheduled for March 20.

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City Council to look at removing zoning restrictions on gambling entities - Watertown Public Opinion

Internet gambling revenue in New Jersey surged more than 32 percent in 2016, and a new study from gaming industry research group Eilers & Krejcik anticipates additional growth of 17 percent this year.

But perhaps the best news for Atlantic City in this study is the perceived impact online gaming is having on the seven remaining brick-and-mortar casinos.

Online gambling is becoming a highly effective tool for Atlantic Citys casinos, the report stated. Increased integration between the online and live casino appears to be driving additional play and visitation at land-based properties.

With the gambling seaside town already decimated by competing casinos in neighboring states, its been debated for some time whether the ability to wager online would suck even more potential customers out of Atlantic City.

But the report insists online gambling revenue is not coming at the expense of casinogambling revenue. In fact, operator commentary consistently confirms that the online product is capturing new customers and reactivating existing ones, the report said.

What internet gaming is doing is allowing people to be familiar with gaming in the comfort of their own home, said Rummy Pandit, executive director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality & Tourism at Stockton University. Now once a player becomes familiar online with your internet gaming typically when they want to go visit a brick-and-mortar property, they are probably going to visit your property.

Also getting online customers old and new out of their homes and to the casinos themselves are player rewards that can only be used in person, such as free meals and discounted overnight stays.

Pandit said its no surprise that online gaming may be leading to more brick-and-mortar business, as many gamblers seek an experience. Some players prefer to wager in their pajamas in the comfort of their own home, but others may crave the real casino atmosphere from time to time, interacting with others and having several entertainment and dining options just seconds away.

Compared to the same month one year ago, Atlantic Citys casinos posted a 7.7 percent gambling revenue gain in January. Internet gambling provided $18.8 million for the month.

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News Legislation Florida Gambling Expansion Reaches Impasse Between State House and Senate

A new Florida gambling expansion bill is diametrically opposed to the wide-ranging gambling reform package proposed in the Senate by the influential lawmaker Senator Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton). Galvanos bill (SB 8) received unanimous backing from senators at its first hearing late last month.

Florida State Senator Bill Gavano (right) said that the bill that opposes his legislation in the House is healthy for the debate about whether to expand gambling in the Sunshine State, and how to negotiate with the Seminoles. (Image: AP file photo)

Its a political confrontation that one gaming lobbyist called the stand off at the OK Corral, although its unlikely to end quite as badly for the parties involved.

The new Proposed Committee Bill (PCB TGC 17-01), put together by the House Tourism & Gaming Control Subcommittee, seeks to rein in the opposing chambers push for slots and blackjack expansion. Among SB 8s objectives is the expansion of slot machines into eight counties where they have voter approval.

SB 8 would also permit parimutuel venues to run blackjack games (previously a preserve of the Seminole tribe, which operates seven casinos on tribal lands throughout the state).

The House bill broadly seeks to preserve the interests of the Seminoles, who have been at loggerheads with the state over their right to offer banked card games, namely blackjack, since the expiration of their compact in 2015.

PCB TGC 17-01 would allow the Seminoles again to be granted exclusivity on banked card games, this time in exchange for $3 billion in payments to the state over seven years.

In contrast, Galvanos bill would charge the Seminoles the same fee over that timeline, but for the right to offer craps and roulette, as well as blackjack. Meanwhile, the right to offer blackjack would expand to parimutuel venues.

PCB TGC 17-01 would also preserve the interests of racetracks in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the only ones in the state where racetracks are permitted to operate slots. Galvanos bill, on the other hand, would allow decoupling at racetracks across the state, which means horse and dog racing operators would not be required to run live races and instead could offer other forms of gambling.

The House Bill would make decoupling a violation of the proposed compact with the Seminoles.

In December, a federal judge ruled that the Seminoles could continue to offer blackjack at their properties until 2030, because the state had previously violated the compact by allowing cardrooms and racetracks to offer banked card games and electronic blackjack at their premises.

The state gambling regulator, FDBPR, made a serious error of judgment in approving these games and the ruling puts the Seminoles in a strong bargaining position as negotiations over a new compact continue. Whether the tribe will prefer to preserve the status quo and their monopoly on blackjack, as the House bill proposes, or take a gambling on roulette and craps exclusivity, is anyones guess.

Either way, Galvano said he welcomed the competing legislation as a healthy development in a state where gambling reform bills have historically been given short shrift.

Its positive to see two bills, one in each chamber, moving this early in the process . . . in other words before session has even begun, the senator told the Sun Sentinel. So with these two bills out there, we all know what the playing field looks like, and theres time negotiate further with the Seminoles and [between] the chambers.

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Florida Gambling Expansion Reaches Impasse Between State House and Senate - Casino.Org News

If youre old enough to fight and die for your country, you should be old enough to play blackjack and drop a few dollars into a slot machine at the local casino.

At least, thats the logic of Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, R-Gardnerville, who brings to the table Assembly Bill 86, which, with any luck at all, will be 86d right out of the Legislature.

The bill would reduce the legal age to gamble in Nevada from 21 to 18.

Credit to Wheeler for introducing a philosophical debate among lawmakers. But with just four months to complete the business of the state and the introduction of a solution to a problem that doesnt seem to exist, it makes no sense to spend any time on a proposal that isnt going anywhere.

Dead on arrival, one gaming regulator said at a recent meeting.

Colleague Colton Lochhead reached out to Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Tony Alamo about the proposal, and he was as puzzled as everybody else about it.

The industry has not come to us with any wants for dropping this, Alamo said. Everyones happy with 21 years of age.

Indeed, Virginia Valentine, president of the Nevada Resorts Association, said her membership isnt bucking to change the law.

Weve never supported it in the past, she said. Theres really no compelling reason to change that position.

In fact, the change could create a problem.

With a legal gambling age of 18 and a legal drinking age of 21, drink servers at casinos would be compelled to card patrons to see if they could be served a drink.

Of course, the argument could be made that carding a customer might be a good thing because casinos could guard against underage drinking as well as underage gambling.

Some observers say that adding players who are 18, 19 and 20 could increase play and thus generate additional tax revenue for the state.

But really, just how much money would the average 18-to-20-year-old spend gambling? For the state, it looks like a big investment with little return.

Nevada is no longer the only state with casinos. Whats the legal gambling age everywhere else?

For most, its 21.

According to the casino.org website, the legal age to gamble at tribal casinos in Alaska, Idaho, Minnesota and Wyoming is 18.

In some states, the legal age is 18 or 21, depending on the game. For example, the age to legally place pari-mutuel bets the type most commonly associated with horse racing is 18 in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.

If youre 18, you can play bingo at casinos in Connecticut, Florida, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin and at tribal casinos in South Dakota (but not the commercial sites in Deadwood).

For real confusion, the legal gambling age is 18 or 21, depending on the casino, in California, New York and Oklahoma.

Its easy to sympathize with 18-year-olds who wonder why they can drive, vote and go to war but cant consume alcohol or gamble. It doesnt make sense.

But its a debate from which legislators should keep away.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.

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Bill to lower gambling appears to be DOA in Nevada Legislature - Las Vegas Review-Journal