A Candidate with some sense: 'Easy money' mirage bad bet

This candidate sure has some common sense and sensible plans that Beacon Hill might heed.

Of expanded gambling, this candidate says --

It is fool's gold, a lure of easy money that doesn't deliver, unless you are the owner of a casino or local "bingo" joint.

And who could disagree with this statement? --

Want a sure bet? We should focus our energies and invest our limited resources in recruiting stable, good paying jobs with established businesses, and encouraging existing companies to expand. Solid jobs with solid companies build solid communities. Everybody wins that way.


KAY IVEY: 'Easy money' mirage bad bet


Editor's note: The Advertiser has asked the candidates for governor in next year's election to submit four columns addressing major issues. The fourth series of columns is appearing in the reverse alphabetical order of the candidates' last names by political party, beginning with the Republican Party candidates. The topic for the fourth series of columns is gambling.
By Kay Ivey

Every Alabamian knows just how bad our state's financial situation is. Spending is out of control. Like gluttons at an all-you-can-eat buffet, too many lawmakers lack the discipline to push back their plate, and spending goes on as rampantly as ever.

All this at a time when state revenue is running dangerously low and very painful budget cuts are just around the corner. So, it is easy to understand why people want to find new sources for pumping money into our cash-strapped government. It seems like a simple idea: legalize gambling in Alabama, place a heavy tax on it, and then just sit back and watch as seemingly endless waves of "free" money fill the state coffers.

But that premise is flawed. Gambling itself is based on the idea of getting something for nothing. You put down a little money and hope to win a big cash prize in return. Ah, if it were only that easy! Simple math tells you there must be more losers than winners to make gambling profitable for the owners of the gambling operation. And there's the problem.

Using tax revenue from gambling as a funding mechanism is unpredictable at best, and unreliable at worst. A basic principle of public policy is to never fund an essential public service with an unstable source of funding. Just look at what's happening in Nevada right now.

For decades, the Silver State promoted itself as a gambler's paradise with Las Vegas as its Mecca. Millions of tourists came to visit, and billions of dollars changed hands in slot machines, at roulette wheels and over poker and blackjack tables. The state was right there, taking its share of the loot. And when times were good, it made it a good haul.

Then the current recession hit. And guess what? "Sin City" isn't quite as glitzy as it once was.

Gambling in Nevada has been on a steady losing streak lately. The Nevada Gaming Control Board reports that as of last October (the most current figures available at the time this column was written), casino year-over-year returns have declined for 22 straight months. Not so coincidentally, that was about the same time the recession started.

Regulators say the state collected $49.3 million in taxes based on October revenues. That's down 12.7 percent from the same month a year ago. That is in addition to millions of dollars Nevada has lost from its other non-gambling revenue sources, too.

Then there is the cost of the social problems that go hand-in glove with legalized gambling. Gambling proponents don't like to talk about them, but I assure you they are there. Consider this:


The average pathological gambler affects, directly or indirectly, eight other people, including family, friends, and co-workers. One-third of gambling addicts have been arrested, compared to only 5 percent of non-gamblers.


Gambling addiction seriously affects absenteeism and job productivity. More than 20 percent of problem gamblers in treatment have lost a job because of their gambling.


Gambling addicts are four times more likely to have poor mental health, and are four times more likely to attempt suicide than those without gambling problems.

If legalizing gambling raised the percent of gamblers in our state to the national average, 15,000 additional gambling addicts would be created, at a cost of more than $200 million per year in crime, lost productivity and costs for health and human services.

I agree with people who want to attract new jobs to their communities and who want to find new revenue sources for our state government. But you won't find the answer in legalized gambling. It is fool's gold, a lure of easy money that doesn't deliver, unless you are the owner of a casino or local "bingo" joint.

Want a sure bet? We should focus our energies and invest our limited resources in recruiting stable, good paying jobs with established businesses, and encouraging existing companies to expand. Solid jobs with solid companies build solid communities. Everybody wins that way.

Kay Ivey, currently state treasurer, is a Republican candidate for governor of Alabama.

Another Gambling Victim

Another innocent victim of casinos and slots designed to addict --


...49-year-old English teacher from Brookline, N.H, ...Gail Rasmussen, took at least $3,000 in total, and that 20 minutes after one of the robberies, she was spotted at Mohegan Sun Casino.


Rasmussen was arraigned Wednesday in connection to the Concord robbery, and ordered to undergo evaluation by Gamblers’ Anonymous. She was released on $500 cash bail. Rasmussen will probably also face charges in the robberies in Tyngsborough and Plainfield, Conn., officials said. She did not carry or threaten to use a weapon in the thefts, police said, and they believe she acted alone.

Her alleged robbery spree and apparent double life shocked local police, who said she had no criminal record and had lived in the town for years without any hint of trouble.

LINK

The House never loses

Just wondering --

Wasn't a slot parlor supposed to save the dying greyhound race track in Rhode Island?

If lenders absorb the $290 million loss, does that mean that shareholders and taxpayers are subsidizing Kerzner and Wolman?

Twin River got 24/7 gambling which the host community, Lincoln, opposed in a referendum. When a Beacon Hill lawmaker insists that "Local Control" will be crafted into legislation, just remember Twin River. Local Control doesn't exist with the predatory gambling investors.

Is this what they mean by "Casino Capitalism" ?

BusinessWeek reported on the bankruptcy plan for Twin River --

The plan eliminates $290 million in debt, relies on legislation to eliminate the requirement for 125 days of live greyhound racing annually, obligates the state to reimburse marketing and management costs, and projects expansion of the promotional points system Twin River uses to encourage people to gamble more money.


The plan includes a new, 5-year, $300-million loan from UTGR's "first lien senior secured lenders" secured by a new claim on "substantially all of the Debtor's assets." The loan carries a minimum variable interest rate of 8.5 percent.
Lenders have given up on collecting approximately $290 million in debt owed by UTGR.

The plan also wipes $155 million in loans due to secondary lenders. The $155 million will be "written off" and those lenders will not recover anything when the plan is approved -- unless the slot parlor is sold off at a high profit.

Only about two-thirds of UTGR's roughly 300 unsecured creditors, among them the tradesman who fix equipment and the vendors who sell office supplies, will be paid in full. Unsecured creditors were owed about $4.1 million at the time of the June bankruptcy filing.

Those with claims of $2,500 or less get paid in full. Those with claims greater than $2,500 would receive 5 percent of their bills. However, they can opt to take $2,500.

Sometimes, it's only a sentence that matters

Most of us found ourselves immersed in the issues surrounding Predatory Gambling because it was in our backyards - NIMBY if you will!

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The more we learned about the financial costs, the more our opposition grew.

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The facts, articles, research, the flawed public policy are included here, a work in progress --

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United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts

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The information about the human costs and the economic costs is available, though frequently drowned out by Casino Cheerleaders and their sound bytes.

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Governor Patrick, to his credit listened, heard about the concerns of volunteers who have no financial interest, and supported an independent cost benefit analysis.

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When StandardbredCanada included the sentence below, it deserves comment --

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Who, pray tell, might be called upon to create such a beast? Apparently, the stop gambling group had a persuasive spokesman, but DeLeo was not impressed.

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The wide ranging coalition of groups that compose USS-Mass is growing as more people are educated about the flaws of exploiting one class of people to enrich the already wealthy gambling investors.

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To the author: The Governor is no fool. The potential composition of the group was discussed, suggestions offered. No persuasive spokesman/woman. Just the facts. I was there.

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Racetracks around the country and in other countries are closing, gambling revenues declining. Attendance is dwindling. The handwriting is clear. Indiana is a good example. Discretionary income is declining. Casinos, racinos, slot parlors around the country are defaulting, going bankrupt, restructuring. There is no Manna from Heaven.

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It's time to remove the blinders from public officials, as well as participants.

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Gambling as flawed public policy?

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Maybe it's time to talk!

Governor Patrick graciously took time from his busy schedule to listen to concerns raised by a coalition of volunteers - those who sacrifice their personal time because of their devotion to their communities and are not paid.
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That coalition is not filled with high paid lobbyists, or media propagandists who monopolize the conversation and the ears of Beacon Hill.

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Disappointing, but not surprising, was the immediate dismissal by the embattled Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo whose mind was made up long ago, facts be damned!

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DeLeo promised consensus building, but seems more intent on imposing his iron will, generating conflict and accomplishing little.

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And then there's the Senate President who boasts that she doesn't read anything that is anti-gambling. How's that for an impressive open mind in determining a major public policy decision?

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This is the same Senate President Therese Murray who said "Ca Ching" and gestured as if she was pulling the lever on a slot machine.

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Clearly, the Senate President's advisers haven't informed her that slots don't have levers any more because they require too much time to pull - aahhhh! those few seconds matter when you're feeding addiction!

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Look, Ma! No levers! This from Mohegan Sun.

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From Lynn --

In a Dec. 9 letter to DeLeo and state Senate President Therese Murray, Patrick said talks with casino opponents “confirmed in my mind that slot parlors, ‘racinos’ or any other form of convenience gambling is not something I can support.” In the letter, Patrick encouraged them to meet with the casino opponents as well. “One of the ideas they proposed was for a fresh, independent and transparent analysis of the benefits and costs of expanded gaming,” Patrick wrote.

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It's time for an open, public dialogue that considers the economics of this issue.

Surely the same coalition that spoke with the Governor, Cabinet members and the Attorney General's Office would welcome an honest discussion.

Maybe it's time to talk instead of tossing barbs at political activists who passed this Resolution at the Democratic Convention --

RESOLUTION

Whereas the Democratic Party has a long and proud tradition of advocating for social justice, working for policies that promote the public health, and fighting to protect citizens from exploitive and predatory business practices;
And whereas modern slot machines use neuroscience-informed technology to mesmerize and entrap gamblers and to keep them playing until they have exhausted their resources ("playing to extinction");
And whereas medical research has documented the highly addictive nature of the brain's chemical reactions to slot machine stimulation;
And whereas licensing and promoting such addictive, predatory gambling technology for the purpose of raising State revenues goes against the aforementioned values and principles for which the Democratic Party has long stood, and is at odds with the ideals that underlie our Party's honorable and consistent struggle to end the deceptive and predatory lending, marketing, and pricing practices that have pushed so many families to the brink;
And whereas legalizing slot machines would erode participation in the Lottery and siphon away from local small businesses the discretionary spending on goods and services that they depend on;
And whereas the development of slot machine parlors would neither create significant new jobs, nor increase tourism in Massachusetts;
And whereas evidence from other states indicates that the long-term costs of gambling addiction -- increased substance abuse, increased crime, increased family discord and dysfunction -- outweigh the short term benefits of licenses and gambling revenues;
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Massachusetts Democratic Party, as a matter of both principle and policy, opposes the legalization of slot machines and any similar efforts to promote addictive and predatory gambling as a means of raising public revenues.

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Don't worry. No one will notice.

Beacon Hill leaders, mired as usual in a public display of backroom deals, secret meetings with predatory gambling interests, will never notice what transpires around them.
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A tone deaf Speaker of the House and a Senate President who readily acknowledges she would never read anything that's anti-casino are in charge of what exactly? Everything?

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There are many truly dedicated and informed elected officials overshadowed by this caliber of leadership. What a shame for us all!

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They'll never notice!
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Where have all the Indian gaming profits gone?


Isn't it interesting that the people who have made the most money off of Indian gaming in Connecticut aren't even American Indians.

The big money off the top at Foxwoods, 9.9 percent of adjusted gross income through 2016, has been going to the rich Malaysian family that put up the first $58 million to build a casino on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation.

The deal was brokered by G. Michael Brown, the savvy New Jersey gambling lawyer who was hired by the Pequots to find someone to finance their casino and who - ta-da - came up with his own clients, the Lim family of Malaysia.

Certainly the Lims are forever grateful to Brown for helping tap so deep and for so long into the Pequot golden goose.

Indeed, even as a recession-battered Foxwoods struggles under the onerous terms of the original Lim loan deal, Brown continues to profit by his associations with the Malaysians.

He was part of the deal in which the Lims put up money seven years ago for the Seneca Indians to build a casino at Niagara Falls. The $80 million, five-year loan had a whopping 29 percent interest rate.

More recently, Brown was the Malaysians' point man in a deal to take a near-controlling share in a racetrack and casino in Monticello, N.Y., that includes an interest in a proposed casino resort by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

And in Massachusetts, the Malaysians have surfaced as the new partners of the Mashpee Wampanoags, who are hoping the state may soon legalize casino gambling. Surely Brown, the Malaysians' U.S. counsel, is behind the scenes in that deal, too.

The other big winners in Connecticut Indian gaming are the original partners of the Mohegan Indians, including local developer Len Wolman and the South African gambling king Sol Kerzner.

Kerzner and Wolman didn't make out so well with their $690 million investment in the Twin River slots hall in Rhode Island, which is mired in bankruptcy.

But their investment in Trading Cove Associates, the original managers of the Mohegan Sun, continues to pay them handsomely. In fact, the partners are making far more off the casino than tribal members.

Under the terms of a controversial buyout of the managers' original contract, the tribe continues to pay the Trading Cove investors 5 percent of annual gross revenues through 2014, a deal that has been estimated to be worth up to $ 1 billion.

Wolman and Kerzner had been working with the Wampanoags in Massachusetts until they were muscled aside recently by the Malaysians.

According to reporting by the Cape Cod Times, Wolman and Kerzner had signed a deal with the now disgraced Wampanoag chairman (he's serving time for federal embezzlement and corruption charges) that would have earned them three times as much money from a Massachusetts casino than the tribe.

It's hard to feel sorry, though, for the losers in a battle of the leeches.

I'm sure the Malaysians won't make much less.

How did this happen?

And how did a rich Malaysian family, the origins of its Asian-Pacific gambling monopoly murky, escape any state or federal regulatory scrutiny here and manage to extract obscene profits from an industry that even today is not welcome in many places?

Those would be good questions for all of the lawmakers who have sat idly by while it happened or for those in Massachusetts, where it may be about to happen all over again.

Fools' Gold continues to dwindle

CT continues to report declining slots revenues, that might be a reflection of market saturation, declining disposable income, or the flawed fiscal policy of exploiting gambling addiction.

Casinos' November slot revenue down


Tribal owners of the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos reported year-over-year declines in their November slot revenues today.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, owner of Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand at Foxwoods, said its "win" for the month was down only 1.4 percent over November 2008, while the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority reported a 10.8 percent slide at Mohegan Sun.

Mohegan Sun still took in more slot revenue than Foxwoods, winning $59.6 million at its 6,709 machines in November. The Foxwoods casinos won $53.7 million at 7,451 machines.

Both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun had reported year-over-year declines of around 4 percent for October.

The Mohegan authority remitted nearly $15 million, or 25 percent of its November slots win, to the state Division of Special Revenue, while the Mashantuckets’ payment to the state totaled $13.7 million.

By comparison, Atlantic City’s 11 casinos reported last week that their gaming revenue for November was down 13.4 percent over the same month in 2008. That includes a 9.5 percent decline in slot revenue and a 21 percent decline in table-games revenue.

Connecticut’s casinos do not regularly report their table-games revenue.

National Black Chamber of Commerce

The thought provoking comments below were received from a regular reader whose identifying information I removed.

It seems that we embrace vague promises without adequate guarantees and that we need to ask more questions.

Tonight I was watching one of my “right wing” talking heads programs – Glen Beck. His guest was Harry C. Alford, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC). One of the topics they discussed was jobs creation. It is Alford’s contention based on several examples he gave where a construction project will be advocated and approved for commencement and then “the union carpetbaggers come in from far and wide to fill those construction jobs”. He states that unions have a monopoly on these jobs and only a fool thinks that local non-union tradesmen have a shot at them.

We have already witnessed this in Palmer. The first “public information meeting” that our casino study group put on was totally dominated by the unions. Of the 50 or so union attendees (easy to identify as they were issued Union windbreakers to wear in the meeting, just before they walked into the meeting auditorium), I recognized none of them as being Palmer residents who are hoping to get these construction jobs at the casinos for themselves. Thus another myth: even the construction jobs will be filled by out-of-towners, not the needy unemployed locals.

Same is true with the permanent casino jobs. Do you think that with Norwich, Ct. having almost 30 ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS programs in their public schools to facilitate children of casino workers, that these children were originally from Norwich?

To me, this is not a racial issue nor an anti-union issue. It is about deceiving the public into believing that jobs created will go to the host community and abutting communities’ residents.
I speak with passion about this as like Kathleen (President of United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts , my family comes from a strong union background. My dad was a union worker at [XXXXX] for over 30 years. My wife organized [BLANK] in the local [BLANK] and was aided and supported by and was a Teamster until her retirement. My [FAMILY MEMBER], one of my biggest inspirations for truth and justice is a retired [PROFESSIONAL - STRONGLY CONNECTED TO LABOR] who represented the labor movement almost all of his professional career. So, I have no argument with organized labor. I do have an argument when it comes to COST/BENEFIT to our community, the region and the Commonwealth.

Perhaps we should explore the issue of who will really land these jobs?

Gambling with Lives

The following are excerpts from a lengthy article that's worth the time to read --

Gambling with Lives

After a federal court ruled against the state’s attempts to keep out large-scale casino gambling, the tribe assured residents that a casino would provide thousands of jobs. I was an editorial writer for The Day of New London at the time with experience in addiction counseling, and I grew concerned about the possible negative impact. And so, as the tribe began to construct the casino, I conducted a series of telephone interviews with Atlantic City officials to gauge what we could expect in Connecticut.

The Atlantic City beat cops spoke frankly about the rise in crime they witnessed after the casinos opened in the late 1970s, and others were equally blunt about the decline in the number of local businesses, the continued decay of urban neighborhoods, and the stubbornly high unemployment in the wake of casino gambling. Subsequent studies would later prove the point: In 1976, when New Jersey voters approved casino gambling in Atlantic City, unemployment in the city was 14.7 percent; in 1997, it was 12.7 percent. During those two decades, the number of locally owned businesses in Atlantic City dropped by half. But even at the time, the message I heard was clear: Don’t believe the promises of good times to come. Casinos bring with them a dark underside, and Connecticut had better get ready.

A look at social problems in Nevada, particularly Las Vegas, increased my worry. Las Vegas, then and now, struggles with high rates of suicide, dropouts, childhood problems, and low educational attainment. Later studies again confirmed those early concerns: In 1997, a study of death certificates in Reno, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City found those cities had suicide rates that were up to four times higher than in cities of the same size where gambling was not legal.

In 1999, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission released its findings, the most critical and least challenged of which was the discovery that problem gambling doubles within fifty miles of a casino. The statistic is no surprise to anyone who lives near a casino. The effect of casino gambling has become the old news of shared anecdotes at town meetings and backyard barbecues. And the state government—which early on negotiated with the tribes to get 25 percent of the revenue from slot machines—has done little to stem the tide, content to collect more than $1 million a day from the casinos and additional millions from the state lottery, which has been legal in Connecticut for decades.

Occasionally the cost of casino gambling becomes more public—as when, over the last decade, several officials from different towns, all women, were convicted of embezzling money to play the slot machines at the casinos. The tax collector of the town of Ledyard, Yvonne C. Bell, a grandmother with no previous criminal history, was convicted in 2001 of stealing more than $300,000 to feed her slot-machine habit. Another tax collector from the nearby town of Sprague was convicted of stealing $105,000 to gamble away. In 1992, the year Foxwoods opened, there were 43 embezzlements in Connecticut; in 2007, there were 214 such crimes, ten times the national average.

Part of the reason that gambling spread so far and so fast is that the industry markets its product as just another form of harmless fun. In a brilliant move, the industry coined the term gaming as the euphemism of choice. Organized religion was slow to challenge the spread and, even today, rarely speaks out. Most of all, government has become predatory in its use of gambling as a worry-free method of increasing revenue without raising taxes. Indeed, the states have moved from granting permission to cheerleading. Government boosterism has legitimized gambling, eroding what few moral scruples remained on the part of average people against engaging in a behavior that, just a few decades ago, would have been considered largely unacceptable.

The complex nature of the task [of assessing impact costs] didn’t stop the University of Nevada at Las Vegas from doing its own study in 2003. Professor Bill Thompson estimated that the cost of social problems in southern Nevada, a region that includes Las Vegas, amounted, conservatively, to at least $300 million to $450 million a year and possibly as high as $900 million—more than the taxes that gambling contributed to the state treasury.

The federal government did undertake an in-depth study of gambling twice, in 1976 and in 1996, when Congress authorized the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. The 1996 commission had a budget of only $5 million, with only a little over $1 million of that for research. The late Senator Paul Simon (D-Illinois), who coauthored the law that created the commission, told me that gambling interests lobbied so heavily against the proposal he felt lucky to get any budget for the venture at all. And its most important recommendation, that the country put a moratorium on the spread of casino gambling, has been ignored. State revenue from gambling has risen 65 percent since 1998, the year the commission concluded its research. In 1996 there were 500,000 slot machines in the United States; in 2008, the count had reached 817,000, about one for every 275 adults, which does not include slot machines that are illegal or engineered to fit legal definitions of sweepstakes games or bingo machines. The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers projects that the United States will gain an additional 156,000 machines by 2012.

Besides minimizing or ignoring altogether the negative impacts of gambling, elected officials are equally unenthusiastic about open debate that might stem the race for easy money. Pennsylvania, for example, legalized slots in the middle of a July night in 2004 without hearings, research, or public comment. Unabashed gambling booster Governor Ed Rendell said, “For every one person who falls addicted to gambling or loses their paycheck, I’ll show you 500—mostly seniors—who spent $40 at a casino and had the best day of their month.” Surveys vary, but most pin the percentage of Americans that are either problem gamblers—or the more damaging manifestation, pathological gamblers—at around 3 to 4 percent. Those percentages, however, do not include the millions of people who may be at risk.


The slot machine, which is at the root of so much addiction, is responsible for 70 percent of the gambling revenue in Las Vegas—and the percentage is higher elsewhere. Slot machines are vacuum cleaners designed to swallow money, yet they remain among the least reported, least understood technological innovations influencing modern life.

As one gambling analyst told the newspaper Gaming Today, “The longer you sit in front of one, the more you lose. Next to prostitution, it’s the world’s greatest business. There is no other business in the world where people budget money to lose to you.”

... Harrah’s discovered that 90 percent of its profits came from 10 percent of its most avid customers, according to Binkley. This is unsurprising. Many reports suggest that addicts produce a disproportionate share of casino profits. A 1998 Nova Scotia study found that 6 percent of regular gamblers produced 96 percent of gambling revenue, and a whopping 54 percent of the revenue came from just 1 percent of problem gamblers—leading researchers to conclude that, at any one time, half the patrons in front of slot machines in Nova Scotia were problem gamblers. A 1999 study estimated that more than 42 percent of all spending at Indian-reservation casinos came from problem gamblers. A study in Australia concluded that problem gamblers were only 4.7 percent of the population yet generated 42 percent of machine revenues.

Gambling Addiction

Gambling Addiction

BILLINGS - The American Association of University Women held a meeting Saturday to talk about gambling addiction. Attendees heard from Mary Fitzpatrick, who represents the Montana Council of Problem Gambling and is also a counselor here in Billings.

