Drug Money Laundering at Downstream Casino in Quapaw, Oklahoma

15 indicted in Springfield meth distribution ring

Harrison Keegan&nbsp, HKEEGAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

October 5, 2016

Fifteen people have now been indicted in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of meth in the Springfield area.

Four men were charged in March after authorities say they were busted with 12 pounds of meth and 6 pounds of heroin in a Springfield garage, but Tuesday's 37-count superseding indictment implicates 11 more people in the large-scale meth distribution ring.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, the 15 people indicted in the conspiracy are Patrick Roger Brigaudin, 54, Timothy Garth Hall, 55, Jennifer Louise Minor, 41, Amber Marie Vantuyl, 35, Gary Lee Driggers, 64, William Frank Eft, 66, Leah Renee Binney, 55, and William David Watts, 58, all of Springfield, Gayla Rochelle Phillips, 41, and Richard Todd Sherwood, 58, both of Willard, Mo., Adrian Ortiz-Corrales, 41, and Eduardo Diaz, 52, both of Las Vegas, and Carlos Alberto Luna, 42, Federico Herrera-Preciado, 51, and Maria Zetina-Ortega, 28, who have no known address.

A criminal complaint in the case says that on Feb. 29, authorities set up surveillance outside Brigaudin's house at 1720 E. McDaniel St.

A Dodge pickup truck pulled into the open garage at Brigaudin's house at about noon, and authorities quickly raided the property with a search warrant they had secured a few days earlier, according to the complaint.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Springfield Police Department, Homeland Security and the IRS entered the garage and found 12 pounds of meth and 6 and a half pounds of heroin in a secret compartment under the bed of the truck, according to the complaint.

Three other men who were allegedly at the scene that day with Brigaudin — Hall, Ortiz-Corrales and Diaz.

The February seizure came about a year after authorities say they stopped a man in Texas with 15 pounds of meth — nine of which were bound for Brigaudin, the complaint says.

The 15 defendants are accused of participating in a conspiracy to distribute meth in Greene County from October 2013 to February 2016.

Brigaudin, Ortiz-Corrales, Phillips, Luna, Herrera-Preciado and Zetina-Ortega are also accused of participating in a money-laundering conspiracy during that time, according to the release.

Court documents say that between January 2009 and April 2015, Brigaudin put more than $10 million into slot machines at Downstream Casino in Quapaw, Oklahoma and withdrew about $8.4 million from the slot machines.

The release says Ortiz-Corrales and Diaz are also charged together with one count of possessing heroin with the intent to distribute.

In addition to the drug-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracies, Brigaudin is charged with four counts of distributing methamphetamine and one count of attempting to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Brigaudin, Ortiz-Corrales and Diaz are charged together in one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, according to the release.

The release says Brigaudin and Phillips are charged together in one count of money laundering. Ortiz-Corrales and Luna are charged together in two counts of money laundering. Ortiz-Corrales and Herrera-Preciado are charged together in two counts of money laundering. Ortiz-Corrales, Herrera-Preciado and Zetina-Ortega are charged together in two counts of money laundering.

Vantuyl, Hall, Binney, Eft and Sherwood are each also charged with one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, according to the release.

The release says Minor is also charged with two counts of distributing methamphetamine, and Phillips is charged with one count of distributing methamphetamine.

Driggers is also charged with four counts of using a telephone to facilitate the drug-trafficking conspiracy. Binney is charged with two counts of using a telephone to facilitate the drug-trafficking conspiracy. Minor, Eft, Hall, Phillips, Watts and Sherwood are each charged with one count of using a telephone to facilitate the drug-trafficking conspiracy, according to the release.

Watts is also charged with maintaining a premises that he made available for unlawfully storing, distributing, and using meth, the release says.

http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/crime/2016/10/04/15-indicted-springfield-meth-distribution-ring/91563602/

Feds say 'large-scale' meth dealer gambled millions at Downstream Casino

Prosecutors say the man at the center of a large-scale Springfield meth distribution ring was a high roller at a nearby casino.

Patrick Brigaudin, 54, is one of four men charged last week with conspiracy to distribute large amounts of drugs after authorities allegedly found 12 pounds of meth and 6 and a half pounds of heroin in his garage.

In court filings asking that Brigaudin be held without bond, federal prosecutors say Brigaudin is a flight risk because between January 2009 and April 2015 he put more than $10 million into slot machines at Downstream Casino in Quapaw, Oklahoma.

Court documents say he withdrew about $8.4 million from the slot machines.

Court documents say Brigaudin's arrest Feb. 29 was the culmination of a two and a half year investigation that resulted in authorities seizing more than 50 pounds of meth. Documents say the investigation found that Brigaudin was a "large-scale methamphetamine distributor" in southwest Missouri.

A criminal complaint used to charge Brigaudin and three other men with conspiracy to distribute meth and heroin says that on Feb. 29, authorities set up surveillance outside Brigaudin's house at 1720 E. McDaniel St.

A Dodge pickup truck pulled into the open garage at Brigaudin's house at about noon, and authorities quickly raided the property with a search warrant they had secured a few days earlier, according to the complaint.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Springfield Police Department, Homeland Security and the IRS entered the garage and found 12 pounds of meth and 6 and a half pounds of heroin in a secret compartment under the bed of the truck, according to the complaint.

Three other men who were allegedly at the scene that day with Brigaudin — Timothy Hall, 54, Adrian Ortiz-Corrales, 41, and Eduardo Diaz, 51 — have also been charged with conspiracy to distribut

Court documents say Ortiz-Corrales traveled to Springfield at least three times since the start of the year for "drug-related business" with Brigaudin.

