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.