Fitzpatrick said gambling is much like other addictions, but is especially bad in Montana because it is so easy to gamble here. “When you have it wide open as Montana, everyone who is vulnerable is gonna have a chance to fall into problem gambling."

Officials encourage people who struggle with gambling addiction to get counseling and attend gamblers anonymous.

Rep. Reinstein: At least she's consistent

Patrick wants new cost-benefit analysis on gambling

BOSTON — Gov. Deval L. Patrick is pressing lawmakers to request a new, independent analysis of the costs and benefits of increased gambling, even as lawmakers hammer out the details of a casino bill that could be debated as early as next month.

Patrick made his comments when asked Thursday about an hourlong meeting he had this week inside his office with casino opponents, who are pushing for the new study.

“I think the points that were made when we met about refreshing the analysis of both the economic cost-benefit and also the human impact are very well taken,” Patrick told reporters. “I have commended that idea forward to the Speaker and the Senate President.”

Patrick’s comments come as gambling foes are upping the ante in their bid to block casinos in Massachusetts — enlisting the aid of former Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and former state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger.

Both were slated to talk at an anti-gambling forum at Faneuil Hall moderated by City Year co-founder Alan Khazei, the former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate.

Kathleen Conley Norbut, president of United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts said the state deserves more detailed information before dramatically increasing gambling.

“We think that all people in the spectrum should have some sound data around this to make decisions and that has not been done,” she said. “It’s a new world. It’s a new economy.”

Harshbarger said increased gambling is not a fiscal panacea and is far outweighed by social costs, including increased gambling addiction and crime.

Harshbarger also said he was concerned about a rush to push through casino legislation in the midst of an economic crisis.

“There is simply no economic or public policy justification,” he said. “I believe that the more people talk about it, the more information they have, the less likely it is that people will go this route.”

Casino supporters say the issues have been studied enough.

They say they realize that casinos won’t solve the state’s fiscal troubles. But they say it will help stop the flow of gambling dollars out of the state while also providing new jobs for those out of work.

State Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, D-Revere, whose district includes Wonderland Greyhound Park, said those jobs are desperately needed in her hometown.

“You can do a cost-benefit analysis every day in Revere at the Northgate Mall when you see the buses leaving for Connecticut,” which has casino gambling, Reinstein said. “We could waste time and money doing another (study) or put something in place that would put people to work and have revenue coming in immediately.”

In addition to stifling Democracy and fearing criticism (Beacon Hill: Democracy dies at gambling interests' request, What kind of democracy....? , Beacon Hill: Secrecy and Closed Door Sessions Prevail), State Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, D-Revere has joined the ranks of those counting license plates. Foxwoods defaulted on loan payments and Mohegun Sun, in spite of glowing promises, cancelled a major expansion.

Maybe Beacon Hill hasn't noticed the casino/racino bankruptcies, defaults, foreclosures and "re-structuring" going on around the country, believing that life stops at the borders.

The economy has changed and so have the previous projections about predatory gambling. Since no impartial cost benefit analysis has been conducted, maybe it's time to do so.

Is Rep. Reinstein afraid of FACTS as well?

The renewed interest in gaming hasn’t gone unnoticed, with pro-gambling groups ramping up their lobbying efforts in Massachusetts.

In 2005, companies and groups pushing legalized gambling spent $764,500 on lobbyists to press their message on Beacon Hill. During the first six months of 2009, those same interests surpassed that total, pouring $777,983 into lobbying.

Casino foes say they know they are being outspent on Beacon Hill, but still hope to win over enough lawmakers to block any casino legislation with an aggressive grass-roots push.

One of the biggest questions is how much sentiment toward casinos has changed among lawmakers.

The last vote on casinos was in March 2008, when the House voted 106-48 to send a casino licensing bill to a study committee, effectively killing it for the session. That vote came when former Democratic House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi — a casino opponent — was in office.

Today’s House Speaker, Robert A. DeLeo, D-Winthrop, and Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, have both said they support casino gambling.

How can Beacon Hill leadership support something when they don't know what the costs will be?

Patrick said that while he has recommended a fresh analysis, he’s taking a hands-off approach to the issue as lawmakers try to hash out a final deal.

“Let’s be candid, the ball’s in their court,” Patrick said. “I’ve already expressed myself, and the Legislature is working now on their own approach.”

Faneuil Hall

Thanks for sponsoring and supporting such a great forum that was well attended on a cold night! What an appropriate venue!

Khazei, Dukakis, Harshbarger on anti-casino panel tonight at Faneuil Hall

As state legislators are warming up to plans to expand casino gambling in the Bay State, a group of high-profile opponents will make their case against slots and casinos tonight at Faneuil Hall.

Former Gov. Michael Dukakis, his wife, Kitty, and former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger will be among the panelists at a forum sponsored by United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts, said organizer Kathleen Conley Norbut.

City Year co-founder and former U.S. Senate candidate Alan Khazei will serve as master of ceremonies at the event.

“I think it’s a lousy way to raise the revenue we need for important services and it means a 100,000 new gambling addicts in the state,” Dukakis said this morning. “This gold mine of revenue just isn’t there.”

Dukakis proposed lawmakers repeal some of the 40 tax cuts introduced after he left office to raise the $1.7 billion that the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center says will be forfeited this year because of tax incentives.

He added the state has to stop the cycle of cutting taxes during boom times in favor of banking the surplus revenue for rainy-day funds and the state pension system in preparation for leaner times to come.

“We cut taxes at the height of the boom and then when the recession comes, all the states go to Washington with a tin cup and say ‘Hey, we need help,’ ” Dukakis said.

He also warned casinos will cut into state lottery revenues that go to cities and towns.

Legislators under the leadership of former House Speaker Sal DiMasi shot down Gov. Deval Patrick’s push to build three resort casinos in 2008. House Speaker Robert DeLeo is more open to casino gambling and Senate President Therese Murray has said expanded gambling is likely “inevitable.”

Patrick met with casino gambling opponents on Monday.

“Slots and casinos cannibalize other businesses and local economies,” said Norbut, a former Monson selectwoman. The small western Massachusetts town borders Palmer and Warren, which have been eyed by developers for resort casinos.

Norbut said the economic recession is shining harsh light on the pitfalls of expanded gambling.

“This is the worst time when people don’t have discretionary income and further fewer of us have the appetite for corporate government subsidies (for casinos),” she said.

Khazei, who finished third in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Edward M. Kennedy, made his opposition to casino gambling an issue during the campaign. His spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Harshbarger also could not be immediately reached.

Lender tolerated no payment for +1 year from casino?

Casino capitalists become casino owners! Or is it Predatory Lenders become predator gambling owners?

Lenders Take Over NJ's 1st Casino for Nonpayment

Lenders take over Resorts Atlantic City, 1st casino outside Nevada, after year of no payments


Don't pay your mortgage, and eventually the bank will own your home.

That's what's happening to Resorts Atlantic City, which enjoys a special spot on the national gambling scene as the first U.S. casino outside Nevada.

Unable to make debt payments for more than a year, Resorts was concluding the process late Wednesday of handing itself over to a newly formed company consisting of its main lenders, including Wells Fargo. The ownership transfer follows Resorts' agreement to let its lenders have the casino if they cancel nearly $381 million in debt.

Documents were exchanged and signed Wednesday evening, ahead of the deal's official closure Thursday morning.

The new company, RAC Atlantic City Holdings LLC, says it wants to sell Resorts Atlantic City as quickly as possible. But with financing still extremely tight and consumers, including gamblers, still holding onto their wallets, that may not happen soon.

Analysts said Resorts had no option but to give the bank the keys — a tactic other businesses, including many hotels, have employed lately.

"You're in a hotly competitive environment in which every operator, not just in New Jersey but in every market, is going to fight for every dollar and every customer," said Michael Pollock, managing director of Spectrum Gaming Group, a New Jersey consulting firm. "The competitive landscape is just brutal."

Do you think we might call this "Market Saturation" instead of "hotly competitive"?

Resorts, whose gross operating profit fell nearly 80 percent in the third quarter of this year, owed nearly $337 million more than it had on hand as of last month.

The deal concluding Wednesday night was approved last month by state casino regulators. It called for former owner Colony Capital LLC to hand its interest in the casino to co-owner Nicholas Ribis, who will manage the casino and continue to own the gambling equipment inside it.

Ribis says he may try to buy Resorts.

Resorts opened in May 1978, ushering in the casino gambling era in Atlantic City. But in recent years, newer and bigger casinos that opened nearby have dwarfed it. It also was hurt when slots parlors in neighboring Pennsylvania began siphoning off its most loyal customers, mainly day-tripping seniors who would ride the bus to play slots for a few hours.

Dubai to hold Las Vegas CityCenter

It seems appropriate that a country that built itself based on casino capitalism, should hold on to it Las Vegas Casino as it implodes -- [LINK]

Moody’s cut the ratings of six government-linked companies, leaving all in junk status. Emaar was among the companies downgraded.

The conglomerate and the emirate had relied on cheap cash to build up Dubai over the past decade. But the bills are coming due and the money is not there.

That crunch prompted Dubai’s government, on the eve of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, to announce that Dubai World would seek a six-month "standstill," effectively a delay, on repaying some of its $60 billion in debts.

The company later said the restructuring would involve roughly $26 billion in debts, and indicated it may sell some assets to raise the cash. But it said its profitable ports and related free zone operations would be exempt from the restructuring. Also off the table was its private equity division Istithmar World and Infinity World Holding, the co-owner of Las Vegas’ new $8.5 billion CityCenter hotel and casino complex.

Yet even as it tries to fence off more valuable assets, Dubai is coming under mounting pressure from creditors. Dubai World’s Istithmar lost ownership of the W Union Square New York hotel in a foreclosure auction Tuesday.

Less discretionary income for slots and another bankruptcy

From Indiana --

November revenues dropped 9.7 percent from October and 11.5 percent from November 2008. Majestic Star I in Gary was the only casino to show a gain from October to November, posting a 0.2 percent increase.

"There is some cause for concern," said Ed Feigenbaum, the publisher of Indianapolis-based Indiana Gaming Insight newsletter. Feigenbaum attributes the poor economy to the increasingly lower casino revenue statewide since July.

"It's something we're not accustomed to seeing," he said. " We saw the same progressive decline in 2007 but not quite this much."

Each of the five Northwest Indiana Casinos -- Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ameristar Casino in East Chicago, Majestic Star I and II in Gary and Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City -- individually reported less revenue from the same period a year ago.

Fewer people have discretionary income these days, which affects casinos' revenues, Feigenbaum said. For many people, "these aren't even choices, anymore."

Ameristar saw the highest percentage drop in revenues year over year with a 16.3 percent decrease from November 2008. Majestic Star I had the next-largest drop with a 14.8 percent decrease, followed by Horseshoe with a 12 percent drop. Horseshoe, which reported a 12 percent revenue drop from November 2008, posted the largest year-over-year revenue decrease of $5.6 million.

Attendance at the local gambling riverboats followed suit, as 71,970 fewer people walked through the turnstiles in November when compared to October. The five casinos saw 23,074 fewer customers than in November 2008. Both Majestic Star I and II reported 15.9 percent fewer customers month to month, and 14.38 percent fewer customers from November 2008.

Feigenbaum doesn't believe Majestic's bankruptcy proceedings will disrupt its revenues.

Gambling Risk: Electrocution?

Who expects to be electrocuted playing slots?

Defective slot machine zaps gambler


A slot machine at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino malfunctioned, delivering a shock that floored a gambler, according to a lawsuit brought by the victim.

While the incident occurred over three years ago, Willie Jean Robinson is still waiting to hear whether she can collect civil damages over the bizarre personal injury case.

Robinson is suing Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and IGT Inc. –– the manufacturer of the slot machines –– for damages related to her injuries.

The case stems from an incident that occurred in March 2006 when Robinson was playing a slot machine at the casino and allegedly received a shock that injured her right hand and left her with lasting loss of feeling in her fingers.

“When Plaintiff inserted the card into the slot machine ... she was immediately shocked by the machine and fell to the floor. The individuals who accompanied Plaintiff to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino attended to her and it was immediately reported to the Defendant Manager on the floor,” the civil complaint reads.

Her attorneys allege that Robinson suffered personal injury, lost wages, and incurred medical expenses as a result of the accident. But the case hasn’t been as simple as determining who, if anyone, was at fault for the defective slot machine.

Robinson’s lawyer, John Hayes of Charleston, S.C., filed the case in Jackson County Court. But the defendants in the case, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and IGT Inc. can’t agree where the case should be heard.

Last month, legal counsel for Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Tribal Gaming Casino Enterprise asked a judge in Jackson County Superior Court to move the case to tribal court, arguing that a failure to do so would “adversely affect the tribal sovereignty of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.”

Attorneys for IGT Inc. –– a publicly traded global gaming company –– argued that because neither the company nor the plaintiff resides in Cherokee, tribal courts should not have jurisdiction over their portion of the case.

Hayes said after talking to the casino’s attorney, he agrees the proper place for the case to beard is in tribal court. Hayes said he expects Judge Zoro Guice to issue an order that will move the case to tribal court.

Gambling Addicts: Highest Rate of Suicide

Researchers: Gambling changes brain dynamics


If you know someone with a gambling problem and they say they can't stop, there's a very good reason.

And it isn't a lack of willpower.

A pathological gambler has different brain characteristics than the normal person, scientists now believe.

Sophisticated diagnostic techniques have been applied to study compulsive gamblers and the results have shown that the brain's chemical response to gambling is similar to a drug addict's response to a fix or an alcoholic's response to a stiff drink, said psychiatrists from Loma Linda University Medical Center and UCLA.

Gambling can trigger the same release of dopamine - the reward chemical in the brain - as do illicit drugs or alcohol, Drs. Peter Prezkop of Loma Linda and Timothy Fong of UCLA agreed.

As drug and alcohol users chase their first high with more substance abuse, pathological gamblers chase their initial rush - often by increasing the money they put down on bets.

"It isn't important whether you win or lose. To a lot of people, it's the rush," said Bob, a recovering pathological gambler who lives in Upland and attends Gamblers Anonymous meetings in Rancho Cucamonga. (Gamblers Anonymous members do not divulge their last names.)

While gambling stimulates some areas of the brain into hyperactivity, other parts become under-active, said Fong, who is co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program and director of UCLA's Addiction Medicine Clinic.

Prezkop, an assistant professor of psychiatry at LLUMC, said that the areas of the brain dealing with limits on behavior, job, family and responsibility become less active.
"I see (excessive) gambling as a brain disorder," said Fong. "The higher executive functioning skills and problem solving become impaired. It's similar to patients with methamphetamine addictions."

The real challenge in treatment is to reverse that."

The comprehensive 2006 California Problem Gambling Survey found that the overall lifetime prevalence rate of problem and pathological gambling in California is 3.7 percent of the adult population, near the upper range of the nationwide estimate, from 2 percent to 5 percent.

The study has not been updated.

Fong said the 2006 survey result was about twice what it had been in a survey nearly two decades ago - prior to the boom of Indian gaming.

Last year, the number of calls to the California Council on Problem Gambling's Hot Line showed a 40 percent increase, from 10,912 in 2006 to 18,470 calls in 2008.

Last year, 7.5 percent of the calls were from the 909 area code, 6.6 percent were from the 951 area code, 3.2 percent were from 323, and 3.3 percent were from both 626 and 562, according to reports.

At the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino near Highland, an effort to promote responsible gambling is taken seriously, said Steve Lengel, executive director of operations.

The casino is one of the few in the state to be certified by state and national gambling addiction agencies, he said.

All 3,000 employees, "no matter what position" have been trained to look for problem gamblers.

If they hear or see signs, then they would go to an ambassador, an employee trained at a higher level, who would talk to the gambler "very delicately," Lengel said.

The ambassador will talk to them about the hot line, noting that telephone counselors could set them up with a support group or counseling.

In some cases, the gambler may elect to "ban themselves" from the casino. Security could be alerted if they later re-enter and use their club card, he said.

Hae Wang Lee, a certified gambling addiction counselor in Walnut, said that gamblers can hide the effects of their habit easier than many with other addictions.

"Most gamblers have an IQ that is 120 or higher. They are very bright, and can scheme and lie easily," he said.

Jane Shultz, who runs an intensive outpatient program in West Los Angeles and Redlands that treats all addictions, said that a huge reason for gambling is the relief of stress and anxiety.

Students can quickly take their gambling addiction to the Internet, she said. In one case, a student was on the computer for 30 hours straight, she said.

Shultz said there are four phases of progressive deterioration in problem gambling:

Winning phase: occasional gambling with ever increasing amounts of money;

Losing phase: debts begin to accumulate;

Desperation phase: The gambler begins to steal money to suppost the gambling habit.

Hopeless phase: The gambler becomes overwhelmed by debt, divorce and suicidal thoughts.

Marc Lefkowitz, acting executive director and training director of the Anaheim-based California Council on Problem Gambling, said it's hard for addicted gamblers to recover after divorce.

"They have no place to go back to, they have no reason to stop," said Lefkowitz, who also teaches classes on how to counsel problem gamblers at San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino and Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Bob, at Gamblers Anonymous, said that pathological gamblers have the highest rate of suicide of any addiction.

"A lot of times the financial burden is so great they feel there is no other solution," he said.

State fines Meadows Racetrack & Casino

State fines Meadows Racetrack & Casino

The Meadows Racetrack & Casino was fined a total of $10,000 by state regulators today for two incidents allowing gambling by individuals who should have been barred from the facility.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board found that on Aug. 11, an 18-year-old was able to enter the gaming floor and play slot machines for about 45 minutes. State law forbids slots play by anyone under age 21.

On Aug. 26, a person who had previously registered on the state's self-exclusion list was able to obtain a Meadows players club card for use while playing slot machines that day. Casinos are supposed to do everything possible to deny play by compulsive gamblers who have self-excluded themselves. The individual was eventually identified, and cited for criminal trespass by state police, when attempting to cash a check at the casino.

The Meadows was fined $5,000 for each of the violations.

Additional Information:

Underage Patron and Self-Exclusion Violation Lead to $10,000 Fine for PA Casino

Kaufman: Tax incentive rollbacks preferable to casinos

Kaufman: Tax incentive rollbacks preferable to casinos

Lexington - As House leaders ready a gambling bill, former Gov. Michael Dukakis slammed casino gambling Tuesday as "lousy" and said lawmakers would be better off repealing "worthless" tax incentives he says could be redirected to boost the state economy.

"If Massachusetts decides that more gambling is the way to pay for the services we need, I am confident that every other New England state, not just Connecticut and Rhode Island, will follow suit, and the hoped for money will be minimal at best," Dukakis said in an email to the News Service. "We have enough addiction in our society. We don't need 100,000 more gambling addicts to add to the problem."

Dukakis said repealing "all or some" of about $2 billion in longstanding tax breaks could help "put people to work and create the foundation for a healthy future economy."

He and his wife, Kitty, along with former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, plan to keynote a Thursday forum to lay out gambling opponents' case against bringing slot machines and casinos to Massachusetts. Opponents, facing a surge of interest in expanded gambling within the Legislature, met Monday afternoon with Gov. Deval Patrick, who last session led a failed push for resort casinos.

Dukakis isn't alone in his call to repeal some of the state's billions of dollars in tax exemptions, deductions and credits doled out each year. Human service advocates have argued that some exemptions are outdated and could be applied to services for the needy that have faced cuts in the down economy.

The Legislature's Revenue Committee has set up a subcommittee to examine the state's 60 pages of exemptions and credits and co-chair Rep. Jay Jaufman hopes to have a preliminary report out in January.

"The only conclusion that I've drawn so far is that over time, that list of exemptions and deductions looks pretty ad hoc," the Lexington Democrat said. "It's hard to figure out what the rationale is for many of them. What we're trying to do is establish some policy around those. We're sort of two steps removed from having a set of recommendations. We don't yet have the criteria and we don't yet have an analysis."

Kaufman said he doesn't believe expanded gambling is "a particularly sound, sustainable way to raise money for the state."

"I think it's even worse when considered as an economic development strategy," he said. "I certainly think we have to look elsewhere for any kind of additional revenues."

But legislative leaders have signaled a growing consensus that expanded gambling is likely, if not "inevitable" - as Senate President Therese Murray dubbed it earlier this year. Proponents cite the potential to create thousands of permanent and construction jobs and raise hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the state. They also argue that Massachusetts residents are already traveling to Connecticut to gamble, returning with addiction issues but generating no revenue for the commonwealth.

Patrick, who in 2008 threw the weight of his administration - and much of the political capital with which he swept into office - behind a failed push to build three resort casinos, has appeared cooler to expanded gambling proposals than he once was. In recent interviews, he has emphasized the "human costs" and his top economic development aide said last week the administration would let the Legislature take the lead on any gambling push this session.

According to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, Massachusetts will forfeit $1.7 billion in corporate, income and sales taxes in the form of tax breaks this fiscal year, an amount that exceeds the state higher education budget.

"One of the big problems is that we have very little data or information about most of the tax expenditures," said budget and policy center executive director Noah Berger. "There's just not information about what we're accomplishing."

Breaks include a $123.1 million exemption on container purchases, a $70.7 million small business corporation income tax break, a $78 million film tax credit, a $25 million life sciences credit, as well as dozens of other credits and exemptions affecting brownfields, medical devices, rental housing, research and development, aircraft parts, student loan interest and fuel for vessels engaged in interstate commerce.

The Case for the Commonwealth Against Slots & Casinos

The Case for the Commonwealth Against Slots & Casinos

Thursday, December 10, 2009, 7pm-8:30PM

Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts



WHAT: “The Case for the Commonwealth Against Slots & Casinos” is a forum at Faneuil Hall in Boston, with noted civic and political leaders, to discuss the proposals to legalize state-sponsored predatory gambling, slot machines and casinos in Massachusetts.



WHO: Sponsored by the USS Mass Coalition, the panel will include:

Governor and Mrs. Michael Dukakis
Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger
Kathleen Conley Norbut, President of USS Mass
Jim Rubens, Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling
Honorable State Senator Susan Tucker



Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year, as the Master of Ceremonies.

The Rev. Dr. Peter D. Weaver, Bishop of the United Methodist Church- New England Conference, will offer the Invocation.



WHEN: Thursday, December 10, 2009, 7:00- 8:30pm



WHERE: Faneuil Hall, 1 Faneuil Hall Square, Boston, MA.

Blue line to Aquarium/Faneuil Hall, Green Line to Government Center, or Orange line to State Street.



CONTACT: Kathleen Conley Norbut, (413) 267-3869 or ussmass@gmail.com to arrange interviews with panelists, or details on visuals, taping and recording the event.



USS Mass – United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts is the up-growth of concerned citizens, taxpayers, activists and statewide organizations across the political spectrum opposed to predatory gambling in the Commonwealth. We are a non-profit, non-partisan organization that has been working diligently to organize and educate citizens and Legislators on the facts about the economic and social costs of legalizing predatory gambling in the Commonwealth. No state that has legalized predatory slot machines has solved their fiscal problems.