Ortiz-Corrales and Brigaudin allegedly went to Springfield banks and deposited large sums of cash in quantities just beneath what would trigger mandatory reporting requirements from the banks.

Diaz, court documents say, crossed the US-Mexico border at border control checkpoints at least nine times in the previous 10 months.

Narcotics investigators have told the News-Leader several times over the last few years that the bulk of the meth in Springfield is transported here from Mexico and southwestern parts of the United States.

Court documents made public so far don't describe how the defendants in this case acquired the meth and heroin that was seized last week.

The complaint does, however, link the defendants to a 15-pound meth seizure in north Texas in March 2015. The meth in that case was reportedly from Mexico.

If convicted, all four defendants in this case face a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to court documents.

http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/crime/2016/03/07/suspect-drug-bust-gambled-millions-meth-casino-springfield/81444256/

Mo. man wins at casino, assaulted and robbed at home

Associated Press 4:09 p.m. CST February 14, 2015

 

 

 

Burglary crime(Photo: kzenon, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

 

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - A southwest Missouri man finds out that winning big at a casino and leaving with a woman he met there don't always end up well.

 

The Joplin Globe reports a 29-year-old Joplin man won $1,200 Thursday at Downstream Casino, just across the Oklahoma border.

 

Police say he fell asleep on a couch in his home but was awakened by two men holding a knife to his throat and beating him with a baseball bat.

 

Police Capt. Bob Higginbotham says the attackers took all of his winnings and left, apparently also taking with them a woman the victim met at the casino and brought home.

 

The crimes remained under investigation and no arrests had been made as of Friday.

___

Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/crime/2015/02/14/missouri-man-wins-casino-assaulted-robbed-home/23424405/

Globe story to detail FBI reports of gambling investigation

June 6, 2014

Globe story to detail FBI reports of gambling investigation

By Debby Woodindwoodin@joplinglobe.com

The Joplin GlobeFri Jun 06, 2014, 03:54 PM CDT

The Joplin Globe, after filing a request nearly two years ago, has received more than 600 pages related to a nine-year gambling and public corruption investigation conducted by the FBI.

In a story on Sunday, the Globe will disclose the details contained in reports released by the FBI as the result of a Freedom of Information request filed by the Globe in September of 2012

The entire file of the probe has more than 5,500 pages. So far he FBI has reviewed 1,038 of those pages and released 603 pages of those to the Globe on June 2.

Years were spent conducting photograph surveillance, phone taps, trash collecting and interviews in the federal investigator’s efforts to bring down a wide-ranging vice operation in Jasper and Newton counties in Missouri and Cherokee County in Kansas.

“Although the investigation centered around the gambling operation, sources continued to report a belief that (a bookie) was involved in much more. It was suspected he was involved in drug trafficking and prostitution and had numerous contacts within the judicial system, law enforcement and medical care communities,” reads one of the reports disclosed under the Globe’s request to release to the public records of the probe.

Those reports also detail the final conclusions of investigators about the theft of money from the Jasper County Drug Task Force, which has gone publicly unsolved since 2006.


http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1396878533/Globe-story-to-detail-FBI-reports-of-gambling-investigation

 

Old Casino Queen to be auctioned for debts

Old Casino Queen to be auctioned for debts

April 04, 2014 12:15 am • By Robert Patrick rpatrick@post-dispatch.com 314-621-5154

 

Old Casino Queen yields $600,000 at auction

The White Star One, which once graced the St. Louis waterfront as the Casino Queen, was auctioned off Friday by the U.S. Marshals for $600,000. Read more

Casino revenue drops again

The decline continues the long slump. Read more

Goldenrod Showboat could be scrapped soon

Preservationists still need to raise about $42,000 to buy back the vessel and save it. Read more

Casino Queen bid details

The auction of the old Casino Queen will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Mike's Inc., 3891 Canal Road, Wood River. It's off Illinois 143, west of Illinois 3, at the signal for Enviroway. By boat, it's on the Mississippi River at mile 198.8. Neal Settergren, a lawyer for Mike's, said the winning bidder must provide 10 percent of the amount in cash or a money order.

Related Links

Admiral ships out from St. Louis for last time

WOOD RIVER • The bright neon paddle wheel stopped beckoning gamblers to the East St. Louis riverfront years ago. The cacophony from slot machines fell silent.

The old Casino Queen riverboat, once a garish symbol of opportunity, is now stripped to its bones in a backwater boatyard, waiting for a little luck of its own.

Raccoons, mud swallows, sunshine and time have left the once-majestic vessel with tattered awnings, broken windows, rusted metal and peeling paint. It sits in Wood River, technically under arrest by U.S. marshals.

Today, they plan to auction the vessel to pay off its obligations and perhaps set it off on a new career.

Technically, it’s now called the White Star One. And after a federal lawsuit, an aborted auction and bankruptcy cases in two states, it is to be sold at 1 p.m.

East St. Louis was guaranteed a license when Illinois legislators authorized riverboat gambling to try to revitalize riverfront communities. In 1992, officials announced that a new, $13 million replica of a 19th-century sidewheeler was on the way. It would be the largest gambling vessel in Illinois and one of the biggest in the U.S.

The Casino Queen arrived the next year, stretching more than 400 feet at its mooring near the Eads Bridge. It held up to 3,000 passengers on three chandelier-accented gambling decks, plus a lounge on top.

The state required the boat to cruise the river, when conditions permitted, during gambling sessions. It last left the dock with passengers in 1999; regulators had relaxed the rules.

Further rule changes, in 2007, ended the boat’s career by allowing the gambling floor to be moved to a “boat in a moat,” a barge permanently anchored just inland.

The old Casino Queen went up for sale.

