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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

NO CASINO BROCKTON! JAN 28TH





No Casino in Brockton shared their event.
Sponsored
1st opportunity for residents of surrounding communities & Brockton to voice opinions!
28
JAN
Tomorrow 4 PMHolbrook Junior-Senior High School, 245 S. Franklin Street, Holbrook.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Atchison: Fix total disregard for problem gamblers






Atchison: Fix total disregard for problem gamblers


Editor:
As a mental health professional and one of the many advocates in Wyoming for a person's well-being, I am totally baffled. The discussion continues by the governor and the legislators on how funds from the rainy day fund totaling $1.8 billion should be distributed for the benefit of its citizens and families. They still have no idea what to do with one of the largest "rainy day" funds in the United States.
Meanwhile no action to my knowledge has been initiated for mental health services for thousands of Wyoming problem gamblers and their families. This is happening despite the fact the mission of our state Department of Health specifically states "to promote, protect, and enhance the health of ALL (emphasis added) Wyoming residents." At this point no one (governor, legislators, etc.) has stepped up in doing their job.
The good news about this terrible dilemma is monies designated for this destructive addiction can not be "cut " -- as there are no monies! To further their total disregard of gambling and problem gambling consequences those same people in charge in protecting our rights as citizens have determined there is absolutely no need for a Gambling Control Commission.
This wrongful attitude is preposterous with the millions of dollars being generated in the state by lotteries, horse racing, bingo, poker, scratch cards, cock fighting, etc. . Our present philosophy is simply to turn our head regarding gambling's tremendous growth and ignore the fact more controls are essential in overseeing this industry while taking care of its social and moral issues (eg: problem gambling, suicides, etc.)
Take for instance: Just recently a former employee of the national Multi-State Lottery Association will spend 10 years in prison after being convicted of fraud for rigging the Hot Lotto game to win millions. It just so happens our own lottery is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association. Wake up, folks: Gambling is fun, but there are certain consequences of this activity we have to be responsible for.

ED ATCHISON, executive director, Wyoming Council for Problem Gambling



Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Match-fixing in tennis: Australian Open players implicated in report of suspected widespread corruption




Match-fixing in tennis: Australian Open players implicated in report of suspected widespread corruption