President: Kathleen Conley Norbut Vice-President: Bob Massie

Treasurer: Sue Kennedy

Directors: Les Bernal, Tom Larkin, Kelly Marcimo, Jessie Powell, Mary Tufts

Governor Listens to Gambling Opponents

EXPANDED GAMBLING OPPONENTS MAKE PITCH TO PATRICK

By Kyle Cheney
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 7, 2009.....Opponents of expanded gambling in Massachusetts, after a sit-down Monday with the state’s chief executive, described an engaged Gov. Deval Patrick ready with a raft of questions about the potential pitfalls of bringing slots or casinos to Massachusetts.

Patrick, who last year championed a failed proposal to bring casino gambling to Massachusetts, quizzed the opponents during a 75-minute meeting –15 minutes longer than scheduled in order to accommodate the governor’s questions, according to attendees.

Kathleen Norbut, president of United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts, said those who attended the meeting urged the governor to get behind a new cost-benefit analysis of expanded gambling in Massachusetts.

“What I sense is, as time has passed and more data has emerged, that disputed the revenues of his proposal and as the economy has significantly changed, he’s had an opportunity to take a look at this and his administration, from a different altitude,” Norbut told the News Service. “I think there was a very important exchange about the need for a fresh cost-benefit analysis, that the economics have changed since his original proposal for casinos.”

A Patrick spokesman described the gathering as “a good meeting.”

“The Governor appreciated the feedback from the attendees and will be following up with legislative leadership promptly,” said the spokesman, Alex Goldstein. A leadership meeting between the governor, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo, scheduled for 4 p.m., was canceled due to a scheduling conflict for the Senate president, according to the governor’s office.

In September, House Speaker Robert DeLeo said Massachusetts should authorize resort casinos in addition to slot machines at racetracks, laying out a vision of expanded gaming that could launch a proliferation of venues around the state. Murray has called casinos in Massachusetts “inevitable” but Patrick’s support for casinos has softened somewhat and the governor in recent months has made a point of emphasizing that any expanded gambling foray must take into account the human toll on gamblers.

Last month, Patrick described any agreement among state leaders about the future of gambling in Massachusetts as “general,” adding that “by no means is there agreement on exactly what contours it ought to take.” Speaking on WTKK-FM Nov. 4, Patrick said, “I don't want anybody in the Legislature to be thinking about expanded gaming as a quote fix unquote for the fiscal challenges facing the commonwealth. It's not. It's not. It's another job-creating opportunity, which has to be done right and because there are real human costs. That has to be faced. There are real human costs. We have to be very, very clear and careful about the regulatory framework that that business comes into.” Asked by host Jim Braude whether there would eventually be Bay State casinos, Patrick said, “That remains to be seen.”

Opponents of expanded gambling say casinos and slot parlors derive the bulk of their earnings from addicted gamblers, driving many into bankruptcy and steering their dollars away from other areas of the economy. They also cite higher crime rates and ramifications for friends and families of gambling addicts. Backers of casinos cite potential for the creation of thousands of good-paying jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues, at a time when state spending has consistently outpaced tax collections.

The dozen attendees of the meeting included former Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Bob Massie; Sen. Susan Tucker (D-Andover); Rebekah Gewirtz, director of government relations at the National Association of Social Workers; Massachusetts Family Institute director of public policy Evelyn Reilly; Massachusetts Council of Churches associate director Laura Everett; National Organization to Stop Predatory Gambling executive director Les Bernal; League of Women Voters executive director Kelly Marcimo; Somerville Democrat Fred Berman; political consultant Tom Cosgrove; Middleborough resident Jessie Powell, United to Stop Slots Massachusetts webmaster and Bridgewater resident Mary Tufts; and Palmer Citizens Impact Study Committee member Stephen Sears. Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki attended as well.

Norbut said Patrick grilled attendees about “dynamics that have happened on the local level,” including what she described as efforts by some local public officials to force gaming upon their constituents.

United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts is also sponsoring a Thursday forum featuring former Gov. Michael Dukakis, former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, Sen. Susan Tucker and Democratic U.S. Senate contender Alan Khazei to outline their opposition to expanded gambling. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Faneuil Hall.

A jacketless Patrick invited the attendees into the 2 p.m. meeting, which was requested by the gaming opponents. Norbut said the meeting followed similar appointments with Bigby, Bialecki, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and First Assistant Attorney General David Friedman.

Norbut said opponents of expanded gambling believe the governor has “modified his stance” on gaming since his proposal failed last year.

“I think he’s certainly taking a different position and learned that both the data and proposal that he put forth was flawed, and that was in the old economy,” she said. “It’s clear to even casual observers that he’s certainly modified his stance.”

Last week, Bialecki said the administration plans to let the Legislature drive the gambling debate, noting that they voted down Patrick’s proposal last session.

Rep. Brian Dempsey (D-Haverhill), who co-chairs the Legislature’s economic development committee, which has jurisdiction over gambling proposals, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Breaking news

Mass. casino foes to host forum with Dukakis


BOSTON—Casino foes are hosting a panel discussion with former Gov. Michael Dukakis and former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger as they try to rally opposition to expanded gambling in Massachusetts.

The evening forum is scheduled for Thursday at Faneuil Hall in Boston.

It will also include City Year co-founder Alan Khazei, who has made his opposition to casinos a theme in his campaign for the late Edward Kennedy's Senate seat.

The forum comes as lawmakers weigh different options for expanded gaming in Massachusetts, including allowing slot machines at race tracks or licensing resort-style casinos.

Gov. Deval Patrick and top Democratic leaders say they support casinos.

Lawmakers are expected to take up the issue after they return in January.

PA Legislators Get a Mite Testy

Lawmakers call for revoking Foxwoods license

Impatient with the stalled Foxwoods casino project, four Pennsylvania lawmakers yesterday called on state gaming regulators to revoke Foxwoods' license and award it to new investors to develop Philadelphia's second slots parlor.

At a curbside news conference beside the casino's proposed site - a vacant lot on Columbus Boulevard in Pennsport- two Democratic and two Republican legislators said time had run out for the troubled project.

"Foxwoods is deadwood," said State Rep. Michael H. O'Brien (D., Phila.).

The project's investors were licensed for a slots parlor, O'Brien said, and they should immediately begin building one. They should not be allowed to wait for the outcome of negotiations in the General Assembly over a law to permit table games at Pennsylvania casinos, he said.

On Monday, Foxwoods filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, saying it could not meet a Tuesday deadline to submit architectural and artist renderings of its planned casino.

The Foxwoods group, which is searching for funding, told regulators that potential investors would need to know the final form of the table-games law before committing funds to the project.

State Rep. Mike Vereb (R., Montgomery) said no other casino applicant has had the "convenience of waiting to see what the future holds."

O'Brien and Vereb are members of the House Gaming Oversight Committee.

Democratic State Sen. Larry Farnese, whose South Philadelphia district includes the project site, said, "The time is right for the gaming board . . . to get us out of business with Foxwoods."

The gaming board's demand for architectural drawings by Dec. 1 was one of a series of deadlines imposed last August, after it granted Foxwoods a two-year extension to have 1,500 slots operational by May 2011.

Of 11 major slots licensees, the Foxwoods group is the only one not operating or under construction.

State Rep. Curt Schroder (R., Montgomery), minority chairman of the Gaming Oversight Committee, said yesterday that the Foxwoods investor group had received preferential treatment thanks to some members' connections to Gov. Rendell.

The main Foxwoods investor is a partnership representing the charitable interests of the families of Center City developer Ron Rubin; New Jersey entrepreneur Lewis Katz; and Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider. They are friends of Rendell; Katz is also a major fund-raiser for the governor.

"It doesn't take a lot to connect those dots," Schroder said.

Gary Tuma, a spokesman for Rendell, said the governor "didn't care to respond."

F. Warren Jacoby, a lawyer for Foxwoods, called the accusation "innuendo that is so unfair to people."

"We're dealing in a regulated activity and we're complying with the rules of the gaming board," Jacoby said. "It's up to the board to decide if we've shown just cause."

Jacoby added that the Foxwoods developers were not asking the board to change the 2011 deadline. Instead, they are requesting that regulators "reorder" the deadlines, with architectural drawings delivered by March 1.

In December 2006, the gaming board awarded two slots licenses for Philadelphia: Foxwoods and the SugarHouse Casino on North Delaware Avenue in Fishtown and Northern Liberties. SugarHouse is under construction and expected to open next year.

Casino Glitter Blinds Reason

As CT Foxwoods defaults, revenue declines, parking lots are empty, Philadelphia Casino Glitter blinds reason.
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Twin Rivers, among others, serves notice that state governments cannot negotiate appropriate contingencies to protect taxpayers from insolvent partners.

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Foxwoods developers seek more time to show plans


Citing ongoing negotiations in Harrisburg to allow table games at Pennsylvania casinos, investors in the Foxwoods project have asked state regulators for more time to produce a plan showing how their proposed slots parlor in South Philadelphia will look.

Last August, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board ordered the investors to submit by today architectural and artist renderings, conceptual proposals, engineering plans and "other documents relating to construction of a facility."

Lawyers for the board threatened to take steps to revoke Foxwoods' license if the deadline was not met.

On Monday, with one day to go, the investors requested an extension until March 1, 2010, according to Stephen A. Cozen, a lawyer for Foxwoods. That date is also the deadline for filing a financing plan with the gaming board.

In an interview today, Cozen said the group needs more time due to uncertainty stemming from legislative efforts to write a new state law permitting table games.

Gov. Ed Rendell is depending on future tax revenue from table games to support the state budget.

Familiar rhetoric? Same words, different state.

The change, Cozen said, would impact both Foxwoods' design and its ability to attract potential investors, who "need to see what the final terms of the gaming legislation will be."

Other unknowns that could affect financing, he added, include the cost of a table-games license and the tax rate on table-game revenues.

"It was clear to us that unless we know what the law is going to be," Cozen said, "we can't finalize a deal with anybody."

In a statement today, Cyrus Pitre, chief enforcement counsel for the gaming board, said he expected the matter to go before the board for a full hearing "in the near future."

His staff, he said, was "thoroughly" reviewing both the investors' petition and the monthly updates Foxwoods has been under order to submit to regulators since September.

"We take the conditions that were put in place by the board very seriously," he said.

Three years ago, the Foxwoods group won one of two licenses for slots parlors in Philadelphia. But the project has been stalled by political and neighborhood opposition, turmoil in the credit markets, and financial problems for a main investor, the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, which operates the giant Foxwoods casino in Ledyard, Conn.

The Foxwoods group now has to find new financing for the Columbus Boulevard casino, as well as an operator to replace the tribe, Cozen said.

The largest share of the project is controlled by a partnership that includes the charitable interests of Center City developer Ron Rubin, New Jersey entrepreneur Lewis Katz and Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider.

In the petition filed Monday, Foxwoods' attorneys said the partnership has been "working with its investment adviser on a non-stop basis" to line up financing.

According to the filing, the investors have reached "substantial agreement" on proposed terms with "an international gaming company" interested in backing a "full-scale project on Columbus Avenue."

Foxwoods previously told the gaming board that it might have to install a temporary casino in order to meet the state's May 2011 deadline for having 1,500 slot machines operational.

Cozen said the group's ability to raise capital for the project will determine whether it pursues a temporary facility, erects an interim building as the first phase of a permanent structure, or proceeds with a full-scale casino from the start.

Paul Boni, an attorney for Casino-Free Philadelphia, an anti-casino activist group, described Foxwoods' request for more time as an attempt to pressure the state legislature to quickly pass a table-games law.

"They're trying to hold the legislature hostage," he said, "by saying, 'We're going to drag our feet until you pass the legislation we want.' "

The Foxwoods right-to-know fight

From our friends in "The Birthplace of America," Casino-Free Philidelphia, offer PlanPhilly

Attorneys for two Philadelphia advocacy groups hope to convince the state's Office of Open Records to order the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to release documents filed by Foxwoods Casino.

Paul Boni, who represents Casino-Free Philadelphia, and Adam Cutler, a director with the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, who represents the Chinatown Preservation Alliance, took the matter to the Office of Open Records to appeal the denial of a public records request made to the PGCB.

The documents that Casino-Free and Chinatown Preservation seek comprise a report that Foxwoods was required to file with the PGCB's Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement in October, as a condition of the two-year license extension the Gaming Control Board granted the casino in August.

Casino officials were told to describe their efforts to develop a Columbus Boulevard facility with at least 1,500 slot machines and detail their efforts and progress toward financing that casino. They also had to submit a list of all outstanding licenses, certifications and permits that they need from federal, state, county, local and other agencies, and provide a progress report on the status of each of them.

It would be good for the public to see this information, too, Cutler and Boni say – particularly when Foxwoods' status is uncertain. “We think these documents are of public importance, both in terms of determining whether Foxwoods is honoring the conditions that were imposed by the Gaming Board in its extension of time request, and in determining whether the Gaming Board is exercising its authority appropriately in determining whether those conditions are being adhered to,” Cutler said.

In a document filed with the Office of Open Records Monday in response to Boni’s and Cutler's filing, PGCB attorney Denise L. Miller-Tshudy called the argument that Boni and Cutler have a right to the documents as members of the public, in order to monitor the board's enforcement of its Sept. 1 decision granting Foxwoods extension, “most interesting.”

“It is not the public's duty to monitor compliance with Board orders or violations of the Gaming Act or the Board's regulations,” Miller-Tshudy wrote. The PGCB has sole authority here, she said. She quoted an earlier Commonwealth Court decision involving the Department of Health which stated that allowing private citizens to become involved in state agency business would “produce chaos.”

She wrote the report sought is not public information because it is protected under the state's gaming law and is part of an on-going investigation.

“The BIE has the power and duty to, among other things, investigate licenses for non-criminal violations, including for potential violations referred to the Bureau by the Board or other person and monitoring compliance with the Gaming Act and Board's regulations,” she wrote. “The documents sent to BIE on Oct. 1 2009 were received as a result of a Board order; however, they were also received in accordance with BIE's statutory power. By way of BIE's statutorily given authority and power, any records provided to or collected by BIE are per se investigative in nature.”

Miller-Tshudy also wrote that state gaming law, “strictly protects information given by its applicants, licensees, permittees and certificate holders due to the very sensitive and confidential information required of them in the pursuit of determining whether or not the entity or person is eligible and suitable to hold the privilege of that credential.”

Miller-Tshudy could not be reached for comment; PGCB Spokesman Doug Harbach referred PlanPhilly to the document she filed.

In an affadavit attached to the PGCB filing, Paul Mauro, BIE deputy director, states that the information collected through the report is being used by the BIE for the purpose of monitoring Foxwoods' compliance with the board and its “suitability for licensure.” He states, “These documents will be utilized as evidence by BIE in future proceedings before the board ...”

Foxwoods, which has been allowed to file information as an intervener in the case, also says the filing should not be released, for reasons very similar to the PGCB's. It's very clear this is an investigation, wrote Foxwoods attorney F. Warren Jacoby. At the August 28 license extension hearing, when Chief Enforcement Counsel Cyrus Pitre was asked what would happen if Foxwoods failed to meet the conditions imposed by the board, he said that the casino's license could be revoked. “Chief Counsel added: 'If they've not met the burden of showing that they were moving forward or trying to do their best to attain or reach certain benchmarks, then we would be filing an enforcement action to revoke their license.'” Jacoby wrote.

Boni disagrees that anything that goes to the BIE is automatically part of an investigation. “It is self-serving of the agency to say that anything that goes to BIE is confidential,” he said. “All that means is if there is any information that it wants to keep secret, it could have it sent to the BIE.”

Cutler said there are some elements of the documents that likely are confidential under the law – things like social security numbers, but that doesn't mean the entire document should be confidential. These items should be redacted.

But, Boni said, things such as Foxwoods' progress toward opening on the waterfront, its design, and its permit status should all be public information – especially now, as they could shed light on the project's viability.

As of mid-October, when Foxwoods attorney Jacoby wrote a letter to the gaming control board chairman saying the casino may need to build a temporary facility to open by their current deadline – May 2011 – financing for the project had not been secured. An amendment that would further extend the casino's deadline was mysteriously added to a bill in Harrisburg, and then just as mysteriously was removed. Some local state legislators have been calling for the state to rescind the casino's license.

Long-time Foxwoods spokeswoman Maureen Garrity, vice president of Tierney Communications, is no longer the press agent for the casino. Foxwoods attorney Stephen Cozen is now taking press calls, she said. Cozen could not be reached for comment Tuesday, nor did he respond to a phone and email request to talk about the temporary casino last month.

Both Alan Greenberger, the city's deputy mayor for planning and commerce, and Terry Gillen, the mayor's senior advisor on economic development and point-person on casinos, told PlanPhilly recently that they have no idea what is happening with Foxwoods, because they have not received any information from the casino's developers.

The October report was just the first. The PGCB confirmed that the November deadline was met. A third report is scheduled to be filed by Dec. 1. The public records case is only about the first report, but Boni and Cutler say the ultimate ruling will set precedent for future requests.

As of the current schedule, Boni and Cutler have until Dec. 1 to respond to the recent PGCB and Foxwoods filings. The Board and Foxwoods must respond to that by Dec. 7. And the Office of Open Records is expected to rule by Dec. 14.

Both the petitioners and the PGCB have the right to appeal that decision to Commonwealth Court.

The voters spoke

Animal Blawg contained recent comments (below) from Jennifer Krebs about declining interest in Greyhound racing nationally.

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In Massachusetts, Beacon Hill: Democracy dies at gambling interests' request, secret meetings were conducted to create betting parlors to preserve the dead tracks and then passed the House on a voice vote by members too cowardly to record their votes or leadership too anxious to conceal.

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One might wonder where were the legislators from districts that supported the ban. The following represent districts that voted to ban Greyhound Racing --

Ballot Question 3 - Senate Districts

Ballot Question 3 - House Districts

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The voters spoke.

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I am on the Board of Directors of GREY2K USA, a national, non-profit organization that works to pass stronger dog protection laws and close down existing greyhound racetracks.

In November 2008, GREY2K USA became the first group to successfully close down dog tracks through the citizens initiative process, passing Massachusetts Ballot Question 3.

GREY2K USA has been instrumental in fighting for stronger laws to protect racing greyhounds. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, we successfully passed laws requiring that states notify the public on the number of greyhounds injured while racing, and report on the ultimate fate of racing dogs. Also in Massachusetts, we helped pass the first state-funded greyhound adoption trust fund in United States history. In Florida and New Hampshire, we passed legislation to restore greyhounds to the protections of anti-cruelty laws.

As the years have passed, public interest in greyhound racing has decreased. Over the past two decades, commercial dog racing has experienced catastrophic economic decline, and now represents less than 1% of all wagers made annually in the United States. The market demand for dog racing shrinks every year. Since 2004, eighteen dog tracks have either closed or ended live racing. Competition from other forms of gambling, coupled with increased awareness of the cruelty of greyhound racing, has had a significant negative impact on racetrack revenues.

The racing industry is trying to sell a product that few people want. But instead of accepting that, dog track promoters desperately grab for the only lifeline left – they fight for the legalization of expanded gambling as a way to save commercial dog racing.

Proposals to legalize slot machines at dog tracks almost always tie dog racing to slot machines, requiring by law that dogs continue to race as a platform for expanded gambling. Even though this marriage of two unrelated forms of gambling makes little sense, it is politically convenient. Dog track promoters can then argue for the legalization of slot machines as a way to save commercial dog racing.

GREY2K USA is at the forefront of defeating attempts to prop up greyhound racetracks with subsidies, other forms of gambling such as slot machines, and special favors from politicians. Since 2002, we have helped defeat attempts to subsidize dog races with slot machine profits in Massachusetts, Florida, Kansas, New Hampshire, Colorado, Arizona and Oregon. Dog track owners in Colorado, Kansas and Oregon decided to close their facilities as a result.

Once the Raynham Park and Phoenix Greyhound Park tracks close by the end of the year, there will be 23 tracks operational in 8 states.

Please visit http://www.grey2kusa.org/ to learn more greyhound racing and our work to end it. There, you’ll find many ways to support us. Together, we can make a difference and help greyhounds nationwide.

Thank you,
Jennifer Krebs

Wisconsin: Gambling at tracks didn't work

Wisconsin learned a difficult lesson.
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Massachusetts has the extraordinary benefit of examining the experience of other states.

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The more one learns about the flaws of predatory gambling, the more one understands that a foundation built on casino capitalism or expanded gambling is destined to fail.

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Taxpayers can't afford to subsidize wealthy casino investors at the expense of others.

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Story of gambling a losing one

Twenty years ago this month, Kaukauna Mayor Ron Van De Hey couldn’t have been happier.

He was on a panel at the annual winter meeting of Wisconsin Associated Press editors to discuss the opening of Wisconsin to gambling, and his city had just been awarded a license to operate a pari-mutuel greyhound racing track, one of only five in the state.

The competition for the greyhound tracks had been intense that summer of 1989. Only two years before, the voters of Wisconsin overturned the state’s historic anti-gambling laws and passed a long-debated constitutional amendment to allow the creation of a state-run lottery and the legalization of pari-mutuel betting.

Wisconsin municipalities were invited to apply for licenses and after weeks of cities designing financial incentives, contentious lobbying and questionable secret meetings, the state’s newly formed Racing Board announced that Kaukauna, Lake Delton, Hudson, Geneva Lakes and Kenosha were the winners.

Mayor Van De Hey told the state’s newspaper editors that “the people of Kaukauna are feeling very good about themselves” and he predicted that the track would mean at least 300 jobs to his city, not to mention an expected influx of visitors who would eat, sleep and shop in the Outagamie County city, which had a population of 12,000 back then.

And for a brief time, the five dog tracks did well. It is estimated that 3.5 million people went to gamble on the dogs in 1992, the first full year they were all open. I’m sure Kaukauna got a nice kick to its economy those first few years.

Alas, like so much that relies on the fortunes of gambling, no more.

The Kaukauna track has been closed for years. In fact, the last of the five tracks that brought so much joy and hope for the future to their cities will close at the end of this month. Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha, which had been holding out hope of getting permission to open a Menominee Indian casino at the track, announced it will close New Year’s Eve and let go its 180 remaining employees. The casino wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, if ever, and Dairyland was losing $7 million a year.

The irony is that the constitutional amendment that created the dog tracks also led to their demise.

For when Wisconsin lifted its gambling prohibition, it indirectly opened the doors to Indian casinos. At about the same time the dog tracks were being built, federal Judge James Doyle ruled that because Wisconsin had a lottery and legalized betting, it also had to allow the Indian tribes to open casinos on land they owned.

In the end, dog racing couldn’t compete with blackjack and slots. Besides, the novelty of racing greyhounds quickly wore off.

But such is the age-old lesson of gambling. There are always more losers than winners.

Link between gambling addiction and drug addiction

Georgia Concerned About Link between Gambling and Drug Addiction

Weeks before a controversial new law on casinos takes effect in Georgia, health workers in the capital, Tbilisi, say they have uncovered a worrying link between gambling and drug addiction.


Tom Esslemont of the BBC visited Tbilisi to report on the situation, writing that in the middle of the afternoon, the capital’s busiest casino, the Ajara, was already packed with gamblers. Managers at the Ajara say they receive 1,100 clients every day.