White Star Line LLC, managed by John Joslyn, bought it in 2008 for $2.5 million. The new owner moored it at Mike’s Inc., a boatyard in Wood River, at $200 a day, beginning Oct. 26, 2008.

In court filings, lawyers for Mike’s said it was supposed to stay only a short time.

Reached Thursday by phone, the Mike’s Inc., operations manager, Mike Marko Jr., said, “It seems like it’s been there forever.”

General Manager Amy Marko recalled that it arrived with carpet and other fixtures in place, and slot machine tokens scattered on the floor. Contractors eventually stripped the interior.

 

A TITANIC MUSEUM?

 

Mike’s workers heard that Joslyn, a Titanic shipwreck obsessive who has created Titanic museums in Branson and elsewhere, planned to turn the boat into another.

Joslyn is a former television producer who took a submersible to the Titanic wreck in 1986 and produced a documentary, “Return to the Titanic ... Live.”

But the museum plans apparently stalled.

White Star stopped making payments for a short time in the fall of 2010.

The rent went up to $300 a day on Jan. 1, 2011, $500 a day on Oct. 31, 2011, and $1,000 a day in
February 2013.

Lawyers for Mike’s Inc., filed an admiralty complaint in March 2013, claiming White Star Line and Joslyn failed to pay for almost $300,000 in mooring fees and other services since April 2011. The suit asked a judge to order that the boat be “arrested, condemned and sold,” with proceeds to first go toward bills at Mike’s.

Regions Bank then claimed that Joslyn and White Star owed $1.4 million on a $2.5 million promissory note from 2008.

ACF Property Management Inc. claimed that Joslyn and White Star owed it more than $1 million.
White Star and Joslyn asked for a delay in the proceedings, saying they were planning to move the boat elsewhere and obtain financing that would repay Regions Bank, ACF and Mike’s.

Joslyn, also in filings, said that the loans were personally guaranteed by himself and his wife, meaning that lenders would pursue them if sale proceeds don’t cover the debts.

In filings, White Star also complained about the price increases. But Mike’s responded that White Star did not protest at the time, nor move the boat.

A lawyer for White Star and Joslyn did not return a message seeking comment Thursday. Joslyn declined to comment, saying he had “nothing to say about it.”

 

AUCTION DELAYED

 

An auction was set for November, but was postponed when White Star filed for bankruptcy in Delaware. The case was later moved to the Southern District of Illinois, and in February the auction was given a green light.

An order by Bankruptcy Judge Laura K. Grundy noted that Joslyn decided not to attend a Feb. 13 hearing, as he had a “press conference in Tennessee related to a Titanic memorabilia display” and “made a strategic decision to put the interests of another venture ahead of the Debtor’s and not attend the trial.”

Neal Settergren, a lawyer for Mike’s, said that auction proceeds would be divided up by a federal judge.

During a tour for a reporter Thursday afternoon, Amy Marko said the old Casino Queen occupies more than one-and-a-half of the five end-to-end barges that make up the boatyard, which offers a drydock and a variety of repair and other services to river traffic.

She said it is hooked to electricity, so the boat doesn’t freeze up during extremely cold weather, and is regularly checked for problems. The once-iconic attraction, she said, receives little or no attention from passing river traffic.

Amy Marko said that from the outward appearance, the boat has experienced only the expected wear and tear.

Settergren, the lawyer for Mike’s, insisted that the hull and engines are sound. He said, “It’s not deteriorated or worthless.”

Robert Patrick covers federal courts and federal law enforcement for the Post-Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter: @rxpatrick.


http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/old-casino-queen-to-be-auctioned-for-debts/article_b254daae-d844-52dc-a098-db52c7003446.html



 

Missouri seeing effects of declining casino visits

JORDAN SHAPIR, Associated Press

By JORDAN SHAPIRO, Associated Press

Published 11:41 am, Saturday, March 8, 2014

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A recent decline in Missouri's casino revenues has created funding shortfalls for public schools and state-run veterans' nursing homes, raising questions among lawmakers about the extent to which the state can continue to rely on gambling to fund some key programs.

 

Underlying the concern is an uncertainty over whether the shortfall is a temporary event caused by a cold winter, the economy and increased casino competition from neighboring states, or whether it is the start of a long-term trend.

 

Missouri relies on two sources of casino revenues. A portion of a per-patron casino fee is used to pay for the operations of the Missouri Veterans Commission, which oversees seven nursing homes for 1,350 retired service members. A state tax on casino revenues helps fund public schools.

 

But fewer people are visiting and spending money at Missouri's 13 casinos, leaving lawmakers to scramble for a solution.

 

"We do have a problem in the veterans funding that has kind of gotten away from us," House Budget Chairman Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, said in an interview this past week. "We are going to have to address it for this year's budget."

 

Missouri's veterans' homes are funded through a combination of casino fees, federal dollars and an average $2,000 monthly resident's fee.

 

Concerns about long-term funding for veterans homes led lawmakers in 2012 to dedicate a larger share of the casino fees to the homes. But a decline in casino attendance is causing lawmakers to revisit the issue.

 

A recent report from the Missouri Gaming Commission shows that patronage at casinos decreased about 9 percent through the first seven months of Missouri's 2014 fiscal year compared with the same period the previous year. That means funding for veterans programs is down by a similar amount.

 

"If more people gamble then the odds are the funds will increase," said Daniel Bell, a spokesman with the veterans' commission.

 

The Gaming Commission's report shows that casino tax revenue, which supports schools, has declined by 4.7 percent from the same time last year. That drop-off contributed to the House's decision last week to approve an additional $22 million for public schools in a supplemental budget for the current fiscal year.