THE head of tennis’ anti-corruption watchdog has refused to rule out the possibility as many as eight allegedly crooked players are contesting the Australian Open.
Nigel Willerton, head of the Tennis Integrity Unit, was asked to confirm or deny that “there are players on the tour and maybe in this tournament that are being monitored by your unit for possible match fixing offences.”
Willerton replied: “It would be inappropriate for me to make comment as to whether any players are under investigation at the present time.”
Three of the most senior officials in international tennis — the ATP Tour’s Chris Kermode and Mark Young and Willert — were forced to address claims of entrenched corruption in the sport.
According to a joint report by the BBC and Buzzfeed News, eight players repeatedly flagged to the TIU over suspicions of match-fixing are in Melbourne for the Australian Open.
Pointing to 18 successful prosecutions of players who have engaged in illegal practices such as match fixing, Kermode admitted he was frustrated by reports authorities had not done enough to stamp out corruption.
“The Tennis Integrity Unit and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match fixing has been suppressed for any reason or isn’t being thoroughly investigated,” he said.
“Let me just say that all of us here in tennis are absolutely committed to stamp out any form of corrupt conduct in our sport.
“There is a zero-tolerance policy on this. We are not complacent. We are very vigilant on this. We are not complacent.
“Whilst we are aware that all sport — all sport, not just tennis — is at potential risk of corruption, that is why, in 2008 the Tennis Integrity Unit was set up to actually tackle this issue head on.
“We are constantly vigilant and not complacent.
“In its investigations, the Tennis Integrity Unit has to find evidence as opposed to information, suspicion, or hearsay.
“This is the key here, that it requires evidence.”
The opening day of the year’s first grand slam has been overshadowed by revelations that 16 top-50 players over the last decade have been reported to the TIU, set up to police the sport and claiming a zero-tolerance policy towards betting related corruption, over suspicions they had thrown matches.
Repeated alerts were sent to the TIU in relation to a number of players, some of whom BBC reports are winners of grand slam titles, but all continued to play and were not disciplined.
In a radio program aired overnight, the BBC said it had “seen confidential documents which reveal how some (players) were linked to gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy which won hundreds of thousands of pounds betting on matches they played in.
Fans arrived at Melbourne Park unaware of the dramatic revelations.
Fans arrived at Melbourne Park unaware of the dramatic revelations.Source: News Corp Australia
“A number of those who have been repeatedly flagged on fixing lists passed to the game’s Tennis Integrity Unit have continued to attract highly suspicious gambling activity.”
Buzzfeed said that players were targeted in hotel rooms at major tournaments and offered $50,000 or more per fix by corrupt gamblers.
But tennis authorities said that there is no complacency when it comes to fighting corruption.
“I can assure you that tennis is not treating this lightly,” ATP chief Chris Kermode told Buzzfeed.
“The idea that tennis is not acting appropriately is ludicrous.”
One of the sport’s most ­infamous gambling controversies involved leading Russian player Nikolay Davydenko.
The former world No. 3 was cleared in 2008 of any wrongdoing after the year-long probe into suspicious betting patterns on a match he lost to a lowly-ranked opponent in ­Poland.
The ATP, the governing body of men’s tennis, said it found “no evidence” of wrongdoing by Davydenko, who was beaten by Argentinian Martin Vassallo Arguello in Sopot.
Betting on the match, which ended when Davydenko retir­ed with a foot injury, were so extreme that online bookmakers voided all wagers.
The match attracted more than 10 times the usual amount for a match of that level, with most on Arguello after he had lost the first set.
Players and coaches are ­forbidden from gambling on tennis.
Tomic shocked by backlash
Tomic shocked by backlash
1:25
It was in the wake of that investigation that the ITU was established.
A fresh anti-corruption code was implemented in 2009 but, after taking legal advice, the game’s authorities were told previous corruption offences couldn’t be pursued and “as a result no new investigations into any of the players who were mentioned in the 2008 report were opened”, a TIU spokesman said.
The BBC and Buzzfeed were given access to the evidence by whistleblowers who have asked to remain anonymous.
“There was a core of about 10 players that we believed were the most common perpetrators that were at the root of the problem,” Mark Phillips, who was one of the betting investigators in the 2007 inquiry, told the BBC.
“The evidence was really strong, there appeared to be a really good chance to nip it in the bud and get a strong deterrent out there to root out the main bad apples.”
The reports also claim that the European Sports Security Association, which monitors betting for bookmakers, flagged up more than 50 suspicious matches to the TIU last year.
Willerton said while it welcomed the support of the betting industry “it is not the role of betting companies to make judgments about corrupt activity”.
“All credible information received by the TIU is analysed, assessed, and investigated by highly experienced former law-enforcement investigators.”
The BBC and Buzzfeed News did not name the players they claimed were the subject of the investigations.
VIDEO ON LINK: 



Ex-Houston cops part of feds’ probe of online sports betting operation




Ex-Houston cops part of feds’ probe of online sports betting operation

Two former Houston police sergeants are among those being investigated by federal authorities for allegedly running an illegal online sports gambling business with links to the Dallas area, court records show.
Brian Jordan, 52, retired from the force in July after 23 years with the department, a police spokesman said. Steven Glezman, 43, retired in September after 20 years.
Glezman had worked in the burglary and theft unit, and Jordan was assigned to the vice division. Both men were relieved of their duties in May when federal agents raided their homes. No criminal charges have been filed in the case.
“I wasn’t involved. That will all come out in the end,” said Jordan, who declined to comment further.
Glezman and his attorney could not be reached.
The men are named in forfeiture lawsuits filed by the U.S. attorney’s office in Plano to try to keep cash, sports memorabilia, jewelry and other items that were seized.
“This is an investigation that has involved our cooperation for many weeks and months, involving several federal agencies,” Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said at the time.
Bettors who took part in the gambling business live in Dallas, Plano and McKinney, as well as in Florida, California, Colorado, Georgia and Tennessee, court records show.
Sports betting is illegal in most states. But such schemes have proliferated on the Internet in recent years using computer servers in the Caribbean.
The latest forfeiture lawsuits were filed two years after the same U.S. attorney’s office in Plano broke up a similar enterprise.
In that case, a group of retired business executives and bookies ran a sports betting business for over a decade, netting more than $5 million in sports wagers. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Stover was the lead prosecutor in the case and also filed the forfeiture lawsuits in the current case.
Timothy Large, 47, who lives outside Houston, also is a target of the current investigation, records show. He and his attorney could not be reached for comment. Court records indicate that Large, Glezman and Jordan were “conspirators” in the scheme, but the exact nature of their relationship is unclear.
Large told Homeland Security Investigations agents that his only income comes from illegal gambling and that he has earned between $200,000 and $300,000 per year as a bookmaker for roughly the past decade, records show.
Stover said in court documents that the group has run the off-shore gambling operation since 2010.
“The conspirators illegally accepted wagers on sporting events through various Internet websites hosted in Costa Rica,” he said in a Dec. 11 forfeiture lawsuit.
Jordan, Glezman and Large deposited a total of at least $3.7 million into various bank accounts over several years, the forfeiture lawsuits said.
Glezman has spent a lot of money on resorts, travel, cruises, sports memorabilia and vehicles, court records show.
Among the items the government wants from Glezman are his house and the 17-acre ranch it sits on in Montgomery valued at $605,000. In May, agents seized numerous items from him including two assault rifles, autographed Mike Tyson boxing shorts and a signed Jerry Rice 49ers jersey, court records show.
A forfeiture lawsuit also has been filed against Large’s $446,461 home in Cypress. Agents seized sports memorabilia and numerous other items from the home including signed Muhammad Ali boxing gloves, a Larry Bird basketball jersey and a signed Super Bowl football.
Agents also seized items from Jordan’s $546,135 home in Houston, including watches. They said he has spent money on airfare, hotels, country clubs, golf, private school tuition and auto maintenance.
In the previous North Texas online sports gambling case, 18 men were prosecuted and more than $10 million worth of property was confiscated. But only the ringleader went to prison. He served one year, and his attorney called the business a “victimless crime.”
John Bales, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, called it the largest bookmaking case in his district’s history. He said the punishments were light — all but one of the defendants got probation — because federal gambling laws don’t carry heavy sentences.