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A gambling addict confirms what studies of brain scans indicate comparing gambling to crack cocaine --

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Esslemont spoke to Gia Shengelia, 55, who told him that gambling is not his only addiction. "Gambling is a much stronger drug than real narcotics," Shengelia said. "I used to take all kinds of hard drugs. You can stop using drugs—like I did—but it is impossible to stop gambling."

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Across town, therapists at the Anti Violence Network said the gaming trend is fueling the city’s drug problem, and that the new law could make the problem worse. Starting January 1st, license fees for new casinos will be slashed from as high as three million dollars to as little as zero in designated locations.

Drug counselor Manana Solokhashvili said this will be bad news for the clients of her clinic and for the 13 percent of Georgians who are officially unemployed.

"The problem faced by gambling addicts and drug addicts is the same," she said. "The disease is addiction. More than 90 percent of the people who come to our clinic looking for therapy are addicted to both."

She added that the new law will encourage more people to fall on harder times, rather than encourage them to try to find a job. Statistics show there are 270,000 drug users in Georgia, which has a population of 4.3 million.

One of Solokhashvili’s patients, Soso, said gambling perpetuated his drug habit. "If I hadn’t gambled I would have seen things differently. The addiction is the same. Had I stopped gambling I would have stopped using drugs sooner,” he said.

Although there are only three casinos in the city, there are more than 300 amusement arcades. Few of them let Esslemont in, largely because the managers said they don’t want to be portrayed in the media as drug havens and crime spots.

He was able to speak to the manager of the Maxi Slot club, who asks to be called Irakli. When asked whether he thinks he has a responsibility towards young people, given the allegations made by the Anti Violence Network, Irakli said, "People come here for entertainment or maybe to win money. It has nothing to do with drugs. In any case, one business leader like me is not responsible for the whole trend. But, gambling is a good income for the state—so that’s probably why the government wants to encourage it."

But as Georgia is liberalizing its gambling laws, others in the region are tightening them. Esslemont writes that Azerbaijan banned gambling in 1998; Armenia has announced that it intends to restrict gaming to three regions; and earlier this year, Russia confined casinos to far-flung parts of the country.

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Where have we heard the folly that casinos will bring tourists before? The Mayor of the Town of Salem, to the north of Boston, allowed herself to be misled, maybe by staff members who failed to conduct the appropriate due diligence, and wrongly believes casinos will provide Manna from Heaven --

The Georgian government seems to have the economy in mind as it prepares to sign into law the amendments. It says its new legislation will attract foreign gaming companies and much-needed investment to less-visited resorts and towns.

Lasha Tordia, a member of the ruling United National Movement, does not see a downside to the law. "I personally don’t see the link between gambling and drugs," he says. "What we are looking to do is encourage regional development. We want to see more tourists not only come to Tbilisi but to our Black Sea towns too. That is why we have dramatically cut casino start-up costs."

There is no proven link between Georgia’s drugs culture and its residents’ gambling habits. But the new law might sustain addictions by simply offering more places and more towns in which to gamble.

State Sponsored Predatory Gambling

Lotteries, not casinos, are the curse

Poor folks gambling,

Suffer hurt;

Bit by bit,

They lose their shirt.

In not-so-ancient times, gambling was viewed as a tool of the devil, much like sex or liquor (this was before illegal drugs). People played the horses and the numbers through convenient newsstands and accommodating runners. The mob organized this efficient system, and the judicious application of hot lead settled any disputes. Las Vegas was Satan’s embassy in the U.S., where he also practiced sex and divorce.

Times change. Las Vegas has morphed into a “family entertainment” center while gambling has cleverly donned the protective garb of “recreation.” Other wagering centers have followed suit, as state after state and tribe after tribe have shed religious anathema and gone for the gold. The mob wasn’t so much defeated as outflanked. In response, it moved petulantly into garbage collection.

Thus the administration of the gaming industry is now conducted in art-filled chambers of government, rather than in smoke-filled chambers of crime. Some feel that’s not such a big step, but at least it provides for public input. If the town fathers of Black Hawk, Colo., want to hitch their wagon to a towering casino, it gets voted on. If the gaming public in Missouri wants penny slot machines, there’s formal debate. If Bethlehem, Pa., wants to try turning steel into gold by converting the abandoned mill to a casino, it’s a public issue.

These high-profile decisions generate plenty of ink because average citizens see themselves as stakeholders. Maybe not so much in terms of morality, but rather in terms of taxes, traffic, crime, image, jobs and various other side effects of a profitable if ethically challenged industry.

But gambling’s biggest ethical challenge doesn’t come from these casinos at all. It comes from the state lotteries. Unfortunately, our nation’s sainted addiction fighters normally focus their energy on challenging the big developments, rightly pointing out that each one will unleash latent demons in a certain number of nearby residents as temptation is brought conveniently to their door. Worse luck, that’s the lesser enemy.

As much as casino owners love gambling addicts, public pressure has forced them at least to keep an eye out to protect such folk, and to fund support groups to help them get treatment.

Not so with the states themselves. They are totally mercenary. If we’re going to extract money from the mentally ill, let’s do it first-class. We’ll put wagering outlets in every convenience store and gas station. We’ll advertise on billboards and TV. We’ll go into every poor neighborhood where people can only afford to spend a little at a time. We’ll make a big deal out of the winners so poor folks will erroneously feel that they have a reasonable shot at riches.

This is how the devil has made his comeback. Only this time it’s not the mob that is strewing temptation before the masses; it’s us. The more we can persuade the poor to contribute to the state budget, the less the rest of us will have to pay in taxes. Hmm…that sounds like a good deal — let’s advertise some more. So what if it’s regressive? Nobody knows what regressive means anyway.

Satan promotes other sly schemes as well. The recession is a hot one just now. With the resultant sag in gambling revenue, some states have chosen to throw another shovelful of dirt on morality’s grave. New Jersey, for example, always in our nation’s ethical spotlight, decided to reinstate smoking in casinos, looking to attract more patrons. Illinois is looking at allowing free drinks on the gaming floor. The only potentially deeper degradation of the industry would be to turn over the whole business to Wall Street. No doubt that’s coming.

Minuteman Media columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk, Conn.

Gambler steals school's computers

Gambler steals school's computers


A GOLD COAST man with a severe gambling problem travelled to Hervey Bay to steal computers from a school, a court was told.

Ryan Frank Geaghan, 19, and a friend broke into Yarrilee State School in August, where they stole five iMac computers, the Hervey Bay Magistrates Court heard.

Defence solicitor John Milburn said Geaghan was trying to feed a serious gambling addiction.

“When he works everything he earns is gambled away,” Mr Milburn said.

“He stole in order to feed that gambling habit.”

The court heard that Geaghan lived at home with his mother without paying board and was therefore able to spend all his money on the addiction.

He was seeing a counsellor for his gambling problem.

Mr Milburn said Geaghan’s co-accused had “begged him” to come up to the Bay to steal and even organised a lift for him.

Geaghan, who was on probation for a similar offence in May, was given a stern warning by Magistrate Graeme Tatnell about his gambling habit.

“You’ve got to get rid of it very quickly or it’s going to destroy your life,” he told the teenager.

Geaghan was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay $461 restitution to the school.

Casino Gambling Cruise Industry Headed for Iceberg of Reality?

Casino Gambling Cruise Industry Headed for Iceberg of Reality?


Another incident struck the troubled Palm Beach Princess Wednesday, as the crew of the casino cruise vessel nearly rioted. Workers declared a strike on the gambling ship over pay issues and the sacking of the captain who stuck up for them.

The Princess is one of a number of ships that specialize in gambling cruises, leaving port only to cruise to international waters and open the casino to players. The gaming industry aboard cruiseliners has been hard hit, not only by the recession but by expanded gambling throughout the US.

SunCruz ships have been sold off as the fleet of Florida gambling cruise ships has left several ports, unable to draw customers to areas that have seen racinos and tribal casinos offer games that used to be exclusive to ships. The Sea Escape of Ft. Lauderdale was sold for almost nothing as the ship could no longer cover its own maintenance costs once blackjack and slots reached legal Broward county locations.

The Princess already faced bankruptcy a year ago, and now the new owners face labor unrest and horrible publicity. Even though management said problems had been resolved, patrons looking at a few hours aboard the Princess are more likely than ever to seek nearby land casinos to try their luck.

Cruise operators have lobbied hard against federal and state law changes, trying to keep the gambling genie in an exclusive bottle to which only they had the key. But the future may be bleak, as more convenient gambling locations reduce the daily crowds that once poured off Florida coastlines to gamble at sea.

US surge on casino gamblers

US surge on casino gamblers


United States government bailout recipient JP Morgan decided to become a player in the casino industry by taking control of a distressed property, instead of foreclosing on the Grand Sierra Resort Corp. in Reno, Nevada 2008. Just days ago, fellow federal bailout handout Wells Fargo Bank received a license to take over ownership of Resorts casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to keep it afloat. If this trend of banks with government bailout ownership continues, every casino in the country will be owned by the United States government. Many financial corporations such as Goldman Sachs and T. Rowe Price are heavily invested in the casino world and would suffer without government intervention if the industry doesn't rebound.

JP Morgan's joint in Reno, Grand Sierra Resort, offers a great game of single deck blackjack that pays 3:2 on blackjacks, a stimulus to card counters. Opened in 1978 as the MGM Grand Reno owned by Kirk Kerkorian, who claimed it the largest casino in the world at the time. An actual MGM lion was on display without a cage allowing guests to get up and close within six feet of the king of the jungle. The lion was heavily sedated with only an attendant and a leash restraining this beast from running amok throughout the resort. Later owners included Bally's, Hilton, Caesars Entertainment, and Grand Sierra Resort before succumbing to this federal government bailout partner.

Wells Fargo's gambling house in Atlantic City, Resorts, with the help of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s ownership in the bank and the feds bailout money, saved it from going under. Resorts opened as the first casino outside of Nevada in 1978 to throngs of customers. Blackjack tables were three deep at every table with no hope of making a lay down. Famous blackjack card counter Ken Uston sued Resorts all the way up to the New Jersey Supreme Court for the right to play while counting, and won! Atlantic City casinos responded with 8 deck games and lousy penetration while reserving the right to limit a counter's betting spread. No wonder characters like Donald Trump, Kirk Kerkorian, and Leon Black are bleeding money with terrible playing conditions. So now the United States government is muscling into the casino gambling racket with taxpayer dollars.

George Orwell's book "1984" described gamblers (proles) as, "It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant...which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty." With casinos on the verge of going belly-up and the US government having a say with bailout money, a monopoly of a casino Big Brother can occur.

Foxwoods Default

Of the Foxwoods default --


While the new slot machines are being introduced, slot revenues continue to fall, and the nation is in the midst of its worst economic downslide.

On Nov. 16, the nation disclosed that it paid $14 million – $7 million short on a $21 million scheduled payment on a $500 million debt, and expects to enter default within 30 days. In August, the nation announced it had hired an investment bank to help restructure more than $2 billion in debt.

All of Indian country is closely monitoring the Mashantucket’s financial circumstance and how it will be resolved as it will set a precedent for Indian casinos and other businesses everywhere.

Tribal nations and their creditors are in a unique financial situation, creditors can’t take over an Indian casino or force the sale of its assets, and it is generally assumed that tribes, as sovereign nations, cannot protect themselves by filing bankruptcy, although that assumption has never been put to the test in a U.S. court.

So, Foxwoods and other casinos facing harsh financial times have to remain open under whatever loan restructuring agreement is settled upon in order for their creditors to be repaid.

Whatever the outcome at Mashantucket, the current economy and the prospect of tribes defaulting on loans means higher financial costs, smaller loans, and fewer creditors willing to take the risk of lending money with no guarantee of its return.

Millenium deceives ....

Kudos to New Hampshire's Rep. Steve Vaillancourt for refusing to accept Millenium's fictitious promises about generous wages.

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When Predatory Gambling interests "sell their product," they promise anything.

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Few lawmakers take the time to do the research, as this elected official has done to disprove the sales pitch.

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Millennium principal deceives Manchester lawmakers

By Rep. Steve Vaillancourt

At last Thursday night's dinner meeting with 18 Manchester-area state representatives at the Back Room, Millennium principal William Wortman asserted the average salary for the 1,000 jobs his group would create at the Rockingham Park racino would be $43,000 to $44,000.

Realizing the vast majority of racino employees are either janitors (someone has to clean the toilets), waitresses (someone has to serve the food and beverages), or cashiers (someone has to cash out all those vouchers), I was totally surprised by the number and asked Mr. Wortman if in fact he had said $43,000 to $44,000. He reiterated the claim.

Rep. Pat Long received guarantees that his Ward 3 constituents would be able to apply for the jobs. Long asked if the $43,000 to $44,000 included benefits. Wortman replied that it did not.

I left the meeting doing a few calculations (as I am wont to do). Add in benefits (we use a 50 percent markup for state purposes) and you're talking more than $60,000 per employee.

This just can't be, I thought. So I sought neutral data, and sure enough, it is not true. Legislative research supplied me with data (maybe slightly outdated but not by all that much) that "the average annual salary of a racino employee is less than $14,000." Thus, not only was Wortman wrong in the information he provided to state reps, he was off by a factor of three. The number he gave us, in an obvious attempt to make his proposal look better than it is, was three times greater than the truth.

All right, I thought, a few thousand here or there, I can accept that, but this is not acceptable. The reputation of a lobbyist (and certainly the principal of Millennium must be considered a super lobbyist) hangs on the accuracy of the data he or she provides. Once a lobbyist loses his reputation, he has lost his good name, his sacred honor.

After listening to everything Wortman said (and eating the stuffed chicken), I was impressed with most of his data and arguments. He lost it all with the one misstatement about wages. Just to be sure legislative research was not off; I just checked the Bureau of Labor Statistics data. This is for the gaming industry in general, and since I assume dealers would make more than janitors, waitresses, and cashiers, I assume the numbers for racinos are lower than these.

The median wage in the industry is $10.92 per hour; the mean is $13.39 per hour. You do the math. Assuming a 40 hour week, that comes out to $22,700 a year for mean or $27,852 for average. The average salary for a casino supervisor is $41,160, less than Wortman would have us believe is what the new Rock would be paying the average employee.

As an elected official, I find this discrepancy (whether intentional deception or simply incompetence) beyond astounding! You know what they say, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Shame on Millennium's William Wortman, and I for one, won't be fooled by him again, no matter how good the food (just kidding; it wasn't even very good).

Steve Vaillancourt represents Hillsborough County District 15, the city of Manchester Ward 8.

Testimony

If you haven't taken the time to review this page and the testimony included, it's worth the time for the wide ranging issues that were raised --

The following are links to written and/or oral testimony
representative of that given in opposition, out of concern,
and in favor of an independent/impartial cost benefit
analysis of expanded gambling as submitted to
the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Economic
Development and Emerging Technologies, October 29,
2009

Big Default!

This bears watching.

Dubai's problems rattle markets


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Just a year after the global downturn derailed Dubai's explosive growth, the city is now so swamped in debt that it's asking for a six-month reprieve on paying its bills — causing a drop on world markets yesterday and raising questions about Dubai's reputation as a magnet for international investment.

The fallout came swiftly and was felt globally after Wednesday's statement that Dubai's main development engine, Dubai World, would ask creditors for a "standstill" on paying back its $60 billion debt until at least May. The company's real estate arm, Nakheel — whose projects include the palm-shaped island in the Gulf — shoulders the bulk of money due to banks, investment houses and outside development contractors.

In total, the state-backed networks nicknamed Dubai Inc. are $80 billion in the red and the emirate needed a bailout earlier this year from its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Markets took the news badly — with the Dubai woes and the continued fall of the U.S. dollar giving investors twin worries. Dubai's move raised concerns about debt across the Gulf Region. Prices to insure debt from Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain all rose by double-digit percentages Thursday, according to data from CMA DataVision.

In Europe, the FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and the CAC-40 in France opened sharply lower. Earlier in Asia, the Shanghai index sank 119.19 points, or 3.6 percent, in the biggest one-day fall since Aug. 31. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.8 percent to 22,210.41.

Wall Street was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday and most markets in the Middle East were silent because of a major Islamic feast.

"Dubai's standstill announcement ... was vague and it remains difficult to discern whether the call for a standstill will be voluntary," said a statement from the Eurasia Group, a Washington-based research group that assesses political and financial risk for foreign investors interested in Dubai.

"If it is not, Dubai World will be going into default and that will have more serious negative repercussions for Dubai's sovereign debt, Dubai World and market confidence in the UAE in general," the statement added.

Dubai became the Gulf's biggest credit crunch victim a year ago. But its ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, had continually dismissed concerns over the city-state's liquidity and claims it overreached during the good times.

When asked about the debt, he confidently assured reporters in a rare meeting two months ago that "we are all right" and "we are not worried."

Low Wage, Low Skilled Casino Jobs

The Labour group also argued that the casino
could create much needed jobs for young
people in the borough.

Oh? Where have we heard this fantasy before?
On Beacon Hill?

[Cllr Arnold] “I really don’t think that is an
ambition that we want for our children.

“Casino work is low skilled and low paid, that’s
not my ambition for Thurrock.”

The Tories argued that allowing casinos would
encourage people desperate for cash in a
recession, to gamble and get into serious debt.

Deputy leader of the council cllr Amanda Arnold
said: “I don’t think it’s right to encourage
people to gamble, at a time of financial
desperation, because they really can’t see a
way out.”

These are some of the many reasons United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts raised to oppose predatory gambling.

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In the end, the council voted NOT to allow a casino.

Ravenous Lawmakers....

Massachusetts might well be substituted for each mention of Pennsylvania in the editorial below, except that Massachusetts will bear the Big Dig Legacy for decades to come.

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If the camel is an animal created by committee, what does Beacon Hill create? Predatory Gambling designed to enrich the few, exploit the least of us, increase crime and impoverish us all.

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The consequences will weigh us down when lawmakers are out of office and collecting fat pension.

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Fiscal responsibility dictates that an impartial cost benefit analysis is the reasonable path.

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TO BE BLUNT, ONCE RAVENOUS LAWMAKERS' FACES LIGHT UP, TAXES TO KEEP UP WITH JONESES SELDOM NIPPED IN BUD

This may turn out to be one of the final frontiers in terms of potential tax-revenue sources for Pennsylvania and other states: Marijuana, grown for medical use.

You can't do that here now. That doesn't mean it won't happen. We can well imagine the arguments, the warnings of the slippery slope.

We argued loudly against the institution of casino gambling, for what good that ultimately did.

There is no moral argument that can stand against the weight of a monetary one when made to a politician. If the thought process holds that the politician stands to gain some campaign war chest dollars from support of a moneymaking cause, there's not much a moral (money-less) argument is going to do.

Granted, there will be some politicians who will fight the moral battle. There were those that fought casino gambling. The casinos are here. They're going to be expanded, all in the name of increased tax revenue to the state.

The legislation to allow table games in Pennsylvania didn't pass—yet. However, it was viewed as the linchpin of budget-balancing, and the weight of the argument for tax revenue and the job creation aspects of the legislation make it all but a sure thing. It's going to happen. Rail against it as you will. We've railed considerably.

Casinos and their minders can make all the arguments they'd like about the reasons casinos are here and the benefits therefrom, but the bottom line reason they exist in Pennsylvania is because they provide another revenue stream for a desperately greedy state government.
There's been a legal opinion reached recently that the state of Colorado can tax dispensers of medical marijuana. The race to collect the taxes is of almost cartoonish proportions, and The Denver Post, in an editorial of its own, has asked the state government (in more diplomatic terms) to slow down, stop hyperventilating and at least figure out how the industry fits into the state's tax structure before scratching for cash like chickens hunting gravel.

Why worry about mechanics? There's money in them there hills! Dig it!

In the face of such desperate lust for new cash channels to be cut, can anyone realistically believe that such a system won't also come to Pennsylvania? It's money, remember. Tax money. Money to spend. Irresistible.

We think it will come sooner rather than later. Table games this year provided an out for the Legislature, injecting cash into what should be a soul searching, line-by-line combing of every expenditure and every revenue source in the state. Our budget structure, our methods of taxation, are a mess. We need a full redo, and there aren't nearly enough legislators who have the stomach for such a thing, especially since it might involve the shrinking of the Legislature, both its budget and its membership.

Thus, there is certain to be another budget crisis next year, and the acrimony is likely to be even higher than it was this past season, since almost everyone involved in the debate will be up for re-election (in the case of the Legislature and quite a bit of the Senate), and gubernatorial candidates posing for voters for the November election will also be catcalling from the sidelines to make their points and gather their votes.

Another temporary bandage will be needed. Something medically necessary, say. Enter marijuana.

If it can happen elsewhere, it can happen here. Forget about why it's being grown and used. Forget about the moral relativity. We might soon be forced to forget the fact that it was ever illegal for anyone—if a limited revenue source is good, an unlimited one is even better. Can the politicians survive the voter anger? If so, then just focus on the potential tax dollars and the campaign cash. That'll make enough of an argument to get the vote of most politicians.
As to what's best for the people, that's not even up for consideration.
—Lebanon Daily News

Corruption in sports betting

Former Kings official banned for betting on games

Jack Mai, the former assistant director of scouting for the Kings, was banned by the league for "betting small amounts of money" on Kings and NBA games, the Kings announced today.

Mai was fired by the Kings in early 2009 for reasons that remain unclear, although it had long been speculated that his close ties with Chinese basketball officials were becoming an increasing concern to the league and the Kings organization.

The Kings said in a statement: "Today we were informed by the NBA that it has concluded its investigation with respect to the activities of one of our former employees, Jack Mai. The investigation revealed that Mr. Mai participated in improper wagering activities while a member of this organization. Mr. Mai�s employment with the Kings was terminated in January 2009. Mr. Mai has now been disqualified from further association with the NBA or any of its teams. We take this matter very seriously, and we fully cooperated with the NBA�s investigation."

Mai, who in reality had very little influence in Kings personnel matters, was hired by Geoff Petrie eight years ago on the recommendation of Kings special assistant Pete Carril. He was rarely seen at Arco Arena.

Yahoo!Sports reported that business partners of Mai tipped off the league about his betting activities. Teams can no longer hire Mai nor use his services as a consultant.

Addicted to gambling revenue

Of all the pathetic government statistics that promote predatory gambling as fiscal policy, this is pretty gruesome --

...Statistics Canada studies over the last few years found the average adult Albertan spent $890 annually on gambling, far more than any other province and the national average of $524.

Albertans are gambling less, drinking more: Stats Can

EDMONTON — The economic slump saw people gamble substantially less in Alberta last fiscal year — still spending a mind-boggling $25 billion on VLTs, slots, and the like — although booze sales were "recession proof" and actually increased during the downturn to about $2 billion.


The eye-popping numbers from the 2008-09 fiscal year have opposition members of the legislature arguing the provincial government is addicted to gambling revenue, and has sparked more questions about the number of gaming machines in Alberta and a proliferation of casinos.


On the booze front, wine and spirits continued to increase in popularity compared to beer, although suds sales in draught and bottle still dwarf all other kinds of alcohol. Wine sales, though, have increased more than one-third in the last four years.