 

From the July 1 start of the fiscal year through the end of January, the state had received $26 million from the admissions fee and $180 million for education funding, according to the Gaming Commission.

 

Stream and Missouri Gaming Association Director Mike Winter both said this year's cold and snowy weather kept people from casinos. Winter also attributed the revenue decline to an economic downturn.

 

"We continue to see that the economy bounce-back is not as quick as experts predicted," he said.

State Budget Director Linda Luebbering said falling revenues could also be the product of increased competition from other states or transitions in Missouri casino ownership. A Hollywood Casino opened in 2012 at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. Last year, Pinnacle Entertainment sold a casino in downtown St. Louis to a different owner.

 

Absent an increase in casino gambling fueled by warmer weather, some lawmakers already are looking at long-term solutions for veterans' home funding. The commission estimates it will need an additional $10 million during the next budget year to avoid an interruption in services.

 

The House passed legislation this year that would create a special lottery ticket with the proceeds exclusively going to veterans' homes. That plan has faced opposition in previous years over concerns it would divert money away from education. Currently, lottery proceeds exclusively fund K-12 and higher education.

 

Stream said the House also was considering a boost for veterans' home funding. But Gov. Jay Nixon did not include additional money for the homes in his proposed budget, and Luebbering said the department should have enough money in its trust fund to continue operating the homes at their current funding level.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Missouri-seeing-effects-of-declining-casino-visits-5299998.php

Wild horses are shownn at the Pryor Mountain National Wild Horse Range in south-central Montana. (photo: AP/Bureau of Land Management/Ann Boucher)

Horse Slaughter Blocked by Federal Law (For Now)

By Barry Massey, Associated Press

19 January 14

he resumption of commercial horse slaughter in the U.S. was blocked Friday as President Barack Obama signed a budget measure that withholds money for required federal inspections of the slaughtering process.

Although the measure provides temporary funding for the federal government, it stops the Agriculture Department from spending money for inspections necessary for slaughterhouses to ship horse meat interstate and eventually export it to overseas consumers.

 

"This clear message from Washington echoes the opinions of an overwhelming number of Americans from coast to coast: horse slaughter is abhorrent and unacceptable," said Matt Bershadker, president and CEO of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

 

The president's action came as a New Mexico judge granted a preliminary injunction against a Roswell company from moving forward with its plans to start slaughtering horses.

 

The ruling by state District Judge Matthew Wilson will keep alive a lawsuit by Attorney General Gary King, who's seeking to permanently block horse slaughter in New Mexico. The lawsuit could serve as a possible insurance plan in case the federal government provides inspection funding in the future.

 

Blair Dunn, a lawyer for Valley Meat, said the company will continue to wage a legal fight to convert its cattle processing plant to the slaughtering of horses. He contended that the federal move to withhold money for meat inspections could cause U.S. trade violations.

 

"I don't see them opening now. No matter what, they are not going to violate the law," said Dunn, who also represents a plant in Missouri that wants to produce horse meat.

 

The last domestic horse slaughterhouses closed in 2007, a year after Congress initially withheld inspection funding. After federal money was restored in 2011, plants in New Mexico, Missouri and Iowa began trying to start horse slaughtering.

 

King's lawsuit contends that the Roswell company's operations would violate New Mexico's environmental and food safety laws.

 

Valley Meat is trying to disqualify the judge who's handling the case because of comments posted by horse slaughter opponents on a Facebook page for the judge's election campaign. Wilson issued an order Friday saying he would consider setting a hearing on the company's request.

Debit Card Fraud at Mark Twain Casino.....

Politicians schemed to convince voters about the wonders of River Boat Gambling.....how interesting that this is one of the best known Mark Twain quotes....

Northeast Missouri casino reports debit card fraud

Published Friday, November 15, 2013

LaGrange, Mo. (AP) — Police are investigating several cases of possible debit card fraud at a Mississippi River casino in northeast Missouri.

WGEM-TV reports that police in Quincy, Ill., have received multiple reports of fraud from customers of the Mark Twain Casino in LaGrange. Police reports reviewed by the television station show that similar complaints have been filed by customers of casinos in St. Joseph as well as Osceola, Iowa. Affinity Gaming owns all three properties.

Authorities suspect a data breach at a third-party processing center used by Affinity Four Quincy banks reported losses totaling more than $11,000, and some of the fraudulent charges were traced to Maryland.

A statement from Affinity Gaming says the company's payment system is now "fully secured and our customers' payments are protected."


http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Northeast-Missouri-casino-reports-debit-card-fraud-4985198.php

Doubling down on casino credit lines

Doubling down on casino credit lines

On April 27, 2012, the Post-Dispatch featured an article on proposed credit lines for Missouri casino gamblers. Fortunately, it failed to pass, but, like problem gamblers trying desperately to recoup their losses, Missouri casinos still yearn for more action. "Casinos want OK to offer credit" (May 6) contains the same specious, illogical arguments made by credit line proponents a year ago.

In 2012, it was "professional athletes" who couldn't be troubled to bring cash to casinos, cash checks there, or take credit card advances. In 2013, it's rappers like Lil Wayne and private aircraft owners who (we're told) are unable to gamble adequately without borrowing money from casinos. Who knew the well-heeled had such cash flow issues?

We're told that big rollers prefer to flee to the older, smaller Casino Queen rather than newer, larger Missouri "boats," solely because they can obtain lines of credit in Illinois. If that were true, wouldn't Casino Queen's handle be expanding, not shrinking?