Friday, January 15, 2016

New plan to open a casino inside every Massachusetts home





In Massachusetts many citizens got involved in the movement to stop casinos because they opposed a casino where they lived.

Today there is a lobbying effort underway for state government to sponsor online gambling which will ultimately open a casino and lottery retailer right inside your home and on your smart phone, as well as for everyone else in your community.

Attorney General Maura Healey's office has proposed an initiative legalizing online gambling by regulations, a political strategy that contrasts the actions of the New York and Illinois Attorney Generals who have acted to shut down online gambling operations in their states.

The Attorney General's proposed regulations represent the biggest expansion of gambling in Massachusetts history. While it has been presented to the public as a bid to regulate online fantasy sports gambling, the end game for gambling interests is to offer more extreme forms of gambling to citizens through the internet.

Casino companies like MGM and Caesars have unsuccessfully lobbied for internet gambling to be legalized at the federal level.  Authorizing DFS would provide gambling interests like these and others a back door way to bring in internet casino gambling.

Legislation was recently filed in the Massachusetts Legislature to do just that. It's also why when the Mass Gambling Commission released its review of so-called "Daily Fantasy Sports" this week, it also looked at other forms of online gambling.

I urge you to please share your comments about this issue with Attorney General Healey and her staff by Friday, January 22. Here is the info about her proposal to introduce internet gambling. Comments can be emailed to DFSRegs@state.ma.us


A few items to help you learn more about the topic:
2) Here is a colorful, recently published New York Times Magazine story titled “How the Daily Fantasy Sports Industry Turns Fans Into Suckers.”
4) National political comedian John Oliver's review of online fantasy sports gambling on his HBO show Last Week Tonight(If the image below doesn't show in your email, watch the segment here.)






We believe Attorney General Healey, her staff and others who propose to introduce internet gambling into Massachusetts are better leaders than this initiative demonstrates.
Best,
Les
____________
Les Bernal
National Director
Build a more humane and just society: end government-sponsored gambling because it is dishonest, financially damaging to citizens and contributes to rising inequality of opportunity.



STOP PREDATORY GAMBLING

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Man sentenced for Palagio’s Grand Casino robbery



Man sentenced for casino robbery....



Brad Michael Zoanni, 23, was sentenced Monday to 20 years with the Department of Corrections, with 13 years of probation, for his involvement in two robberies.
He was sentenced by Judge Russell Fagg on Monday, along with felons in three violent unrelated cases.
Zoanni's accomplice, Robert Allen Boyden, used a gun to hold up the Stadium Club, 1041 Main St., at about 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2014. About five hours later, early on Oct. 1, 2014, the same gun-wielding man robbed the Palagio’s Grand Casino, 1720 Grand Ave., according to charging documents.
Zoanni was charged with two counts of robbery by accountability and his sentencing was part of a large plea agreement that included pleas in three other felony cases.