While Albertans certainly like their liquor, they also enjoy rolling the dice.


But total gambling revenues in Alberta dropped about five per cent last year to $25 billion, down from $26.3 billion the previous year, according to an Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission report released Tuesday.


"It's a reflection of the downturn and also the age of our VLTs," explained provincial Solicitor General Fred Lindsay, noting many video lottery terminals are getting old and have outdated technology that's no longer appealing to regular gamblers.


Of the $25 billion in total gaming revenues collected last fiscal year, about $15.5 billion came from slot machines, $8.9 billion from VLTs and the rest from electronic bingo and lottery ticket sales. About $22.8 billion was paid back out in prizes.


The largest drop in gambling revenue came from the aging VLTs, which saw a 16 per cent drop in 2008-09 compared to the roughly $10.5 billion the previous year.


Government policy dictates Alberta can have no more than 6,000 VLTs in the province. Last year, there were 5,964, a slight drop from previous years.


The popularity of one-armed bandits — slot machines — gained at VLTs' expense. The number of slot machines grew about seven per cent to 12,680, while revenue increased by more than $360 million.


The number of casinos in the province grew to 24 last year — a 50 per cent increase from just four years earlier.


All told, gambling revenues in Alberta have soared nearly 70 per cent over the past eight years (up from nearly $15 billion in 2001).


Indeed, Statistics Canada studies over the last few years found the average adult Albertan spent $890 annually on gambling, far more than any other province and the national average of $524.


Liquor popularity, meanwhile, increased both in volume and sales. More than $2 billion was spent on booze last fiscal year, up more than $50 million from the previous year. More than 343 million litres of booze was consumed in total, including about 271 million litres of beer, 31 million litres of wine and 25 million litres of spirits.


"It seems like liquor is recession-proof. Whether the economy is good or the economy is bad, it didn't seem to affect it," Lindsay said.


Gambling, however, seems to be a different story, although the numbers are still hard to fathom.


While the minister recognizes Albertans enjoy trying lady luck, he said the total dollars spent on gaming are "not something to be worried about." Gambling revenues have traditionally reflected a young population and high wages in the province, he said.


The sliding revenue is impacting Alberta community groups and charitable organizations. The government's share of the gambling dollars — which is transferred to the Alberta Lottery Fund and disbursed to groups — sank more than $100 million last year to about $1.5 billion.

RI: They own you!

Once legalized, predatory gambling necessitates that the state becomes promoter and stakeholder in the success of the ever expanding endeavor. As in the case of Rhode Island, the predators dictate the terms.

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R.I. Senate panel opens hearing on Twin River
By Katherine Gregg

Journal State House Bureau
PROVIDENCE — In 2004, the promoters of the proposed West Warwick casino offered the state a $100-million up-front payment for an exclusive license to operate Rhode Island’s first 24-hour casino, with blackjack, roulette and other draws that were unavailable at that time.
Voters ultimately said no to the proposed Harrah’s-backed West Warwick casino.
But now, another gambling license worth upward of $100 million annually to whoever acquires the right to run the bankrupt, 24-hour Twin River track-and-slot parlor is in play, and a state Senate committee is asking questions:

Why isn’t the state putting this license out to bid? Why is it ceding the ownership decision to Twin River’s lenders, who include many of the big-time New York banks and financial houses, including the Merrill Lynch Capital Corp., Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wachovia, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock Inc. and The Carlyle Group? Who is looking out for Rhode Island’s taxpayers?


There were no clear answers, but the beginning of a high-stakes legal and political debate at the State House on Tuesday. A key Senate committee summoned the heads of the state Lottery, and the state Departments of Revenue and Business Regulation to the State House for the first in a series of hearings that spun off this declaration by Sen. Frank Ciccone, D-Providence: “This license is an asset of the state and should revert to the state.”


A lawyer representing the Carcieri administration in the bankruptcy proceedings told the lawmakers that nothing precludes them from giving the lenders the opportunity to put the license up for bid after the sprawling Lincoln gambling hall emerges from bankruptcy. Lawyer Shelley C. Chapman said she could not speak for the lenders, but “I can’t imagine they would be opposed.”


But later, she acknowledged her answer was premised on the lenders auctioning Twin River — and its gambling license — for the highest price they could get for themselves, not the state.
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“That’s business,” she said. “What if a beautiful facility opens in Massachusetts 35 miles away, and things go South. They are taking the equity risk; they are entitled to the gain,” she argued.

The Gambling Arms Race will be used repeatedly by surrounding states until we insist on an impartial cost benefit analysis and refuse to subsidize wealthy casino investors, just as New Hampshire has done.

Ciccone disagreed, and the jousting began.


THE GAMBLING HALL is home to more than 4,750 video-slot machines — including an armada of virtual roulette and Blackjack machines — placed there by the state Lottery, under terms where the state keeps roughly 61 cents out of every dollar a losing player leaves behind.
During the year that ended on June 30, that translated into $242.3 million for the state, $110.3 for Twin River’s owners, $27.7 for the machine providers, another $9.9 million for the Providence-based GTECH as the central-system operator, $5.7 million for the Town of Lincoln and $674,130 for the Narragansett Indian Tribe, which has no role in Twin River’s operation or ownership.


With that much money at stake, Ciccone urged a Senate inquiry into “the possible options of the state, in the event that the license is revoked, to reissue the license in accordance with a bidding process, or to a better location in the state, or on more desirable terms,” and, in the interim, “the right of the state to approve or disapprove the next owner or manager.”


His questions prompted Sen. Maryellen Goodwin, chairwoman of the existing Senate Committee on Constitutional and Regulatory Issues, to call Tuesday’s hearing, which she called the first in a series.


Chapman told the lawmakers that federal bankruptcy law prohibits the state from exercising the right, spelled out in a July 2005 contract with Twin River’s current owners, to revoke their right to operate the video-slots that are their big money-makers.


She also discouraged the lawmakers from entertaining thoughts about putting Twin River’s operating license out to bid while the case is still moving through bankruptcy court, under terms where the 50 banks and investment houses that hold Twin River’s debt will probably end up owning it, after writing off $290 million of the $590 million in defaulted loans.
■
TWIN RIVER is owned by a subsidiary of BLB Investors, a holding company made up of the principals in Kerzner International, Starwood Capital Group and Waterford Group LLC.
In response to queries from Ciccone and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel DaPonte, she acknowledged the “consensual” bankruptcy agreement endorsed by the state, the lenders and the current owners relies heavily on the legislature — which was not party to the negotiations — agreeing to change state law. The agreement hinges, in part, on the lawmakers uncoupling the video-slot play from a requirement that Twin River run at least 125 greyhound races each year.


Ciccone — who waged a losing fight during the last legislative session to preserve dog racing — said “that’s a big ‘if’ right now.”


Before signing off on any such agreement, he said, the lawmakers might want to pin down the value of the gambling license. “The license as kind of a standalone piece of paper doesn’t mean very much, uncoupled from the facility,” Chapman said.


But Ciccone disagreed, suggesting the state “can assign [it] anywhere we want it to be, and the quote — bond holders — your lenders, these 50 different bankers have a piece of property that would be worth nothing.”


Chapman said: “That’s correct, however, [you’d] have to build that facility again, and to be honest you are not going to find someone to come in with another $800 million to build a facility.”


Ciccone: “We’ve never tested the waters have we?”

State's Casinos: Lean Days For Golden Geese?

When a business model is based on the shakey foundation of exploiting 10% of patrons to produce 90% of profits, designed to create addiction, filled with myths, it is destined to impoverish us all and fail.

CASINO DEFAULT • This state revenue stream was never meant to be permanent

Foxwoods Resort Casino's warning that it couldn't make a full interest payment due last week on a $500 million note was a cold-water shower for those who think Connecticut can always count on gaming to pour a stream of money into the state treasury.

It's hard to imagine Foxwoods, with its impressive resort campus, unable to make a full debt payment on schedule, so huge has the American Indian gaming and entertainment enterprise in southeastern Connecticut become in the past decade and a half.

But the gaming industry nationwide is showing recession-related stress: A number of casinos have defaulted on debt or gone into bankruptcy. The decline last month of slot machine revenue at Foxwoods and nearby Mohegan Sun is symptomatic of industry troubles as Americans react to the recession by cutting back on such pastimes as casinos.

The decline in casino slot revenue has implications for the state budget, of course, because the state gets a percentage of the take above a base amount. This is like bonus money: It should not be regarded as dependable, always-increasing income.

Further stress on Connecticut's casinos — and the state's treasury — will occur if casinos open in next-door Massachusetts.

This is the Gambling Arms Race.

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Doubt about future gaming revenue is one more reason to curtail state government spending.
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And from Gladys --

Now wait just one minute...

Doesn't Connecticut host two of the World's largest casinos? And isn't that

where all of our State's gambling dollars - the one's we're supposed to re-

capture with expanding gambling - are supposedly ending up? So ok,

maybe Senator Rosenberg can explain how the State of Connecticut could

possibly be in such a hole with all that money that that they'd actually

consider legalizing 24/7 drinking at two of the world's largest casinos?

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And does that mean Massachusetts would go down that road too?

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And where, exactly, does that road end?

--"Six Degrees of Suffolk Downs"

Bottoming Out: The Logic of Loss

The Las Vegas Sun offered an interesting 3 part series of articles that includes impressive graphics.


The pull of a drug, a push to the brink

When the jackpot hits, “It feels like you’re getting high.” And when it doesn’t? “You want to crucify yourself.”

Illness theory gaining ground for gambling addiction
The mere sight of a slot machine can trigger a chemical response in the gambling addict’s brain in the same way the thought of cocaine stimulates a drug addict.

Could the game be partly to blame for addiction?

Schüll [Natasha Dow Schüll, a cultural anthropologist at MIT who has spent years interviewing gamblers...] , whose book documenting machine gambling and compulsive behavior, “Addiction By Design,” will be published next year, says machines play more of a role in the addiction process than the industry would care to admit.

“This isn’t like buying shoes,” she said. “These are potent and powerful devices that are effective in shifting your inner mood and state.”

People with gambling problems told Schüll of “zoning out” in front of a machine and gambling for gambling’s sake rather than for reasons that make sense to casual gamblers and are cited by manufacturers, such as the pleasure of winning something, however small, or the anticipation of a big jackpot.

Pom Poms to Palmer's Casino Cheerleader, Paul Burns!

Pom Poms are due for the Prime Palmer Casino Cheerleader, Paul Burns, for totally ignoring the financial insolvency of the partners and the reality of the impacts!

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Would a Palmer resident please deliver them?

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Tribes teeter on financial brink

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Changing economics tarnish success story of Pequot, Mohegan casinos

Construction equipment is scattered about, but work on the facility stopped months ago.
It's a stark and unmistakable symbol of the financial crisis within Connecticut's multibillion-dollar Indian gaming empire.

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After making and spending billions over the last decade, the Mohegans and their nearby neighbors, the Mashantucket Pequot Indians, are teetering on the brink of a financial meltdown.

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Expansion plans have been canceled, employees have been laid off, credit ratings are in free fall, and bankers and bond holders are knocking on the door. In a sign of just how bad it has become, the Pequots last week defaulted on a Wall Street bond, signaling to creditors the tribe cannot meet its obligations.

All of this adds up to a toxic mix of problems that only a few years ago would have been unthinkable for two tribes with economic engines that once seemed geared for never-ending growth.

The Pequots in 1992 turned to Kien Huat Realty, a family-owned construction and development firm that made its fortune in Malaysian government projects. The deal provided $235 million to build the first version of Foxwoods.

The Mohegan Sun came on line a few years later under an arrangement with South African casino mogul Solomon Kerzner and his partner Len Wolman, a Mystic hotel chain owner and fellow South African.

The Pequot and Mohegan casinos quickly surpassed expectations. Foxwoods grew into the world's largest casino, featuring thousands of hotel rooms, dozens of restaurants and seven gambling areas. The Sun grew to 3.1 million square feet, offering three casinos, assorted hotels and other features.

Public records show in 1993, the year Foxwoods opened its doors, the casino earned $81 million from slot machines. By 2005, the slot take had swelled to $818 million.
The Sun earned $227 million in slot revenue in 1997, its first year of operation. Slot revenue ballooned to $916 million by 2007.

The Pequots bought the Lake of Isles Golf Course in North Stonington and the Spa at Norwich Inn, built a $200 million museum dedicated to Eastern Indians and invested in a Philadelphia casino plan.

The Mohegans purchased the Pocono Downs race track in Pennsylvania and added a casino. They proposed a $1 billion casino in Palmer, Mass., bought a golf course in Connecticut and a WNBA basketball team, and struck several deals with other tribes to build casinos outside Connecticut.

The building and buying mirrored what was happening nationally. The Native American gaming industry took off like wildfire, moving from a handful of bingo parlors and card rooms in the early 1990s to a $27 billion industry in 2008.

Reports filed by the Mohegans with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission show the tribe's net income dropped 11 percent in 2009; gaming revenue fell 8 percent; gross slot revenue was down 5 percent; and non-gaming revenue dropped 16 percent.

The Mohegan's interest expenses rose 19 percent compared with 2008, according to financial statements.

At the Sun, the revenue drop had a very visible impact. The Mohegans launched an $800 million expansion, but it was cut short. Although a third casino opened in mid-2008, at a cost of $113 million, the rest of the project, another hotel, parking garage and other features, was suspended because of lack of money.

Casino capitalism failed on a global scale. What makes Paul Burns think it will work in Palmer?

That's not casino glitter, Paul. It's the on-coming train wreck of predatory gambling with insolvent partners.

Please join us in calling for an impartial cost benefit analysis.

Crown defers Cannery deal

Crown Defers Deal For U.S. Casinos

James Packer's Australian gaming empire postpones the completion of its deal to acquire U.S. Cannery Casino Resorts.

Since a casino boss is probably better than anyone at gauging odds, James Packer's decision to pay $370 million upfront to postpone for up to two years and to rewrite the deal that his firm, Crown, signed to buy into Cannery Casino Resorts of the United States can be seen as a calculated gamble that the gaming sector may bottom out in the interim.

In its original plan to expand into Las Vegas and western Pennsylvania, Crown , Australia’s largest casino operator, in December 2007 agreed to spend $1.75 billion to acquire Cannery Casino Resorts. (See "Crown Bets $1.8B On Las Vegas's Cannery Casino.") The privately held Cannery Casino Resorts currently owns and operates two casino-hotel complexes in North Las Vegas, as well as the Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Pittsburgh. The deal would have provided a way for Packer, who owns 38% of Crown, to move closer to achieving his ambition of building up a global casino empire through acquisitions in the United States, Canada and Europe.

However, Packer’s expansion plans have been thwarted by the global credit crunch and slowdown. Crown warned last month that the earnings generated by Cannery will be up to 30% lower than previously anticipated. Regulatory snags have dogged the deal as well.

Crown announced Friday that it would break the original agreement for a termination fee of $50 million. At the same time, it agreed to pay $320 million for nonparticipating shares that can be converted into a 24.5% stake. Crown was granted an option for two years to complete its purchase of the company's remaining shares for $1.4 billion.

The new accord also would allow Crown to pull the plug, wiping out the initial investment, by paying an additional termination fee of $200 million and investing $40 million for a 4.1% nonvoting stake in Cannery, if the Australian suitor failed to receive the necessary official approvals in the United States within 60 days. In other words, Crown would have to pay a total of $290 million to withdraw its acquisition.

The revised deal, which reduces Crown's potential exposure to downside risk, got preliminary support from the company’s investors. Shares of Crown closed 70 Australian cents (46 cents), or 13.5%, higher, at 5.90 Australian dollars ($3.86), on Friday after the announcement.

The new agreement as well will end a potential lawsuit between the Packer family and Millennium Gaming, the major shareholder in Cannery Casino Resorts, with a 58% holding. Millennium Gaming last month threatened to sue Gretel Packer, James Packer's sister, over her alleged lack of cooperativeness in the license application, which it maintained was endangering the deal.

Crown’s acquisition of Cannery Casino Resorts needed approval from regulatory authorities in Nevada and Pennsylvania. The Nevada Gaming Commission greenlighted the deal in late January, whereas the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has yet to give it the nod. Gretel Packer, who is also a shareholder of Crown, suddenly wanted to withdraw from the probity process being conducted by the Pennsylvania regulator last month, citing privacy concerns. Yet, it has not escaped notice that these concerns were expressed after the U.S. casino market took a deep plunge amid the recessionary climate. Crown posted a net loss of 409.7 million Australian dollars ($268.1 million) for the six months ending in December on write-downs of its U.S., Canadian and U.K. businesses.

Millenium

From our friends in the Granite State --

Is Millennium Concealing Intentions To Sell A Rock Casino License?

Adam Krause in today's Fosters quotes Millennium co-owner Bill Wortman as saying he has no intention to "flip" a New Hampshire casino license.

Mr. Wortman's claims are belied by the facts. Millennium entered into a deal in 2007 to sell its casino operations to Crown, an Australian gambling conglomerate, a deal that fell apart in March, 2009.

Corruption

Of even greater concern than Mr. Wortman's shady intentions regarding a flip is that - if the Crown sale had consummated - Rockingham could have fallen into the hands of a casino operator with a history of concealed relationships with Australian elected officials.

Because of its "very high risk of default" rating by Moody's, Millennium may not be able to get promised construction financing for a Rockingham casino and may be intending to sell a potential casino license there to an as-yet unidentified gambling company. It makes me queasy knowing that the state might be forced into bed with another Crown.

Job Claims

Millennium is also singing sweet but misleading songs about jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the 2008 median wage for gambling industry jobs at $10.92 per hour, meaning the about half of these jobs pay less than $10.92. This means lots of near-minimum-wage employees imported from out of state, putting even more pressure on local school budgets, affordable housing inventories, public transportation, and social welfare budgets.

Question for Bill Wortman Tonight

Question for Bill Wortman tonight (Thursday) at 6:00 pm as he wines and dines legislators at the Puritan Back Room in Manchester:

You said last night in Exeter that you will not sell a Rockingham casino license. How are we to believe that, given that you agreed to sell all your existing casinos to the Australian gambling conglomerate, Crown, a deal that fell apart in March of this year only because Crown hit the financial rocks?

Underage Gambling

2008 -

September 30th, 2008
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

Casino Operator Fined By PGCB For Underage Gambling Violation

Board also suspends or revokes seven employee licenses and awards two local law enforcement grants

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today assessed Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association d/b/a Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Court a fine of $5,000 for permitting an underage person to play slot machines.
The fine stems from a July 20, 2008 incident where a 20 year old entered the gaming floor and played slot machines for about 25 minutes before casino security personnel requested identification and found the person to be underage. At the time of the incident, Penn National permitted individuals 18 and older to be on the gaming floor but not play slot machines. This matter, however, has caused Penn National to alter their policy and ban all patrons under the age of 21 from being on the gaming floor. This similar policy is now in effect at all 7 operating casinos in Pennsylvania.
The Board also today suspended or revoked five non-gaming employee registrations and suspended or revoked two gaming employee permits where circumstances rendered the holder ineligible, unqualified or unsuitable to hold the registration under the standards and requirements of the Gaming Act.

Fast forward -- 2009 -- Hollywood Casino fined $24K for underage gambling

Hollywood Casino at Penn National Racecourse has been fined $24,000 for allowing underage gambling on three occasions this past summer.
Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, which operates the casino in Grantville, Dauphin County, agreed to the civil penalties assessed by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for three violations in July and August.
A 20-year-old man used a slot machine for about an hour and 20 minutes in July; and in August, a 19-year-old man used a slot machine for about 20 minutes, and on a different day, an 18-year-old woman was betting for more than two hours.
The Gaming Control Board said it has levied $211,500 in fines for six occasions of allowing underage gambling or allowing minors on the gaming floor.
Pennsylvania law bars anyone under 18 from being on a gaming floor, and no one under 21 is allowed to use slot machines. - Roslyn Rudolph

Terry Watanabe

Of TERRY WATANABE ---


LAS VEGAS, NV – A multimillionaire gambler is suing a casino over plying him with alcohol and drugs to keep him playing!

Terry Watanabe is the former owner of the Oriental Trading Company, an import/export business he sold in 2000. Since then he has touted himself as a professional philanthropist.

However, Watanabe’s penchant for gambling got the best of him, as he says he lost more than $100 million at Harrah’s, a Las Vegas casino!

But Watanabe is claiming the company coerced him into compulsive gambling. By 2006, Harrah offered to move him into their Caesars Palace, as well as 15 percent cash back on monthly table losses of $500,000 or greater, and $12,500 transportation reimbursement and a $3 million line of credit! He also claims that the casino promised to wait 60 days before cashing any markers he lost.

By the end of 2007, as his losses became unmanageable, Harrah’s not only increased his credit limit, but provided him with an unending supply of alcohol and pain killers.

Watanabe says he began gambling for multiple days in a row, “with little interruption of sleep…Harrah’s executives and employees knew or should have known…that Watanabe was rapidly running out of money.” He was often so inebriated and sleep deprived “that at times he became unconscious at his private gaming tables or slot machines.”

Watanabe is filing his lawsuit because Harrah’s is trying to claim $14.75 million he wrote in bad checks. It is unclear how much Watanabe is suing for, with charges including fraud, breach of contract, conspiracy and negligence, but considering Watanabe claims he bet more than $825 million in 2007 alone, it is likely to be significant.


Telegraph reports ---


Las Vegas gambler sues Caesars Palace claiming casino plied him with drugs

A Las Vegas gambler who lost $112 million (£67 million) in a year, is suing the owner of Caesars Palace, claiming casino staff "milked" him by plying him with alcohol and prescription drugs.


Terry Watanabe, 52, says he lived and gambled "non-stop" at Caesars Palace for six months in 2007, spending a fortune on roulette and slot machines.

After an epic losing streak, he ran up gambling debts of around $15 million (£9 million) and was subsequently charged with theft, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Watanabe is countering the criminal charges with a civil suit in which he accuses Harrah's, the owners of Caesars Palace, of fraud, breach of contract, conspiracy and negligence.

He claims company executives manipulated him with a "secret intention" of siphoning off his wealth.

Harrah's, the world's largest gambling company by revenue, is adamant there was no wrong-doing.

A spokesman said: "We have a long-standing history of responsible and ethical practices.

"We're licensed in more jurisdictions than any other gaming company. We stand by our record."

Mr Watanabe is a Nebraska-based philanthropist and the former owner of Oriental Trading Co, a huge direct marketing company for novelties and party items.

He has also filed a complaint with the Nevada Gaming Control Board and says he staked a total of more than $825 million (£495 million) in 2007 at Caesars Palace and the Rio casino, also owned by Harrah's The complaint says: "Mr Watanabe was an obvious gambling addict and Caesars and Harrah's senior management made a conscious decision to exploit his well-known addiction."

Mr Watanabe alleges that casino employees provided him with prescription painkillers that, combined with an endless flow of alcohol, "rendered him utterly intoxicated and unfit to gamble."

His Los Angeles-based lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, said the criminal prosecution against Mr Watanabe was "meritless."

He said: "Terry Watanabe is innocent of any crime and Harrah's owes him money."