Lobbyist John Bardgett (dubiously representing both the St Louis Co. Economic Council and Pinnacle Entertainment) assures us that conventioneers' primary concern in St. Louis is the availability of casino credit lines. Rep. Bob Burns (who called River City Casino "a godsend" to his district) makes the remarkable assertion that private jet owners are the intended recipients of credit lines, that "this has nothing to do with people living paycheck to paycheck."

These arguments ring as false today as last year. High-end players have plenty of money to gamble without relying on credit lines. They have bank accounts, ATM cards, checks, and yes, even credit cards.

Joe Public, who just lost his rent money and car payment on slots or blackjack, is far more likely to apply for credit than a private jet owner. There are also thousands more "Joe Public" casino patrons than Lil Wayne and aircraft owners combined, meaning they constitute vastly more profit potential for casinos. This measure is not about wealthy patrons, the 1 percent with unlimited cash to spend; it's about area problem gamblers who risk their mortgage payment, their savings, and their lives by wagering recklessly, about casinos who lust for higher profits regardless of the human cost.
If casino credit supporters were forthright, they'd state the obvious: They're desperate to expand handle; they have no regard for the financial well-being of their players; and that the lives destroyed by gambling losses are just collateral damage.

Two of the questions used to diagnose compulsive gambling are "Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?" and "Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?" Credit lines on Missouri casinos would guarantee far more "yes" answers when area problem gamblers face the reality of their situations. Let's hope the Missouri Senate recognizes a bad hand when it sees one, and folds on Missouri casino credit lines.

Ted Rood • O'Fallon, Mo.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letters-to-the-editor/doubling-down-on-casino-credit-lines/article_370f3458-c7ca-5c10-9e35-f8e04f9ea0b8.html

Man accused of pouring soda into slot machines

Posted: Thursday, November 29, 2012

Man accused of pouring soda into slot machines

Telegraph staff reportthetelegraph.com

 

ALTON [Illinois] - A St. Charles, Mo., man was charged Wednesday for an incident earlier in the month in which he is accused of pouring soda into bill validation openings on two gambling machines at the Argosy Casino, permanently damaging them.
 The Madison County State's Attorney's Office charged the suspect, Ronald E. Hurtado, 61, with criminal damage to property over $300.

A judge set bond of $20,000.

Argosy security held the suspect for police after looking at surveillance camera images, allegedly of Hurtado.

Security was alerted soon after two penny slot machines suddenly malfunctioned on the third deck of the facility at 2:46 and 2:50 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 18.

A technician discovered a sweet brown liquid, apparently soda, had been poured into the small openings on each machine. The slot machines stopped functioning within seconds, an Alton Police Department report said.

Evidence showed Hurtado had inserted his Argosy player card in each of the two games just before each stopped working, the report said.

The machines would cost $800 each to repair, the report said.

http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/local/article_8deb7bc4-39ce-11e2-b6ad-001a4bcf6878.html

 

'Campaign gambling losses'

Short take: 'Campaign gambling losses'

Brenda Council

Brenda Council, a Democratic member of the Nebraska Senate.

Brenda Council should have talked to Robin Wright-Jones.

Ms. Council, a Democrat in the Nebraska Senate, last week pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of abuse of public records. Records suggested that Ms. Council may have used nearly $100,000 in campaign funds to gamble at casinos.

Ms. Council said she had "borrowed" the money from the campaign account and was in the process of paying it back. She said she was receiving counseling for a gambling addiction.

Ms. Council did not report the gambling expenses on campaign disclosure forms, which is where Ms. Wright-Jones' advice could have helped. Ms. Wright-Jones is a member of the Missouri Senate, though she lost a primary bid last month.

When she got in trouble last year for spending campaign money on a shopping spree at the Galleria, she solved the problem by brazenly reporting the expenditures for items like "campaign shoes," "campaign clothing" and "campaign watch batteries."

If Ms. Council had listed "campaign gambling losses," she might have gotten away with it. Unless Nebraska is tougher than Missouri. It would be hard not to be.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/short-take-campaign-gambling-losses/article_213d03a2-01fa-5a93-a1e3-4864d2fb31f7.html

It is a predatory state that profits from Gambling Addicts

In our opinion: Gambling addiction

Deseret News editorial

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 3 2012

Few behaviors are as devastating to personal and familial well being as compulsive indulgence in substances or behaviors that rob individuals of dignity and money. Addicts rarely prosper.

 

This is particularly true for gambling addicts. For some who indulge in gambling, the wild ride of gambling's risk and reward is every bit as mesmerizing and addictive as cocaine. And the results are disastrous as life savings and self-worth are squandered in the irrational pursuit of winnings. Experts agree that for pathological gamblers the cravings are rarely dulled, except through disciplined efforts like 12-step programs and careful monitoring.

 

Studies consistently show that although so-called problem gamblers make up a small percentage of all gamblers but they provide a disproportionate amount of the revenue. For example, Canadian university researchers found that although about 4.8 percent of Ontario gamblers had a moderate to severe gambling problem, their compulsive wagering provided about 35 percent of Ontario's gaming revenue, and about 60 percent of revenue from gambling machines.

 

States that allow gambling, along with the gaming industry itself, have claimed to be concerned with the plight of the gambling addict. Consequently, as states in recent decades decided to allow gambling, some have enacted various policies and safeguards to prevent compulsive gamblers from utterly ruining their lives.

 

Some states, like Colorado, initially limited the stakes at casinos and required casinos to close, providing a kind of fuse breaker for bouts of compulsive gaming. Other states have created lists of gambling addicts that provide essentially a restraining order against self-identified addicts from entering casinos.

 

But the fact that compulsive gamblers provide disproportionate revenue is not lost on the gaming industry, and sadly it is not lost on states that have become increasingly dependent on and hungry for the revenues derived from legalized gambling.