Mr Watanabe was regarded as one of Las Vegas's "whales," a nickname for epic gamblers.

His lawyers claim his gambling at Caesars Palace and Rio accounted for around 20 per cent of revenue at both casinos in 2006 and 2007. He is currently on $1.5 million (£900,000) bail.

Foxwoods debt may pay for billionaire

Cape Cod Times reports --

LEDYARD, Conn — A billionaire's reported move to buy up some of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation's debt just might be a good opportunity — for the investor, a ratings analyst said this week.

Leon Black, who heads up Apollo Management L.P. of New York City, has been buying up the tribe's debt, the New York Post said Tuesday. Both the tribe and a spokeswoman for Apollo declined comment on the report.

The tribe owns Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand at Foxwoods on Mashantucket tribal land in Ledyard.

At Standard & Poor's, Managing Director Craig Parmalee said Black's reported investment is unusual, because it doesn't come with the same expectations associated with a traditional potential bankruptcy. That's because the tribe is a sovereign nation, and cannot be displaced from running the casinos. However, the maneuver could yield rewards for Black, he said.

"Often, when an investor purchases debt of a company who has defaulted, it's some effort to have a controlling position in a bankruptcy," Parmalee said. "In the case of a tribal situation, that is not possible, because you have to be the tribe to operate Foxwoods casino. So, my guess is (Black) may just look at this at a good investment.

"And it might create an opportunity for him to generate a return on his investment."

The implications of Black's reported actions for the tribe or the casinos are not clear.

According to the Post, Apollo bought Harrah's, a commercial casino, last year along with two other private-equity firms.

On Tuesday, the tribe said it expects to default by Dec. 16 on the balance of a $21.25 million bond interest payment that had been due Monday. While the tribe emphasized the continued efforts to restructure more than $2 billion in debt won't affect the casinos, it has not said whether tribal government or payments to tribal members could be affected.

And according to one financial source, a default on 8.5 percent notes would not necessarily cause the tribe difficulty.

Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll: Follow Like Sheep?

In response to Salem's Mayor Kim Driscoll's orginal misguided cheerleading, To the Voters of Salem was posted to which she reccently responded with an email containing numerous factual errors, such as the overstated licensing fees and fictitious revenue projections.

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When elected officials repeat verbatim the predators' rhetoric that is, at best, nonsensical, it seems we have elected a flock of sheep.
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The following was sent to the Mayor in response to her misinformation --
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Honorable Mayor Driscoll:

I appreciate your response and your sincerity, allow me to highlight some areas
that merit your reconsideration.

When Middleboro was confronted with a casino, the agreement was rushed through
without consideration of the impacts. No impartial studies were conducted and no
costs were assessed. No population projections were done. School impact costs,
presented by the Superintendent, consisted only of capital projects pending. Since
the public schools are at capacity, an increase in population will mandate new school construction.

Glenn Marshall, currently in federal prison, repeatedly stated that the increase in
vehicular traffic would be 50,000 cars daily. That increase in traffic alone necessitates increased public safety costs.

Questions and opposition were gaveled to silence, while proponents were allowed to
cheer and applaud and disrupt meetings.

To me, the refusal to allow balanced debate signaled that there were things some
want to remain hidden.

That tyranny propelled a number of us to investigate, research, read many tedious
reports and network with others who have endured the devastating impacts of
predatory gambling around the country.

I learned it was just like my friend, Gladys said, in the The Playbook .

To their credit, WMCAT has examined the costs and the Palmer Study Committee
proved that the impacts are beyond the capacity of a small town to absorb. The
cost of those impacts explains WHY gambling must continually expand.

Beyond the casino glitter and flashing lights is nothing but Fool's Gold.

United to Stop Slots in Mass, a non-profit coalition was formed on July 4th to
circulate the truth of predatory gambling. The organization enjoys volunteer
support from a wide range of organizations from all political spectrums,
including the League of Women Voters and the Massachusetts Family Institute.

The site represents a work in progress that is continually being updated, but I invite your review. There is a resource page that includes a large number of reports that are gradually being increased on a regular basis.

Casinos, slot parlors and racinos (race tracks with slots) are designed to keep
you in your seat feeding money into machines.

Slots are designed to addict.

Slots have been termed the "Crack Cocaine" of gambling because of their
addictive quality.

Every gimmick and technique is employed to keep you seated from free alcohol
to piping in oxygen.

Professor Grinols examined sales tax records to prove that travelers move
directly to the slots facility. They don't visit tourist destinations.

Slots by any name absorb discretionary income and prevent the local economic
multiplier necessary for job creation.

Professor Kindt has studied the issue widely and indicated that each slot
machine permanently removes one job from the local economy.

For each $1 in tax revenue, the cost is $3 to the taxpayer. The cost is not solely
for social costs caused by gambling addiction, but also due to enforcement,
investigation, prosecution, auditing, monitoring, incarceration.

Within a 50 mile radius, gambling addiction will at least double, as will crime.

The business model for casinos is 10% of players produce 90% of revenue.
The gimmicks are designed to keep those 10% in their seats while they
"play to extinction" - meaning until they have exhaused their cash, investments,
401Ks, re-mortgaged the house, maxed their credits cards, borrowed, stolen,
embezzled.

Children are abandoned in cars. Families are torn apart.

Because gambling addiction is unique, it has the lowest referral rate and the
highest suicide rate.

If we can reasonably expect a gambling addiction rate of 5%, shouldn't we
ask if we would allow a toy on the market that injured 5% of children? Or a
drug that harmed 5% of users?

This isn't solely a moral issue, but also one of economic costs.

Professor Goodman estimated that each gambling addict costs $10,000 per year.
He estimated the public safety costs at about $13,000 each.


Although AG Coakley "cautions caution," her 2 predecessors have spoken out
against expanded gambling, as has former State Treasurer Joe Malone,
former Governor Dukakis, and former candidate for Lt. Governor, Bob Massie.

The dollar figures you used were withdrawn immediately after they were
publicly pronounced and challenged as 'grossly overstated.'

The gambling proponents who testified at both Senator Spilka's June 2009 forum
and the October 29th "Gambling Hearing" ALL indicated that licensing fees are
determined by potential revenue.

The Billion Dollar Mammouth in Palmer is gradually shrinking in size, so that
current proposals are for a $500 million facility.

Since Mohegun Sun will be downgraded in financial markets, just as Foxwoods
was, capital markets will be unavailable.

The Middleboro Mega Monster has dwindled to a Bingo Parlor.

Tribal casinos have defaulted. Casinos have gone bankrupt, re-structured,
defaulted or been foreclosed.

Senator Pacheco included a $25 million licensing fee in his previous budget
proposal.

A BSU study over + 20 years proved that low wage jobs were created and
local wages declined. Actual job creation was 1%.

In Steve Norton and Centaur and Another Bankruptcy, I wrote --

Mr. Norton promises "...few positions would require even a high school diploma."
In other words, you are guaranteed low wage, low skill, dead end jobs.
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We need jobs we can be proud of, where there's an opportunity for advancement,
promotion, jobs with a future that provide hope.
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Even Bernie Madoff gave people jobs, better paying than a casino job, with his phony prosperity scheme.....casino capitalism is the same rouse.

Rep. Tom Conroy reported that realistic gambling revenues equal lottery losses.
As you know, lottery revenues are returned to cities and towns at a rate of 25 cents
on the dollar. The slot revenue math is pennies on the dollar.

Rep. Conroy, in a recent presentation in Sudbury, explained that the State of
New Jersey employs 1500 state employees dedicated solely to casinos.
Their costs including pensions, benefits, training, office space, state owned
vehicles, gas and maintenance?

Only well funded lobbyists can reduce predatory gambling to soundbytes when
the opponents' arguments have filled volumes.


I would also call to your attention the Resolution passed at the Democratic
Convention --

Whereas the Democratic Party has a long and proud tradition of advocating for social justice, working for policies that promote the public health, and fighting to protect citizens from exploitive and predatory business practices;
And whereas modern slot machines use neuroscience-informed technology to mesmerize and entrap gamblers and to keep them playing until they have exhausted their resources ("playing to extinction");

And whereas medical research has documented the highly addictive nature of the brain's chemical reactions to slot machine stimulation;

And whereas licensing and promoting such addictive, predatory gambling technology for the purpose of raising State revenues goes against the aforementioned values and principles for which the Democratic Party has long stood, and is at odds with the ideals that underlie our Party's honorable and consistent struggle to end the deceptive and predatory lending, marketing, and pricing practices that have pushed so many families to the brink;

And whereas legalizing slot machines would erode participation in the Lottery and siphon away from local small businesses the discretionary spending on goods and services that they depend on;

And whereas the development of slot machine parlors would neither create significant new jobs, nor increase tourism in Massachusetts;

And whereas evidence from other states indicates that the long-term costs of gambling addiction -- increased substance abuse, increased crime, increased family discord and dysfunction -- outweigh the short term benefits of licenses and gambling revenues;

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Massachusetts Democratic Party, as a matter of both principle and policy, opposes the legalization of slot machines and any similar efforts to promote addictive and predatory gambling as a means of raising public revenues.



From what I see, the only people who get rich from casinos are investors.

I respectfully request that you reconsider your support for predatory gambling
and join with me to call for an impartial cost benefit analysis, just as New
Hampshire has recently done.

Respectfully,


Jessie Powell
Middleboro, MA



'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.' Margaret Mead
Middleboro Remembers

Gambling breeds corruption No kidding!

Expert: Gambling breeds corruption
Industry influence too great, he says


Allowing expanded gambling in New Hampshire will increase the risk of government corruption, an expert told the state Gaming Study Commission yesterday.

"There's a potential addiction of elected officials to money given to their campaigns by gaming officials," said James Browning, director of development for the advocacy group Common Cause in Pennsylvania at a press conference before the commission meeting.

Browning was one of three experts the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling brought to the commission to talk about the negative effects of gambling. The others were Earl Grinols, a Baylor University economist, and Kevin Harrigan, a professor at the University of Waterloo/Ontario who studies game design and slot machine addiction.

Browning said once a state allows gambling, there is no way to curb the industry's influence. "Once the gaming industry takes root, it grows deeper quickly because of a relationship with elected officials," he said.

In Maryland, Browning said he found people connected to the gambling industry giving campaign donations above the legal limits and setting up dummy corporations to give more money to officials. In Pennsylvania, he said, gambling passed through the legislature without a public hearing, then was upheld by the state Supreme Court. Gaming officials had given money to three of the state's justices, he said.

"The industry includes multibillion-dollar corporations with the ability to outspend local opposition 100 to 1," Browning said, with money going to ads, lobbying and campaign contributions.

Jim Rubens, chairman of the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, cited one study by the National Institute of Money in State Politics that found that in eight referendums on gambling in 2008, the gambling industry spent 48 times more than the opposition.

"We're concerned politicians will be overwhelmed by one particular industry," Browning said.

A bill that would have allowed expanded gambling in New Hampshire, which was passed by the state Senate in June as part of the 2010 and 2011 budget, would have included a ban on political contributions from the gaming industry. Rich Killion, a spokesman for Millennium Gaming, which wants to bring video slot machines to Rockingham Park, said Millennium welcomed the ban.

"I find it insulting they allege that elected officials will be impacted by any industry," Killion said.

But Browning said when Pennsylvania tried to institute a ban on gaming industry contributions, the ban was thrown out in court, which ruled that limiting campaign contributions from a specific industry is limiting free speech.

The possibility of corruption has generally not played a large role in legislative discussions of gambling.

State Sen. Kathy Sgambati, a Tilton Democrat who voted in favor of expanded gambling, said this was the first she has heard of concern that gambling would lead to more government corruption.

"Clearly, people are limited in how much they can contribute," Sgambati said. "I have a hard time conceiving of the gambling industry controlling the legislators."

State Rep. Neal Kurk, a Weare Republican who opposed the expanded gambling bill, said he was not concerned with monetary corruption so much as with legislators and their family members being employed by the gambling industry, in the way many were the railroad industry in the 1930s through the 50s. Kurk said he also worries that a large percentage of general fund revenue would be contributed by a small number of companies, which would then have enormous leverage.

"A small number of individuals could have a disproportionately large impact and influence on the state Legislature," Kurk said.

In addition to the corruption argument, the coalition presented the study commission with 23 reasons why it opposes gambling, including increased gambling addictions, suicides and crime.

Grinols argued that the cost of gambling is greater than the benefits. "The money it takes in is predominantly from the local community," he said. He said between one-third and one-half of gambling revenue comes from "problem and pathological gamblers."

Harrigan focused on the design of the machines, which are weighted against players. He described slot machines as the "crack cocaine of gambling."

Killion said studies prove that 2 percent of the population has gambling addictions. At the commission meeting, commission members cited studies indicating that the number of people with gambling problems in New Hampshire could be closer to 1 percent.

Killion said the affect of gambling on crime in other areas across the country has been "marginal."

Millenium Feeds Again

Millenium salivates --


The way to a legislator’s heart is through his/her stomach.

If nothing else, the Las Vegas based Millenium Company, trying to foist a megamillion casino scheme on New Hampshire’s unsuspecting populace has learned that. Not content with the legislative luncheon it offered on veto day, Millenium is at it again, upping the ante this time (at least cuisine-wise) to feature dinner this Thursday night at the Back Room in Manchester (owned by Manchester Democrat Chair Chris Pappas’s daddy).

Will it be prime rib or chicken tenders?

Whichever, it will undoubtedly feature the Full Monty from Millenium”s head honcho supported by a lovely cast of spinners and dancers for our dining pleasure.

I suspect all the good ol highly paid boys (from Dan Callahan to George Roberts on down) will be there.

How do I know this?

At approximately 1:10 p.m. Monday, the phone rang. It was “Sara calling for Senator D’Allesandro” with an invitation from Millendium for the Back Room bonanza. Could I make?

“Probably,” I responded in my least offensive manner possible, but with my natural curiosity perked, I added, “Oh Sara, by the way, who’s paying for this? In fact, Sara, I suspect Senator D’Allesandro is certainly not paying you to make these calls and I assume you’re not doing it for free, so who’s paying you?”

(I really did have my congenial tone working overtime).

“You’re welcome to come, but I’m not answering any more questions,” was all Sara would say.

Hey, Las Vegas overlords, here’s some advise. Next time you assign someone to call Reps, instruct them to be up front about who’s paying for the calls…or else someone might post the attempt to hide it on a web site with copies sent to 424 other officials (that would be all other Reps plus Senators p-lus his Excellency).

I’ll be there, Thursday, 6 p.m. back room…put me down for the Chicken Fingers a la Sandler.

Sorry, Reps outside the Manchester area, but I assume you’ll get a similar invite soon…maybe at the Indian Head.

UPDATE–Moments after this was sent to the 424, a Rep came into my office (our office) noting that Sara had invited her to the Barley House. “Who is SaRa?” the Rep asked me.

That is indeed what inquiring minds want to know.

WHO IS SARA?

Democracy bought for a dinner: Private dinner, secret talks

Gambling firm holds talks with local reps
Private dinner meeting aims for 'intimate' info exchange

EXETER — State Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, and representatives of Millennium Gaming are holding an invitation-only meeting tonight with Seacoast state representatives on expanding gambling in New Hampshire.

Bill Wortman, chief executive officer of Millennium Gaming and 20 percent owner of Rockingham Park race track in Salem, will treat Hassan and local representatives to dinner at The Exeter Inn.

Wortman said the gathering gives legislators an opportunity to learn more about Millennium Gaming, its operation and revenue estimates, and to participate in a question-and-answer session.

The meeting is closed to the press, Hassan said.

"I think it's important that we have a fact-based discussion on the issue. It's very hard in the midst of the busy legislative session, for people not on relative committees, to have much time for a question-and-answer session with opponents and proponents," Hassan said.

State Rep. Donna Schlachman, D-Exeter, said she is attending the session to learn more about expanding gambling in the state.

"I am still waiting for someone to show me how anything around gaming is of benefit to this state and how the positives outweigh the negatives," she said. "I am willing to go and do my best to keep an open mind."

The meeting is closed to the public in order to provide an intimate opportunity for the exchange of information, said Hassan and Jim Demers, a lobbyist for Millennium Gaming in Concord.

"We had not really thought about it any other way," Demers said. "We wanted to keep the groups small, intimate and easier for dialogue."

Millennium Gaming is a Nevada-based corporation that holds a majority interest in Cannery Casino Resorts, which owns and operates the Cannery Hotel and Casino and the Rampart Casino, both in Las Vegas.

Wortman has been in New Hampshire this week meeting with members of the Legislature and others to discuss the potential for expanded gambling in the state, Demers said. He has held sessions similar to the one tonight at The Exeter Inn with legislators in other regions of the state.

Jim Rubens, of Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, expressed skepticism of the meetings.

"They are a friendly legislative nexus. There have typically been no one invited who is opposed to gambling, and they create the appearance of consensus where there is none," he said.

The meetings avoid the problems associated with expanding gambling in the state, Rubens said.

"The facts are that when you put a gambling machine in any kind of building, near where people live, the more people who live near it will gamble in it, and some fraction of those people will become addicted," he said. "All the people who are victims will be out all the pain, suffering and money and the gambling industry will not compensate any of those victims. Those costs are greater than what the state would get out of it. It is an economic loser for the state."

Millennium Gaming desires expanded gaming and lottery terminals at Rockingham Park, Demers said.

As part of last year's Senate budget negotiations, Hassan supported the proposal for limited expansion of gambling at Rockingham Park. Ultimately, the Senate rejected the proposal.

"I think every proposal has to be looked at on its merits and has to be looked at in light of what's happening nationally and in the industry economically, but I do think it's important to be thoughtful about it," she said.

Hassan said constituents are caught between a struggling economy and rising costs, but are also aware there are areas where the state needs to fund strong programs, like education.

Increasing gaming in the state could be a sensible way to increase revenue, Hassan said.

New Hampshire had an $11.8 million shortfall in revenues in October. Overall, in the first four months of the 2010 budget, the state is running $37.7 million or around 7 percent behind the budget plan approved by the Legislature in June.

"I think we should look at gaming as a source of funding, assuming its a clean industry, there are controls on it, and opportunities for treatment for problem gamblers," she said.

A hearing of the state Gaming Study Commission was held Tuesday. At the hearing three experts on social and economic costs of casino gambling shared information.

Baylor University economics professor Earl Grinols, James Browning of Common Cause Pennsylvania and slot machine expert Kevin Harrigan held a news conference with New Hampshire gambling opponents Tuesday afternoon before testifying before the commission.

Gov. John Lynch created the commission to conduct a comprehensive study of various models for expanding gambling. The commission is looking at the potential to produce state revenue by expanding gambling and the effect that would have on New Hampshire's quality of life.

No Press Allowed

From our friends up north, Granite State Coalition, this sounds Oh, soooo familiar, democracy denied, the press excluded.

Oh! Wait! It's in the Casino Playbook.

Casino cheerleaders CANNOT afford an open, public discussion.

That might reveal the flaws in their fictitious promises.

Don't confuse legislators with the facts!

No Press Allowed:
Millennium Hosts Private, Invite-Only Legislator Meetings

Tonight, Wednesday 11/18

Senator Maggie Hassan (D-Exeter) is lighting up the phones inviting selected legislators to the Exeter Inn at 5:00 pm this evening to hear the nearly-bankrupt Millennium's free-money fantasy. No press is allowed. No uninvited persons are allowed. No persons representing anti-gambling groups are invited.



Tomorrow Night, Thursday 11/19

Senator Lou D'Allesandro (D-Manchester) is hosting a free, Millennium-paid dinner for selected legislators in the Puritan Back Room in Manchester at 6:00 pm. No press is allowed. No persons holding anti-predatory gambling views are invited or allowed.


Potential questions for Millennium shills and lackeys:

· Why does Moody's Investors Service rate your client's debt as "subject to very high default risk"?

· Why is Millennium crying poverty in Pennsylvania and asking the legislature to reduce its taxes on table games to 20 percent? Will the company try the same bait-and-switch on the proposed 49 percent tax rate in New Hampshire?

· Does it bother you that the Ontario government (Table 17) found that 60 percent of slots profits come from pathologically addicted gamblers for whom gambling is NOT voluntary?

· Why do 80 percent of Australians think introduction of slot casinos was a mistake and want them removed from their nation or communities?




Yesterday's Gam[bl]ing Study Commission Hearings

In case you didn't see press in the Concord Monitor covering testimony to the Gam[bl]ing Study Commission, James Browning of Common Cause/Pennsylvania warned us of the probability that getting into bed with the gambling industry means that it will wind up running our legislature. This is what Common Cause found happens in every gambling state it has studied.



"Once the gaming industry takes root, it grows deeper quickly because of a relationship with elected officials," said Browning to the Monitor.



Said Rich Killion, paid Millennium lobbyist, to the Monitor: "I find it insulting they allege that elected officials will be impacted by any industry."



Then, Rich, if you are having no impact on the legislature (which would please us greatly), why is Millennium paying you to influence the legislature?



Our New Fact Summary

Check out our newly revised, state-of-the-art summary of the facts about what slots casinos would be a net negative for New Hampshire.

VT: Lottery Role in Tax POlicy

From the Tax Foundation --


Testimony to Vermont Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission: The Role of the Lottery in Vermont’s Tax Policy

by Alicia Hansen


Thank you for inviting me to testify today.

First I'd like to explain why any discussion of tax reform merits an examination of the state lottery.

The lottery is an implicit tax, No state government labels lottery profits tax revenue, but they should. The lottery must be evaluated as a tax, and when we subject it to the tests of sound tax policy, it fails.

In 2008 lotteries generated over $60 billion in consumer spending. This translated to a profit for state coffers of over $17 billion. Slightly over half the money spent is returned to players as prizes. Part of the remainder covers operating costs-including vendor commissions, equipment, administration and advertising-and the rest is transferred to state coffers. States call their portion "profit" but it is actually implicit tax revenue.

Lottery proponents argue that a tax is a mandatory payment, and playing the lottery is voluntary, so lottery revenue cannot be tax revenue. But they're confusing the purchase of a product with the payment of the tax on the product. Purchasing a lottery ticket is voluntary, but the tax portion of the ticket price is not, just as a sales or excise tax is compulsory on a voluntary purchase of alcohol, clothing or books.

State-run lotteries fail the tests of sound tax policy in multiple ways: They are not economically neutral, they are not simple to administer, and they are not transparent. The tax system should be as clear and simple as possible; taxpayers should understand what is being taxed and what the rates are. The lottery tax, however, is hidden. The state creates a monopoly for itself and builds the tax into the price of the tickets, then advertises the lottery as a recreational activity rather than a revenue-raising activity.

In FY2008, the implicit tax rate on Vermont's lottery tickets was 28%.1 Can anyone imagine walking into a Vermont store and paying a 28% sales tax on a board game, iPod, video game or any other recreational item?

It's important now more than ever to examine the government's reliance on lottery tax revenue for two reasons: states' attempts to use lottery revenue to deal with state budget shortfalls and the simultaneous decrease in lottery revenue.

Although it initially seemed that lottery revenue was recession proof, revenue has now fallen slightly. According to a report from the Rockefeller Institute of Government,2 state revenues from all sources of authorized gambling fell 2.8 percent in FY2009, Lottery income, the largest source of state gambling revenue, fell 2.6 percent. Vermont's lottery profits (implicit tax revenue) dropped 7.7%.

This desire on state's parts to fill coffers with gambling revenue could be a boon for the gambling industry as well, and the combination of desperate state treasurers and gambling companies both looking tor more money has led to a slew of new lottery proposals, products and marketing strategies, some of which I will describe.

More states are turning to video lottery terminals (VLTs), especially at state racetracks. VLTs are one type of lottery game that has not suffered during the recession. VLTs are more like casino games than traditional lotteries, and lottery critics often argue that they're more likely to cause gambling addictions. From a tax policy standpoint, they pose a transparency problem in that people who play VLTs may not even realize they're playing the lottery; when we think of playing the lottery, we think of buying a ticket, not playing slots at the track.

Another tactic that a few state lotteries have taken is attempting to allow players to place bets on the internet. In March 2005 the Georgia House—but not the Senate—passed a bill that would have allowed the lottery to create individual online accounts so players could pur­chase tickets on the agency's Web site. Two other states have since considered this plan.

Next are casino-style table games. The New York Lottery is permitting state-run casinos to add video roulette, craps and blackjack to the already extensive array of New York State Lottery products. It seems likely that this trend will continue in many other states, even though casino table games certainly do not seem like lottery games.

Lotteries are also focusing more than ever on marketing, and some are partnering with sports franchises to draw in more players. Maryland, for one, has partnered with the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Ravens to promote bubble gum-scented scratch-off tickets, to sell lottery tickets at sporting events, and to offer season tickets as prizes.

One trend that's constantly in the media spotlight is that lottery jackpots are becoming larger. Not surprising, this has coincided with increasing ticket prices One dollar used to be the most common price for a ticket, but many states have recently increased the price of some of their instant tickets to $10, $20 or even $30. When the Michigan Lottery introduced a $50 ticket, it sold out after less than three days.

The most recent development is that Powerball and Mega Millions, once considered rival games, have joined forces, and states will now be able to offer both high-jackpot multistate games.

Finally, while this is not exactly a new development, there is more evidence of lotterys' regressivity, meaning that the lower-income players spend a disproportionate amount. In June the Indianapolis Star looked at Hoosier Lottery's sales data and public data and found evidence that the lower-income players spend a disproportionate amount on the state's lottery.3 They also found that lottery billboards were placed more often in lower-income neighborhoods. Lottery players throughout the country tend to have lower incomes and less educations, and state lottery agencies that are determined to rely on the lottery to handle budget crises will probably have to market heavily to this demographic.

To close I'd like to read a quote from the Feb. 2008 issue of International Gaming and Wagering Business (IGWB) magazine.4 The quote is a bit long but it will make the point that the methods used to raise huge amounts of lottery revenue currently and in the near future are probably not palatable to most principled lawmakers:

"The lottery industry is under tremendous pressure to continue to perform and provide ever-increasing revenues," said Maryland Lottery Director Buddy Roogow. "The environment in which we work is becoming increasingly competitive because of the internet, because of the explosion of casinos and racinos around the country, and because of the interactive games that are available ....

In light of Roogow's comments, lotteries can't rely on the same combination of lotto and numbers games that have served them well over the years. U.S. lottery sales this decade have been driven primarily by mega-jackpots in the multi-state lotto games, and by increasing price points, and payouts, for instant tickets. ...

Lotteries in Europe have generally not seen the rapid growth of instant ticket sales that American lotteries have seen, primarily because the price points and prize payouts haven't changed significantly, noted Matthew Mansfield, Vice President of Product Marketing and Design for GTECH Corp. . . .

Lotteries fortunate enough to have monitor games are reaping the benefits of a product category that is receiving a lot of attention from vendors. More than a dozen U.S. lotteries offer those games, which generally begins with keno and are often limited to social environments such as bars and clubs.

"Monitor games are probably right now the areas of great interest and development potential for the marketplace in the United States," said Mansfield. "It's clearly an opportunity to provide more visual entertainment for the players and diversity of game to choose from."

He envisioned a future where retail venues could offer monitor "walls" similar in concept to some of the instant ticket displays currently on the market. Multiple monitors would offer multiple games, and players would choose the games they want. ...

Currently on the market are versions of poker, horse and car racing, and more are in the works. ...

"We can now put virtually any game you can think of on a monitor," said Maryland's Roogow. "Monitor games are part of where the future lies for us. ... I think they allow us to penetrate the emerging market more effectively...young people who may go to bars and restaurants, places where they can congregate. "

"I think what' important for the future of lotteries...is distribution—getting where the customers are ...into more nontraditional outlets that in the past have been unapproachable," said [Louisiana Lottery Vice President of Marketing Bonny] Botts. "These include places like drugstores, big box retailers, even the corner Starbucks."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. For an explanation of how the implicit tax rate is calculated, see Alicia Hansen, Tax Foundation Background Paper No. 54, "Gambling with Tax Policy: States' Growing Reliance on Lottery Tax Revenue" (June 2007), p. 22, available at http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/22457.html.

2. Lucy Dadayan, Nino Giguashvili, and Robert B. Ward, Rockefeller Institute Fiscal Features, "From a Bonanza to a Blue Chip? Gambling Revenue to the States," June 19, 2008, pp. 9 -12.

3. Lottery Post, "Study finds wealthy counties get most benefit from Indiana Lottery profits," June 11, 2009, available at http://www.lotterypost.com/news/195110.

4. Patricia A. McQueen, "Lotteries tap new game concepts to boost sales, interest," International Gaming and Wagering Business 29 no. 2, (Feb. 2008), p. 30 - 35.

Attached Files
Testimony to Vermont Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission: The Role of the Lottery in Vermont’s Tax Policy, PDF, 23.6 KB
by Alicia Hansen

Foxwoods Defaults

Foxwoods fails to make full debt payment
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN (AP)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Foxwoods Resort Casino, one of the world's largest, has failed to make a full payment on its debt, leading to a default and another credit-rating downgrade as casinos around the country struggle amid the severe recession.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods, said it has paid $14.2 million of the $21.25 million semi-annual interest payment that was due Monday on $500 million in debt notes. The tribe said it does not anticipate paying the balance within a 30-day period, resulting in a default.

The tribe, which has been seeking to restructure billions of dollars in debt, said its efforts are "separate and distinct" from operations at Foxwoods and will not affect customers, employees, suppliers or business partners.

Foxwoods, which has about 10,000 employees, more than 7,000 slot and video poker machines and made more than $700 million in profits last year, is the most high-profile example of a tribe defaulting on its debt, said Megan Neuburger, director at Fitch Ratings. She said investors have long wondered what would happen if a tribe, which has national sovereignty, defaulted on its debt.

"This is definitely a precedent-setting situation," Neuburger said. "Certainly everyone in the investing community will be watching this to see what the outcome is."

Standard & Poors lowered its credit rating to D, its lowest rating. Lenders will be more hesitant to make loans to Foxwoods, said Craig Parmelee, S&P's managing director.

"The availability and cost of financing for Foxwoods in the future is in question," Parmelee said.

Foxwoods is one of several casinos across the country defaulting on its debt as consumers cut back on discretionary spending, Parmelee said. Among those, he said, are Buffalo Thunder and Inn of the Mountain Gods, both in New Mexico; and a Michigan casino owned by the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa.

Some commercial casinos not owned by American Indian tribes have gone into bankruptcy, he said.

Parmelee said he did not expect Foxwoods to close, however. Lenders can take possession of commercial casinos that default and sell them to third parties, but that option likely is not available when dealing with Native American tribes who operate as sovereign nations, he said.

The most likely scenario is a renegotiation of the debt, Parmelee said. That could mean some loan forgiveness, but lenders might question payments to tribal members and review the tribe's business plan, he said.

"I don't think shutting down the casino is the best route to meeting the goals of either party," Parmelee said.

Tribal officials said last month they had entered into a forbearance agreement with senior lenders that extends through Jan. 20. Such deals occur when a creditor gives up the right to immediate repayment of a loan by a debtor under certain conditions.

Foxwoods, along with Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, underwent expansions just before the economic downturn. But Mohegan Sun, operated by the Mohegan Tribe, has said that the casino is financially healthy.

"For those entities that took on additional debt to fund expansions, that certainly was a factor that contributed to many of the defaults across the gaming industry in the last two years," Parmelee said.

Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun said this week that slot machine revenue dropped about 4 percent in October compared with the same month last year.

Parmelee said he expects the level of declines in slot revenue at casinos to lessen, but he does not expect any meaningful growth next year.

New Hampshire: Cannery Casino: High Default Risk

From our Friends to the North report another insolvent partner --

The Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday that Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the debt of Cannery Casino Resorts, prospective developer of the Salem racetrack slots barn. Moody's now rates Cannery at Caa1, meaning "subject to very high default risk."

"Moody's said the downgrade reflects the slower than expected ramp up at Cannery's two new casinos: the Meadows near Pittsburgh, which opened in April; and Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas, which opened in August 2008," reports the Sun.

'The East Side Cannery and two other Las Vegas casinos are ... performing well below original expectations and will continue to struggle in the foreseeable future," wrote Moody's.

Kevin Landrigan reported on the downgrade in his Sunday Nashua Telegraph column with the ominous headline, "Expanded gambling not always sure thing."


Backers of the Sagamore Crossing casino proposed for Hudson have refused to identify their funding sources. Perhaps they have no funding?


Predatory gambling backers are operating under the now-indefensible assumption that lenders will plow money into New Hampshire's second-string (not near major metro markets) gambling locations and that the already debt-strapped consumer will go deeper into debt to fund more gambling losses.

Or ... are the Salem and Hudson slots casino proposals really intended as flips? Use a bunch of familiar faces to trick the legislature into granting these as monopoly locations, then sell the permits. Will New Hampshire like being in bed with the as-yet unknown buyers?


Report: Fall in gaming revenue slows, too early to call bottom

High unemployment nationwide continues to hinder the gaming industry's recovery from the recession, analysts at Moody's Investors Service say.

While recent statistics suggest the drop in U.S. gaming revenue caused by the recession continues to ease, it's still too early to say gaming revenue has hit bottom, Moody's said in a report Friday.

"On a weighted average basis, the percentage change in gaming revenues decelerated materially across the major U.S. markets in September," Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer Peggy Holloway said in the report. "However, October results so far are less encouraging considering easy comparisons to October 2008."

Moody's said October gaming figures are important because it was the first full month with a comparison to the sharp drop in U.S. consumer spending prompted by the failure of several Wall Street financial institutions in September 2008.

Moody's said it expected more deceleration of negative trends in October, though it's analysis doesn't include Nevada's October numbers since they have not been released yet.

Nevada casinos won $911 million in September, down 8.99 percent from September 2008. For the July-September period, Nevada gaming win was down 10.28 percent.

Moody's noted Las Vegas Strip results in September indicated a significant deceleration of negative trends and that with visitor volume to the city increasing 4.3 percent in September, "The September results may be a harbinger that a bottom is near for the Las Vegas Strip."

Around the country in October, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan showed continued deceleration of negative trends -- though Moody's found the results in Iowa and Illinois were not as robust as suggested by the numbers on a same-store basis.

Louisiana's positive year-to-year increase likely reflected in part the 2008 hurricanes that disrupted casino operations there, Moody's said.

New Jersey reported a second month of single-digit declines after seven consecutive months of double-digit drops, as Indiana and Missouri reported consecutive monthly gains in gaming revenue.

"It appears that state gaming revenues are headed towards a bottom and so stabilization in the gaming industry may be near. However, true stabilization in gaming revenues will require a few more consecutive months of moderating declines. Although U.S. GDP has started to grow, unemployment remains stubbornly high (10.2 percent nationwide) and we believe this will keep pressure on gaming budgets and the nascent recovery in gaming revenues that appears to be emerging," Moody's report said.

"When we believe that gaming revenues will not materially erode during the next 12-18 months, we will be more confident in calling the bottom. The moderation of monthly gaming revenue declines across many states through the remainder of 2009 is needed before we are comfortable saying industry conditions have stabilized," Moody's said.

Even as conditions improve in Las Vegas and around the country, analysts remain concerned that gaming companies exposed to the Las Vegas Strip and the Las Vegas locals market will be challenged by increased supply and the slow economy in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Strip leader MGM Mirage predicts visitation to Las Vegas next year will grow 7 percent to 38.1 million people, outpacing the projected capacity increase of 5 percent.

But analysts at CreditSights said in a report last week: "We agree that the overall Las Vegas market is likely to improve next year, but we are more cautious on the ability of operators to grow demand faster than capacity."

Even before CityCenter opens next month, MGM Mirage and competitors have had to lower room rates.

This in part was how MGM Mirage maintained its 95 percent occupancy rate on the Las Vegas Strip in the third quarter.

MGM Mirage said that for the third quarter, daily revenue per available room on the Strip fell from $129 in the 2008 quarter to $100 in the 2009 quarter.

And even as visitation to Las Vegas fell 4.7 percent this year through September, the city's room count grew 2.5 percent from a year ago to 141,190.

That number is projected to grow to 149,156 by the end of the year and to 153,149 by the end of 2010.

Recent and planned expansions and openings included in the numbers involve CityCenter, with 4,004 rooms at its Aria hotel-casino alone; along with Planet Hollywood Towers by Westgate, the Cosmopolitan, the Hard Rock and the Golden Nugget.

And in part reflecting the Las Vegas economy with its 13.9 percent unemployment rate, Moody's on Thursday downgraded Cannery Casino Resorts LLC's "corporate family" and "probability of default" debt ratings to Caa1 from B2.

This change moves the Cannery debt from "speculative" and "subject to high default risk" to "of poor standing" and "subject to very high default risk."

Moody's assigned a negative outlook to the debt in "anticipation of continued weak operating performance and near-term loan covenant compliance concerns."

Moody's said the downgrade reflects the slower than expected ramp up at Cannery's two new casinos: the Meadows near Pittsburgh, which opened in April; and Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas, which opened in August 2008.

"The East Side Cannery and two other Las Vegas casinos are ... performing well below original expectations and will continue to struggle in the foreseeable future along with the entire Las Vegas locals market," Moody's said.

Cannery Casino Resorts also owns the Cannery hotel-casino in North Las Vegas and runs the casino at the JW Marriott resort in Summerlin.

Moody's said its primary concern with Cannery is that the Las Vegas company will need to seek loan covenant relief, which could significantly boost its interest costs at a time when operating conditions remain challenged.

Rhode Island: The Bottom Gets Murkier

The Race to the Murky Bottom! addressed the broken promises of predatory gambling and the addiction of the State of Rhode Island to dwindling gambling revenues to fill state coffers, even to the extent of replacing the current management with insolvent partners.

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(State business regulation chief Michael Marques has confirmed his agency is vetting an application by John J. McLaughlin, a former top executive at Harveys Casino resorts who now heads Centaur Inc., to take on “key role” at Twin River.)

The Provident Journal now reports --

R.I. senator seeks probe into future of Twin River license

PROVIDENCE,R.I. -- State Sen. Frank A. Ciccone is calling for a legislative inquiry into the state's role in choosing managers for the bankrupt Twin River, and potential award of the gambling license - worth hundreds of millions of dollars - to new owners without a competitive and public vetting process.

Ciccone, a Providence Democrat, suggested the commission consider the potential termination, "due to breaches,'' of Twin River's "master contract'' to operate more than 4,750 video-slot machines placed there by the state Lottery.

He said the commission should then look at "the possible options of the state, in the event that the license is revoked, to reissue the license in accordance with a bidding process, or to a better location in the state, or on more desirable terms,'' and in the interim, "the right of the state to approve or disapprove the next owner or manager.''

Ciccone, a top-ranked official in the Laborers International Union affiliate that represents state court employees, tried without success to force the current owners of the Lincoln slot-parlor and greyhound track to drop their plans to suspend dog-racing in August. The governor vetoed the legislation.

Ciccone based his current campaign for the "immediate creation'' of legislative study commission on events since the last changeover in ownership, that led him to question the depth and extent of the state's oversight.

Twin River is currently owned by a subsidiary of BLB Investors, a holding company made up of the principals in Kerzner International, Starwood Capital Group and Waterford Group LLC.
Ciccone listed the following concerns:

"BLB was awarded a long-term contract by the state and lobbied against a full-scale casino in the 2006 casino referendum, only to announce afterward that it was teaming up with a Massachusetts Indian Tribe to build a full-scale casino in Massachusetts that would compete against Rhode Island.

"While BLB was pursuing a casino in Massachusetts, it shut down restaurants and other amenities in Lincoln and filed for bankruptcy in breach of its long-term contract with the state.

"Most recently...Warner Gaming- who I presume the bondholders and Governor Carcieri [had] chosen to manage [the former] Lincoln Park- announced in the Boston Globe in late October that it is planning to build a casino in Milford, Massachusetts because it is, and I quote, an 'ideal location' and will capture traffic which heads to 'Rhode Island gaming facilities today.''

Warner's Massachusetts proposal would create a gambling complex that could house 5,000 slot machines, 250 gambling tables, hotel rooms, restaurants and all the accoutrements of a full-fledged casino resort. The complex, known as the Crossroads Resort Project, would be located along Route 495 in Milford -- about 20 miles north of Twin River.

Soon after William H. Warner withdrew his application to manage Twin River earlier this month, the state's director of business regulation, Michael Marques, said he "indicated he was withdrawing his application because [Twin River's] lenders communicated to him that they were not comfortable with his plans for gaming in another state.''

Ciccone said he is not concerned about the bondholders, BLB or Warner Gaming.

"I am worried about the state of Rhode Island and our ability to control this license," he said. "This license is an asset of the state and should revert to the state. It does not permanently belong to bondholders, BLB or Warner Gaming; it belongs to the state and should only be issued to a company that has the history, brand recognition, management and marketing experience to help Rhode Island compete in this increasingly competitive marketplace."

"It should not be with a company that is less than two years old that recently announced that it plans to build a casino in Massachusetts to compete against Rhode Island," he continued. "Maybe this plan somehow works for the bondholders, but it does not work for, and is not in the best interest of, Rhode Island. And the state of Rhode Island should control the license."

Once a stand-alone state agency with a board of directors made up of lawmakers and gubernatorial appointees, the state Lottery is currently a division within the executive branch of state government, under Governor Carcieri.

There was no immediate comment on Ciccone's proposals from Senate leaders or the Carcieri administration.

Casinos Take Money From States

Froma Harrop: Casinos Take Money From States
Odds are that voter-approved casinos in Ohio will be a drain — not a plug — on the local economy

In Las Vegas, home prices have dropped 55 percent since peaking in August 2006, and the foreclosure rate is seven times the national average. Gigantic new condo towers sit nearly empty (real-estate pros call them “see-through buildings”), and unemployment tops 13 percent. The recession has sent casino revenues plunging 20 percent from two years ago.


“Up until the ‘90s, we never suffered with the downturn of the economy,” said William Thompson, a University of Nevada-Las Vegas professor and an expert on the casino business.


The sad plight of Sin City is a morality tale for other municipalities seeking economic salvation through gambling. And it is against this dark vision that Ohio voters just approved casinos in their state.

Thompson thinks that the money will again roll into Las Vegas as the economy improves. But the prospects are not as bright for nonresort cities without a large tourism infrastructure — and never were.

“Half the gamblers have to be from outside the state for it to work” as economic development, Thompson says. The only people who will definitely make money are the casino operators.

Ohio’s decision to put casinos in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo is largely a response to the gaming palaces in Michigan to the north, Indiana to the west and Pennsylvania to the east. (Kentucky to the south still doesn’t have casinos.)

What’s going to happen, Thompson predicts, is that about 10 percent of Ohio’s casino revenues will reflect gamblers returning home from the surrounding states. But the presence of casinos near population centers will simply mint new gamblers, and that will be a drain on the economy.

Compulsive gamblers steal, lose jobs, have debts and go on welfare. The economic rule of thumb on problem gamblers is as follows: A casino within 50 miles of a community doubles the rate of compulsive gambling, and those troubled individuals exact a social cost of about $10,000 each.



About 90 percent of Ohio’s population soon will be within 50 miles of a casino. If Ohio follows the expected pattern, the four gaming halls will create 80,000 more compulsive gamblers, siphoning about $800 million a year from the economy.

For gambling to become an economic engine, you have to bring money from elsewhere. In Las Vegas, out-of-state tourists account for nearly 90 percent of the gamblers. The visitors come for the big-time entertainment, shopping and mild winter weather, as well as for the games.

Oddly, casino expansion in other states can help the Nevada economy. The slot machines, for example, are made in Las Vegas and Reno. Ohio casinos will probably buy 20,000 slot machines at $15,000 each. That comes to $300 million being sent to Nevada.

After riverboat casinos opened in Joliet, Ill., local businesses were asked how they were affected. Half said they lost revenues. Only two gained, and one was a travel agency that found itself booking many more trips to Las Vegas for the new gamblers. The other business bought used cars for cash.

Thompson predicts that as Ohio builds its gambling establishments, casinos in neighboring states will prepare themselves for the increased competition. They may improve customer service and up the payout rate on their slot machines. (Outside of Nevada, the slots give back 92 cents to 94 cents on the dollar. Vegas is the most liberal, at 97 cents.)

In all, the odds of casinos in wanna-be “sin cities” filling state budget holes are not great. The desperation in recession-racked regions is understandable, but the reality is this: If large numbers of high rollers aren’t jetting in, casinos tend to take more from local economies than they give.

State Budget cuts eliminate programs for problem gamblers

WXIN-TV Indianapolis reports --

State budget cuts will eliminate planned programs for Indiana's problem gamblers. Family and Social Services Administration officials say new programs for Hoosier retirees face the same fate.

"We believe the programs we have in place are addressing those individuals that really need that help." FSSA spokesperson Marcus Barlow said.

When fiscal year income in the state came in $309 million below budgetary forecasts cuts became inevitable.

FSSA said last week it was planning to cut Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals by 5%, but now those addicted to gambling and Indiana's oldest citizens will have no new options in 2010.

"FSSA is not going to fill 400 vacancies that we have right now. A few of our programs in the division on aging we've said we're not going to add new people to those programs and those are the things we are trying to do to save money," Barlow said.

Revenue from gaming in the state is beating the budgetary forecasts, but that $15 million of unexpected money is not being shared with Indiana's problem gambler programs for the foreseeable future

The state's problem gambling help line gets approximately 1500 calls a year.

In 2008 nearly 300 Hoosiers asked for professional treatment to help conquer their gambling addiction issues.

The Indiana FSSA cuts announced so far only represent a portion of the 10% budget cuts ordered this month by Governor Mitch Daniels.

Fall in gaming revenue slows, too early to call bottom

Report: Fall in gaming revenue slows, too early to call bottom

High unemployment nationwide continues to hinder the gaming industry's recovery from the recession, analysts at Moody's Investors Service say.

While recent statistics suggest the drop in U.S. gaming revenue caused by the recession continues to ease, it's still too early to say gaming revenue has hit bottom, Moody's said in a report Friday.