 

When Colorado saw other revenue streams dry up after the 2008 downturn, the state removed the gambling fuse breakers by increasing stakes from $2 to $100 and let casino's operate 24/7.

 

Recently Missouri, which legalized riverboat gambling in 1996, chose to ease its restrictions on compulsive gamblers. Missouri is one of a few states that allowed gamblers to identify themselves as having a problem such that they could blacklist themselves from Missouri casinos for life.

 

Although there were logistical challenges enforcing the ban, thousands of self-identified problem gamblers have been expelled from Missouri casinos over the years because of the blacklist. But cash-strapped Missouri, instead of finding ways to improve enforcement of their voluntarily imposed ban, has opted to ease it from a lifetime restriction to five-years.

 

Behavioral experts agree that compulsive gambling might be controlled but never cured. Nonetheless, Missouri has decided to welcome back to its wealth-depleting slots and tables 11,000 self-identified gambling addicts who have been on the casino blacklist for more than five years. Of course these are not just any addicts, these are the rare addicts who actually sought to make use of a tool that they hoped might prevent harm to themselves and their families.

 

We deplore all the lies associated with gambling and lament the inevitable sorrow that surrounds it.

 

We find it particularly contemptible that states would cynically seek additional revenue by abandoning controls designed to protect vulnerable addicts. It is an irresponsible government that allows such practices to persist. It is a predatory state that profits from them.

 

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700212008/Gambling-addiction.html

Caesars casinos skips out on local property tax burden in Missouri

Let the good times roll on, no matter the cost

Lewis Diuguid Commentary

By LEWIS DIUGUID

The Kansas City Star

Whenever wagering gets started around me — be it at casinos, office pools or for lottery tickets — I shy away, strangely offering that I never gamble.

That quirk in these times of a “dollar and a dream” seems odd to many, but it has kept me out of trouble. I have visited casinos, race tracks and places where lottery tickets are sold nationwide and watched gamblers hoping to elevate themselves to Mitt Romney’s 1 percent level.

They’re at the slot machines, the tables, the pari-mutuel betting windows, the convenience stores and the gas stations. They make their best guesses, winning a little but most often losing a lot.

None seems happy, just mesmerized by the game. That sort one-day-my-luck-will-change behavior is why the General Assembly’s effort to let casinos lend money to gamblers made about as much sense as open bars at alcoholics’ recovery meetings.

The Missouri House Financial Institutions Committee put the change into a banking bill in April. It went to the full House after approval from the Rules Committee. Fortunately it didn’t make it into law.

Gamblers and places where they play would label such legislative prudence a “nanny state” action.

Folks who want casinos to give gamblers’ loans point to Illinois.

Across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, overpaid and cash-fat professional athletes go to casinos in Illinois, where they can get credit extensions and surrender more money to gambling than most working Joes and Josephines make in a year. That looks good particularly now that Missouri casinos, which had been raking in a lot of money, are starting to see their pots topping out.

Other states such as Kansas have gotten into the casino game. That will lessen the take for casinos in Missouri, particularly in the Kansas City area.

Instead of the number of gamblers expanding to play at the increasing number of betting joints, the casinos will have to fight for the stagnant share of people willing to risk losing their money. Enabling Missouri casinos to extend credit to gamblers would have helped casinos maintain an edge — or at least compete with neighboring state casinos.

Never mind that it hurts Missourians. They don’t count when big money is at stake.

But they count when social service agencies or the state must pick up the tab for ruined gamblers.

Government, churches and community groups would potentially shoulder a greater burden in job losses, prison time for embezzling, food stamps and welfare for families without breadwinners, homeless shelters because mortgages or rent went unpaid and foster homes for kids.

But people need their freedom to do with their money what they choose, even if they are problem gamblers. The House add-on would have enabled destructive behavior. Expect the bill to return next legislative session because Missouri has been headed down this ruinous path for 20 years. First the proverbial camel had to get its nose under the tent.

That happened in 1992. Voters in the Show-Me State approved riverboat gambling, making sure that the casinos actually went on the state’s biggest rivers. It was the start of the entire hard-drinking, cigarette smoking, gambling camel working its way in.

Initially if you missed the boat, you didn’t gamble. That was a way to limit losses. As was an initial loss limit of $500 every two hours. But at the urgings of card-dealing casinos, voters changed those laws.

All 12 casinos in the state are stationary now, enabling gamblers to enter when they want. Sin — whether smoking, drinking or gambling — in these places rests very little.

Our state has to keep up and compete, right? According to the Gaming Commission, 10 of the 15 states with riverboat or land-based casinos allow gambling joints to grant credit.

The good times have to continue to roll, according to the casinos, which are big money makers in the state.

But the losers are some of our neighbors, their spouses and kids.

The community picks up the tab for those very human losses, and they are huge. The question is whether the state and our society will extend credit for rescues if the destructive games get their way.

To reach Lewis W. Diuguid, call 816-234-4723 or send e-mail to ldiuguid@kcstar.com.

Copyright 2012 The Kansas City Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted on Sun, May. 27, 2012 04:00 PM

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/27/3627479/diuguid-column-monday-may-28.html

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Allowing casino loans is risky business

From Stop Predatory Gambling :

Editorial: Allowing casino loans is risky business 
By the Editorial Boardstltoday.com | Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Missouri state Rep. Scott Largent, R-Clinton, worries that professional athletes who visit Missouri aren't able to gamble as much as they might like. So he is sponsoring a bill to let casinos lend money directly to patrons who find themselves a little short of cash.

"You can't carry $30,000, $20,000 in cash," Mr. Largent told the Post-Dispatch's Virginia Young last week. "Some of these athletes who come in, they want to gamble. If they want to gamble that much, they should be able to."