"On a weighted average basis, the percentage change in gaming revenues decelerated materially across the major U.S. markets in September," Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer Peggy Holloway said in the report. "However, October results so far are less encouraging considering easy comparisons to October 2008."

Moody's said October gaming figures are important because it was the first full month with a comparison to the sharp drop in U.S. consumer spending prompted by the failure of several Wall Street financial institutions in September 2008.

Moody's said it expected more deceleration of negative trends in October, though it's analysis doesn't include Nevada's October numbers since they have not been released yet.

Nevada casinos won $911 million in September, down 8.99 percent from September 2008. For the July-September period, Nevada gaming win was down 10.28 percent.

Moody's noted Las Vegas Strip results in September indicated a significant deceleration of negative trends and that with visitor volume to the city increasing 4.3 percent in September, "The September results may be a harbinger that a bottom is near for the Las Vegas Strip."

Around the country in October, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan showed continued deceleration of negative trends -- though Moody's found the results in Iowa and Illinois were not as robust as suggested by the numbers on a same-store basis.

Louisiana's positive year-to-year increase likely reflected in part the 2008 hurricanes that disrupted casino operations there, Moody's said.

New Jersey reported a second month of single-digit declines after seven consecutive months of double-digit drops, as Indiana and Missouri reported consecutive monthly gains in gaming revenue.

"It appears that state gaming revenues are headed towards a bottom and so stabilization in the gaming industry may be near. However, true stabilization in gaming revenues will require a few more consecutive months of moderating declines. Although U.S. GDP has started to grow, unemployment remains stubbornly high (10.2 percent nationwide) and we believe this will keep pressure on gaming budgets and the nascent recovery in gaming revenues that appears to be emerging," Moody's report said.

"When we believe that gaming revenues will not materially erode during the next 12-18 months, we will be more confident in calling the bottom. The moderation of monthly gaming revenue declines across many states through the remainder of 2009 is needed before we are comfortable saying industry conditions have stabilized," Moody's said.

Even as conditions improve in Las Vegas and around the country, analysts remain concerned that gaming companies exposed to the Las Vegas Strip and the Las Vegas locals market will be challenged by increased supply and the slow economy in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Strip leader MGM Mirage predicts visitation to Las Vegas next year will grow 7 percent to 38.1 million people, outpacing the projected capacity increase of 5 percent.

But analysts at CreditSights said in a report last week: "We agree that the overall Las Vegas market is likely to improve next year, but we are more cautious on the ability of operators to grow demand faster than capacity."

Even before CityCenter opens next month, MGM Mirage and competitors have had to lower room rates.

This in part was how MGM Mirage maintained its 95 percent occupancy rate on the Las Vegas Strip in the third quarter.

MGM Mirage said that for the third quarter, daily revenue per available room on the Strip fell from $129 in the 2008 quarter to $100 in the 2009 quarter.

And even as visitation to Las Vegas fell 4.7 percent this year through September, the city's room count grew 2.5 percent from a year ago to 141,190.

That number is projected to grow to 149,156 by the end of the year and to 153,149 by the end of 2010.

Recent and planned expansions and openings included in the numbers involve CityCenter, with 4,004 rooms at its Aria hotel-casino alone; along with Planet Hollywood Towers by Westgate, the Cosmopolitan, the Hard Rock and the Golden Nugget.

And in part reflecting the Las Vegas economy with its 13.9 percent unemployment rate, Moody's on Thursday downgraded Cannery Casino Resorts LLC's "corporate family" and "probability of default" debt ratings to Caa1 from B2.

This change moves the Cannery debt from "speculative" and "subject to high default risk" to "of poor standing" and "subject to very high default risk."

Moody's assigned a negative outlook to the debt in "anticipation of continued weak operating performance and near-term loan covenant compliance concerns."

Moody's said the downgrade reflects the slower than expected ramp up at Cannery's two new casinos: the Meadows near Pittsburgh, which opened in April; and Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas, which opened in August 2008.

"The East Side Cannery and two other Las Vegas casinos are ... performing well below original expectations and will continue to struggle in the foreseeable future along with the entire Las Vegas locals market," Moody's said.

Cannery Casino Resorts also owns the Cannery hotel-casino in North Las Vegas and runs the casino at the JW Marriott resort in Summerlin.

Moody's said its primary concern with Cannery is that the Las Vegas company will need to seek loan covenant relief, which could significantly boost its interest costs at a time when operating conditions remain challenged.

Deutsche Bank Drowning in Vegas on Costliest Bank-Owned Casino

From Bloomberg --


Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG’s Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino complex in Las Vegas, already the most expensive debacle in the city for a single lender, is now two years behind schedule, $2 billion over budget and under water -- literally.

Deutsche Bank, the resort’s owner since it foreclosed on developer Ian Bruce Eichner last year, requires 24-hour pumps and containment walls after workers hit an aquifer below the Nevada desert floor. It’s another challenge for a project whose delays and redesigns have sparked lawsuits from condominium buyers and sales agents amid record declines in Las Vegas’s gambling revenue, home prices and hotel-room bookings.

The German bank’s foray into the heart of the U.S. gambling industry, where it’s also a lender to bankrupt Station Casinos Inc. and the unfinished Fontainebleau, looms as an “impending disaster,” casino magnate Stephen Wynn said on a conference call with analysts last month. Wynn, who presides over the Wynn and Encore Las Vegas resorts, built the Bellagio next door to the Cosmopolitan.

Deutsche Bank took over the project after Eichner defaulted on a $760 million loan last year. The Frankfurt-based lender hired Related Cos., the developer of New York’s Time Warner Center, to oversee construction of the development’s two high- rise condominium and hotel towers, resort and casino. Cosmopolitan sits on 8.5 acres between the 76-acre Bellagio, MGM Mirage’s most profitable resort, and CityCenter, the firm’s newest development, packed on 67 acres.

Betting on Rebound

So far, Deutsche Bank has had to write down 500 million euros ($748 million) on Cosmopolitan. The sum could rise if the Las Vegas market fails to revive, said Dirk Becker, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Frankfurt. The bank is offering condominium buyers in one Cosmopolitan tower 74 percent of their deposit to walk away, according to a copy of the proposal provided by a lawyer for some purchasers.

“Deutsche Bank had a difficult choice: selling an unfinished project or building the casino itself,” Becker said. “The bank probably never wanted to become a casino-builder in Las Vegas, but selling the project right after the real estate crash could’ve led to higher losses.”

Next door to Cosmopolitan, MGM Mirage and Dubai World, an investment arm of the emirate of Dubai, are completing the $8.5 billion CityCenter after lenders, led by Bank of America Corp., agreed to finance $1.8 billion. Further north on the Las Vegas Strip, work halted on the Fontainebleau in June with a bankruptcy filing after its lenders, including Deutsche Bank, refused further funding. The 63-story casino resort is about 70 percent complete.

‘Appropriate Strategy’

In the case of Cosmopolitan, “the bank concluded last year that completing the project was an appropriate strategy,” said John Gallagher, a Deutsche Bank spokesman in New York. “We cannot comment on the bank’s long-term plans for the Cosmopolitan. However, the bank has been and remains committed to building a world-class resort and casino that will become an integral, vibrant part of the Las Vegas economy.”

Deutsche Bank executives who have applied for gaming licenses from Nevada casino regulators include Jon Vaccaro, global head of commercial real estate; Jeffrey Baer, head of global logistic services; Donna Milrod, head of regional oversight and strategy; and Eric Schwartz, a managing director in the bank’s commercial real estate group, according to Deutsche Bank and the Nevada Gaming Control Board. They are all based in New York.

The four may become the first Las Vegas Strip casino-owning bankers to obtain the credential. The closest comparison: an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Whitehall Street Real Estate Fund underwent licensing as it took control of a portion of the Las Vegas Hilton, according to Thomas Hanna, coordinator of applicant services at the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Hotel-Room Glut

Gambling revenue on the Las Vegas Strip tumbled more than 12 percent this year through September, more than last year’s record 11 percent drop, according to the Nevada Gaming Commission. Las Vegas home values dropped 55 percent from their August 2006 high, according to the S&P/Case Shiller single family home price index.

When Eichner, developer of the luxury condominium Continuum in Miami, broke ground in October 2005, the Cosmopolitan was slated to cost $1.8 billion and open in mid-2008, according to a press release at the time. Deutsche Bank now plans to open the doors in September 2010.

The current projected total cost of the project, according to analysts: $3.9 billion. That’s part of the reason the Cosmopolitan is the costliest project in Las Vegas for a single lender, according to New York-based research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc.

More Premium Rooms

As the costs of the development mount, high-end hotel rooms are popping up on the Strip, including 6,000 at CityCenter, the hotel, condominium, casino and mall complex opening next door to Cosmopolitan next month.

CityCenter will add 29 percent more so-called premium rooms on the Strip to the more than 20,000 available before Cosmopolitan opens, said Dennis Farrell, a casino debt analyst at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. Citywide, Las Vegas already has about 140,000 hotel rooms, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“The Cosmo is going to be a dormitory for people who want to go to CityCenter and Bellagio on either side,” said Farrell. “You’ll have great views of both neighboring properties from the rooms, but I don’t know what other amenities they’ll be able to offer their customers that will be profitable enough returns on investment.”

‘Cosmo Beach Club’

Cosmopolitan’s original design included a 75,000-square- foot casino, a 1,800-seat theater and a five-acre “Cosmo Beach Club” overlooking the Strip, according to the press release. Deutsche Bank declined to discuss subsequent modifications.

Now the project is swimming in water from an underground aquifer that once irrigated the golf course at the now- demolished Dunes. These days, the water helps refill a fountain at the Bellagio that “dances” to ballads every half-hour -- and twice as often after dark.

The aquifer forms as runoff seeps into the ground and pools atop a layer of caliche, a cement-like rock, according to Bronson Mack, a spokesman at Las Vegas Valley Water District. Resorts often excavate through the caliche to build footings and parking garages, creating an ongoing need to pump water, Mack said.

“The relatively high water table on this site required the installation of a pump system and containment walls,’’ said Gallagher, the Deutsche Bank spokesman. “This is not uncommon for any Las Vegas project that includes underground parking or other underground facilities. The temporary certificate of occupancy for the entire parking garage, including the pumping system itself, was granted in February 2009, and we have encountered no problems whatsoever.”

‘Just Bad Luck’

Built around the Jockey Club resort, Cosmopolitan had no choice but to dig deep and build its parking garage below ground, regardless of the water, said Dan Fasulo, managing director for Real Capital Analytics. The Cosmopolitan’s subterranean parking structure was designed to hold 3,800 automobiles, according to the 2005 press release.

“Any construction project of this size runs into problems,” Fasulo said. “But to bump into an aquifer is just bad luck.”

Eastern CT towns top list of problem gamblers

Eastern CT towns top list of problem gamblers
By Will Sokolic

NORWICH, Conn.—Norwich and New London lead the list of the top cities in the state that have a higher percentage of problem gamblers who called the state Helpline than would be expected based on their population, according to a Helpline report released by the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling.

Norwich and New London each had 4.8 times the number expected for their populations, a figure the report attributes to their proximity to two large casinos. East Hartford residents call 2.8 times more than expected, and Hartford residents called 1.6 times more than expected.

The report is based on calls received in 2008. The results focused on the 696 calls from Connecticut gamblers or gamblers' significant others. Of those, almost two-thirds of the calls came from the gamblers themselves.

At this point, the council has yet to compare data from year to year to discern any trends. But a number of findings stood out, Dr. Marvin Steinberg, executive director of the council, said.

Casino slots lead the way for game choice, followed by the lottery and blackjack.

"The myth used to be the lottery was not area of concern," Steinberg said. "Now people realize there is a problem. It's unfortunate the lottery has gotten a free ride because it's connected with the state government."

Among problem gamblers, 1.3 times as many males called the Helpline as females, while approximately two times as many female spouses or significant others called than males. There were also calls complaining about spouses and other significant others, but not seeking help in any way.

"It doesn't make sense. They have serious problems of their own stemming from the gambling issues. We've taken special pains to collect data from spouses and others," Steinberg said.

The report indicates many gamblers have not entered the treatment pipeline yet, saying 90 percent have never had an association with treatment of any kind or Gamblers Anonymous.

Other highlights include:

-- The majority of problem gamblers, both male and female, identified themselves as Caucasian. Blacks have a 1.4 times higher rate of problem gambling than would be expected based on black population in the state, while Latinos have a 1.6 times lower rate.

-- Service and management/professionals are the most prevalent occupations for male and female gamblers. But the prevalence of women in these occupations is more than one third higher than that of males. But the ratio of unemployed callers was almost three times that of the the general population.

-- Steinberg hopes the report will lead to improvements in the identification and treatment of problem gambling, especially through an increased publicity push in workplaces, banks, credit unions and through public service announcements.

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Information from: Norwich Bulletin, http://www.norwichbulletin.com

State releases data on problem gamblers

From the Charleston Gazette --

State releases data on problem gamblers
Newly released data say that slot machines are the biggest source of trouble for problem gamblers in West Virginia.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Newly released data say that slot machines are the biggest source of trouble for problem gamblers in West Virginia.


The Problem Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia has logged calls from more than 8,000 people to its 800-GAMBLER hotline since 2000.


Of those callers, more than 5,100 reported gambling at local video lottery establishments like bars and slot parlors, while more than 1,200 reported playing the slots at West Virginia's four racetracks.


More than half the callers reported spending all their income on gambling.


Network director Steve Burton says about 9 percent of callers to the hot line report suicidal feelings.


Callers to the hot line are connected with gambling counselors and provided other services.

Beacon Hill: Democracy dies at gambling interests' request

On Monday, Kathi-Anne Reinstein, a Revere Democrat who organized the SECRET CLOSED DOOR briefing, told the News Service the session was closed TO THE PUBLIC so state reps would "feel comfortable to ask any questions without having any type of criticism'' and surely at the request of gambling interests who can make undisputed wild promises that are unsubstantiated and never be held accountable.

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On Tuesday, the House proved that predatory gambling lobbyists haven't wasted their money when a voice vote approved a bill that NEVER had a PUBLIC hearing or maybe Monday's meeting was considered a "hearing" that just excluded the public.

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Why shouldn't constituents be informed about the votes of the Representatives?

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This is how it begins.

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This is according to the Predatory Gambling Playbook - prevent public discussion, at all costs!

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Six Degrees of Suffolk Downs describes the June 2009 Casino Love Fest filled with lobbyists and promoters that excluded public comments.

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Simulcast bill passed by House

RAYNHAM —
A bill that would allow simulcasting to continue at Massachusetts racetracks after a ban on live greyhound racing goes into effect

passed the House on a voice vote Tuesday.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the bill could throw a lifeline to Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park by essentially converting it into a betting parlor in the short term. The bill would permit simulcasting — which allows track patrons to place wagers on races held at other tracks and watch the contests on closed-circuit television — to continue at each of the four racetracks in

Massachusetts until July 31, even on days when there are no live races held locally.

A ban on dog racing in Massachusetts will go into effect Jan. 1 after it was approved by voters in last year’s state election.

“It’s an important step in preventing lights out at the track and the loss of jobs and revenue,” state Rep. David Flynn said following the vote. “It’s a major step toward eventually getting slots at Raynham.”

Flynn, D-Bridgewater, and state Rep. James Fagan, D-Taunton, co-sponsored the legislation. Both have said the bill could serve as a stop gap measure to keep Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park open until some sort of expanded gambling legislation is passed.

In the Senate, state Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, sponsored a similar bill, but his also sought to delay the ban on dog racing.

Track owner George Carney has long expressed an interest in converting his Raynham facility into a slot machines parlor, and area lawmakers have pushed on Beacon Hill for the legalization of slot machines.

Among supporters of expanded gaming, there are differences of opinion on whether it would be best to support slot machines or full-scale resort casinos. There is also a sizable contingent that is opposed to any form of expanded gambling. Flynn doesn’t expect the Legislature to hold any hearings on expanded gaming until January at the earliest. A vote, he predicted, could come by February.

“This helps all four tracks,” Flynn said. “Without it, all simulcasting would end at the close of live greyhound racing.”

Flynn expects the simulcasting extension to pass the Senate without much objection. The vote could take place as soon as Tuesday, he said.

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The best Democracy gambling interests can buy!

What kind of democracy....?

Lodge: Inside the secret garden on Beacon Hill


It's common knowledge on Beacon Hill that the Legislature isn't covered by the state Open Meeting Law.

Local boards, committees, commissions and councils, yes. But not legislative committees, caucuses or confabs.

State House News Service pointed out another instance this week when House members closed the doors to discuss, in this case, the prospect of gambling casinos, with industry experts, including Kathy Scanlan, executive director of the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling.

The News Service focused on the fact the Council on Compulsive Gambling, a non-profit agency that gets its funding from the state and from income from the state's four racetracks, could be forced to close after a substantial cut in funding from both sources.

"We're definitely threatened and we're trying to figure out how to recoup some funding,'' Scanlan told the News Service.

So, at a time when lawmakers are rallying the troops to support casino gambling in Massachusetts, the state is cutting back on funds for the non-profit group that treats problem gamblers.

It's true that the State House press corps in Massachusetts has been reduced to a handful of scribes because of the tough economy and battering newspapers are taking in the fight for advertising and circulation revenue. But the point of open meetings isn't to please the press; it's to make sure the public, the taxpayers and the press can know what government bodies are doing with their money, their time and their laws.

State House News Service reported that "several lawmakers who took part in the ... briefing said they had been unaware it was closed to the public.''

Rep. Richard Ross, R-Wrentham, a supporter of slot machines at the horse and dog tracks, said the briefing should have been public: "I think that open and frank dialogue between all the parties that have an interest in expanded gaming makes it a better chance that the institution as a whole would make an informed decision,'' he said.

But Kathi-Anne Reinstein, a Revere Democrat who organized the briefing, told the News Service the session was closed so state reps would "feel comfortable to ask any questions without having any type of criticism.''

And what kind of democracy is that, in which the elected officials are uncomfortable asking questions because they fear criticism? It's a flawed one.

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Darn good question!

Beacon Hill: Secrecy and Closed Door Sessions Prevail

Secret closed door meetings again? When will gambling supporters allow public input and transparency?

Gambling addiction treatment agency could fold


Boston, Mass. - As state policymakers ramp up the push for casinos and slot machines here, the non-profit agency that treats problem gamblers is facing extinction after a 62-percent cut in funding.

The Mass. Council on Compulsive Gambling could be forced to close this year, after Gov. Deval Patrick halved its state aid as part of his midyear budget-balancing efforts and the agency lost another $130,000 due to a drop-off in income from the state’s four racetracks, a top official said.

“We’re definitely threatened and we’re trying to figure out how to recoup some funding,” said the Council’s executive director, Kathy Scanlan. The Council has contacted the Patrick administration and was waiting to hear back about setting a meeting, she said.

Both Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo have voiced recent support for expanded gambling, while Gov. Deval Patrick, after pushing hard for casinos last year, has ratcheted down his enthusiasm.

Pro-gambling House members huddled Monday in a closed-door briefing on gambling with industry experts, including Scanlan, to field questions from other legislators and aides.

Emerging from the briefing for a press conference, some lawmakers said they wanted to ensure a dedicated revenue stream in whatever legislation may pass to treat gambling addictions, and said they were confident the odds of expanded gambling had increased.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” said Rep. Brian Wallace, a South Boston Democrat and longtime gambling backer.

“We certainly feel good about the progress we’ve made in the last couple months,” Wallace said.
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What progress? Are you referring to the transparency of your actions?
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The House is expected to vote Tuesday on legislation extending off-track betting rights at the state’s two dog tracks, essentially creating off-track betting parlors there by January, when the facilities will be hit with a voter-approved ban on dog racing.
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When were public hearings held on off-track betting? OTB parlors? Paleeze! Who are we enriching?

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This is a major shift in public policy that deserves careful consideration and not secret meetings.

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It is my firm belief that when the public is excluded, they're hiding something.

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The Council said it logged 1,305 calls to its helpline in fiscal 2008, resulting in 1,080 referrals to the Department of Public Health, self-help groups, and other services. That year, 95 percent of its funding flowed through the Department of Public Health.

Scanlan said the Council’s landlord had agreed to cut its rent in half, to roughly $35,000. She said the agency was considering other sources of funding as it formulated a “survival strategy.” Patrick announced a $500,000 cut to the agency’s $1 million line item last month.

Appearing with the pro-casino lawmakers Monday, Scanlan said the state would likely see increased social problems related to gambling if casinos were introduced.

Patrick last week said the state could expect “real human costs.”

“I don't want anybody in the Legislature to be thinking about expanded gaming as a quote fix unquote for the fiscal challenges facing the commonwealth. It's not. It's not," Patrick said during an appearance 96.9FM-WTKK.

"It's another job-creating opportunity, which has to be done right and because there are real human costs,” he continued. “That has to be faced. There are real human costs. We have to be very, very clear and careful about the regulatory framework that that business comes into."

Asked Monday about any plans to come to the Council’s aid, Patrick said, “There are lots and lots of worthy programs and agencies that are squeezed because of the fiscal crisis we are in. We’re going to do the very best we can with them, as we do with other agencies.”

Rep. Daniel Bosley, who helped lead the House opposition that ultimately killed Patrick’s casino plan on a 100-55 procedural vote last year, said he thought Patrick might be reconsidering his support.

“I think the governor has taken a second look at this, and I think he realizes that even in the best case scenario it would have to be perfectly drawn to realize any new revenue at all,” the North Adams Democrat said Tuesday.

Even within the pro-gambling caucus, there are fault lines along the details of any expansion.

House Dean David Flynn turned on labor officials joining him at Monday’s press conference and conveyed his disappointment unions have not come out more forcefully behind his effort to sanction slot machines at the state racetracks.

Organized labor for the most part has kept its powder dry for the larger fight over resort-style casinos, after long years of stumping for the racetracks only to be disappointed when deals fell apart.

Flynn kept up his criticism after the formal portion of the presser, corralling Mass. Building Trades Council president Francis Callahan and repeatedly telling him he was “very disappointed” unions had not been more active in working for slot machines at the tracks.

“I want you to endorse my proposal tomorrow,” Flynn told Callahan, who responded that Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park, for which Flynn is an ardent Beacon Hill advocate, should allow more workers to unionize.

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Why would the union support or endorse slot parlors that don't create jobs? Maybe the unions have more sense than Rep. Flynn.
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During the press conference, Flynn told reporters, “I think that the message from the governor has been rather lukewarm, but I don’t think it’s a danger signal. I really think, from the position we’re in, and the financial plight of the coffers of the Commonwealth. I would think that the governor would sign whatever is placed on his desk.”

Several lawmakers who took part in the earlier briefing said they had been unaware it was closed to the public. Rep. Richard Ross (R-Wrentham), who has pushed for track slot machines, said the briefing should have been public.

“I think that open and frank dialogue between all the parties that have an interest in expanded gaming makes it a better chance that the institution as a whole would make an informed decision,” Ross said after the briefing.

Kathi-Anne Reinstein, the Revere Democrat who organized the briefing, said the session was closed so members and aides would “feel comfortable to ask any questions without having any type of criticism.”
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Does this beg the question "Why hold public office if you're afraid of criticism?"
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What are they hiding?