It's unclear how much personal experience Mr. Largent has had with frustrated, cash-poor pro athletes. We note, however, that "l'argent" is French for 'silver," which should count for something in this context.

What should count for more, however, is that making it even easier than it already is for people to borrow money to gamble is a terrible idea. It is a well established and significant risk for problem gamblers, to say nothing of people whose problem has advanced to the pathological, compulsive state.

Indeed, the casinos' own outreach activities regarding "responsible gaming," as they euphemistically style it, underscore the danger of gambling and access to credit.

The website of Caesars Entertainment, owner of Harrah's St. Louis, provides a direct link to a downloadable tool kit for problem gamblers developed by the Harvard University Medical School.

The kit opens with 10 questions, a "yes" answer to any of which indicates a gambling problem. Question 7: "Have you ever borrowed money to pay for your gambling?"

The website of Penn National Gaming, which owns the Argosy Casino in Kansas City, lists 10 statements under "How do you know if you have a gambling problem?" One says, "You have borrowed money to finance your gambling."

Then again, Penn National also owns the Argosy in Alton. Illinois permits casinos to lend money directly to gamblers, but with restrictions. "They can't just give out markers willy-nilly," an Illinois
Gaming Board spokesman assured the Post-Dispatch.

No, sitting in their bulletproof cage on the casino floor, Willy and Nilly can lend gambling money only to people who meet the tough credit standards for Illinois car dealers and furniture stores.

Mr. Largent's bill was added as an amendment, without discussion or debate, to a banking bill that then passed the House Financial Institutions Committee by a vote of 13 to 1. After a review and vote by the Rules Committee, it could wind up on the House floor for a final vote. Passage there would send it on to the Senate.

It's true that most states that have casinos already permit casino lending. It's also true that elimination of Missouri's prohibition on casino house loans would be the latest, and perhaps the last, of the state's precautionary operating restrictions to fall. The two-hour "cruises" have long since disappeared, as have loss limits and the lifetime ban on compulsive gamblers.

The professed concern for the gambling desires of athletes and rock stars is nonsense. Anyone who can afford to lose big knows how to arrive at a casino with enough cash and credit cards to finance his action.

This is just another giveaway to the casino industry. The result will be more damage to people who
will borrow money from casinos that they cannot afford to lose, and then promptly lose it.


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The Face of Gambling Addiction: Abandoning Children

Mom leaves 3 kids in car while hitting the slots
By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content Manager

PLATTE COUNTY, MO (KCTV) - A woman is in trouble after authorities said she left her three small children inside a car while she played slots at a Riverside casino.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd charged Katrina Denis Roades, 31, of Kansas City, KS with endangering a child and first-degree trespass. Both are misdemeanors.

Roades arrived at Argosy Casino at 4:55 p.m. March 3. A security officer saw a young girl walking the parking lot and discovered it was Roades' daughter.

"Upon taking the girl back to the car it was determined (that) there were two more children left in the car with temperatures in the 40s," according to a Missouri Highway Patrol report.


The children were 9 years old, 8 years old and 5 months old.

The mother returned to her car at 6:23 p.m.

"Roades spent that entire time playing slots in the casino," according to the trooper's report.


KCTV5 went to Roades' home Wednesday. She was leaving her home with her three children and declined comment.

Authorities said Roades had been determined to be a person who had previously been declared to have a gambling problem.

Veteran's Abandoned

States desperate and addicted to gambling revenues seek any source to fund sorely needed programs.

In this case, the federal government has abandoned Veteran's who have served their country honorably and in many cases, made incredible sacrifices.

As a nation, we have an obligation that Washington has ignored.

Casinos fight Nixon proposal to jack up admission
BY VIRGINIA YOUNG

JEFFERSON CITY • The gambling industry will fight Gov. Jay Nixon's proposal to raise casino entrance fees by $1 per patron to help finance the state's veterans homes.

Casino lobbyist Mike Winter told the House Veterans Committee on Tuesday that the proposal amounts to "a bottom-line hit of $53 million for our companies" each year and could prompt cuts in marketing, capital projects and staffing at the state's 12 casinos.

Legislators said they're open to compromise, but they made clear they're looking for a dedicated source of money to operate the state's seven nursing homes for veterans and possibly build a new home to accommodate a mounting waiting list.

"Our veterans are out of money in 2013," said Rep. Charlie Davis, R-Webb City. "If something doesn't happen, where are they going to go?"

The Missouri Veterans Commission's $80 million budget comes from several sources: 46 percent from federal money, 26 percent from charges paid by residents of the homes, 23 percent by state general revenue and 5 percent from special accounts such as a trust fund that is used for cemetery expenses.

Now, because of the state's budget problems, the trust fund also will be tapped to help pay operating expenses at the veterans homes, which include one in Bellefontaine Neighbors in St. Louis County.

But the trust fund was designed to cover repair bills when, for example, a boiler breaks at a home, as well as the state's share of construction costs for any new homes. The fund also finances the state's six veterans cemeteries and programs that help veterans sign up for federal benefits.

While the trust fund stands at $19 million, it will run dry by June 2013 if it is used at the projected rate, Larry Kay, the commission's executive director, told the House committee on Tuesday.

Kay said the veterans commission needs a funding source that provides at least $35 million a year "just to stay even."

Nixon's budget proposal, which he released last week, would generate $50 million a year for veterans through a $1 fee increase for every gambler who goes through casino turnstiles.

The current entrance fee is $2, with half going to the state and half to the home-dock city or county. Last year, the veterans trust fund got $6.5 million under a law that divvies up the state's share. Winter, who lobbies for the Missouri Gaming Association, noted that casinos also pay a tax equaling 21 percent of their adjusted gross revenue. Combining the tax and entrance fee, Missouri's effective tax rate is about 27 percent, which he portrayed as high compared with states such as Nevada, which he said charges 6.75 percent.

But the Missouri Gaming Commission's annual report showed Missouri is competitive with most nearby states. At 27.18 percent, Missouri's effective tax rate is lower than Illinois (33.92 percent) and Indiana (31.31 percent), but higher than Kansas (25.08 percent) and Iowa (22.33 percent), according to the report.

Legislators pointed out that casinos could pass on any fee increase to their patrons. But Winter said they had no plans to do so. They absorb the current $2 fee.

The gambling industry got some backing from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which said veterans homes should not be borne by "a single sector."

Dewey Riehn, who represents the VFW, said a higher admission wouldn't break casinos, which pulled in $1.8 billion last year.

"If they think they can convince me that a $1 entry fee will cause them to close boats, that's ridiculous," Riehn said.



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Crime At Lumiere Focus Of St. Louis Police

Crime At Lumiere Focus Of St. Louis Police
Carol Daniel

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – As KMOX News reported last month, a couple was robbed at gunpoint early Christmas morning in the parking garage at Lumiere Place Casino and Hotels in downtown St. Louis. A friend of the female victim told KMOX, “The man pointed a gun at her head. It was very frightening.”

That was not the first armed robbery at Lumiere in 2011. KMOX News has now learned that the effort to improve security at Lumiere has been underway for months now.

“Who controls security at the state’s casinos?”

The Missouri Highway Patrol is in charge of security on the casino floor but not the parking garage or lots. Lee Ann McCarthy, spokeswoman for the Missouri Gaming Commission, says the Patrol maintains crime statistics on all casinos and those figures are released as part of the annual reporting by the commission. They are not, however, broken down by casino.

McCarthy says arrest statistics are reported as part of the relicensing process and can be a factor. License reviews are completed once a year for new casinos but every other year after that. Lumiere’ license is up for renewal in October 2013.

“Efforts to reduce crime”

The St. Louis Police Department says that police got 155 calls for service to Lumiere last year. However, Police Captain Kenneth Kegel, the Commander of the 4th District which covers downtown St. Louis, says the number can be deceiving . He says, “If someone’s car is broken into blocks away, they may call police from 999 N. 2nd which is Lumiere Casino’s address. That call will then be logged as part of the calls for service.” Captain Kegel says there were enough more serious alleged crimes including car break ins and strong armed robbery, that Kegel and representatives from Mayor Slay’s office began meeting with Lumiere’s security chief to suggest ways to reduce crime.

Capt. Kegel says one suggestion proved effective right away. Kegel says Lumiere had some security cameras in it’s parking garage but police suggested more in better locations. He says Lumiere agreed to install more surveillance cameras which were used to arrest two armed robbery suspects within 24 hours. He says a nearby street used by casino patrons was also identified as a hotbed of car break ins and robberies because it was really an alley. Lumiere installed gates to block it off from parking. Kegel says since that time, police have not had one report of a car break in or holdup.

Kegel says they will continue meeting with Lumiere security personnel. He says his department’s Crime Analysis Unit is giving the casino a weekly crime map of it’s property. “They’ll be able to look at that map and pinpoint areas of concern and respond accordingly.”

Lumiere officials are not commenting yet but Mayor Slay’s office says after meeting with the General Manager of the casino and hotel last fall about security, city hall is encouraged by the casinos positive response.

Kegel says they are reviewing surveillance video from the Christmas day robbery to see if the license plate of the suspects car can be seen.

But Kegel adds that all crime at Lumiere doesn’t originate there. “One robbery victim’s fate was sealed when he stopped at a liquor store in North St. Louis on his way to the casino. He flashed a big wad of cash and the suspects saw that money and followed his car for 15 minutes, all the way to Lumiere and robbed him near a garage elevator.” They were later arrested.

Promoting Addiction

Gambling addiction
Deseret News editorial

Few behaviors are as devastating to personal and familial well being as compulsive indulgence in substances or behaviors that rob individuals of dignity and money. Addicts rarely prosper.

This is particularly true for gambling addicts. For some who indulge in gambling, the wild ride of gambling's risk and reward is every bit as mesmerizing and addictive as cocaine. And the results are disastrous as life savings and self-worth are squandered in the irrational pursuit of winnings. Experts agree that for pathological gamblers the cravings are rarely dulled, except through disciplined efforts like 12-step programs and careful monitoring.

Studies consistently show that although so-called problem gamblers make up a small percentage of all gamblers but they provide a disproportionate amount of the revenue. For example, Canadian university researchers found that although about 4.8 percent of Ontario gamblers had a moderate to severe gambling problem, their compulsive wagering provided about 35 percent of Ontario's gaming revenue, and about 60 percent of revenue from gambling machines.

States that allow gambling, along with the gaming industry itself, have claimed to be concerned with the plight of the gambling addict. Consequently, as states in recent decades decided to allow gambling, some have enacted various policies and safeguards to prevent compulsive gamblers from utterly ruining their lives.

Some states, like Colorado, initially limited the stakes at casinos and required casinos to close, providing a kind of fuse breaker for bouts of compulsive gaming. Other states have created lists of gambling addicts that provide essentially a restraining order against self-identified addicts from entering casinos.

But the fact that compulsive gamblers provide disproportionate revenue is not lost on the gaming industry, and sadly it is not lost on states that have become increasingly dependent on and hungry for the revenues derived from legalized gambling.

When Colorado saw other revenue streams dry up after the 2008 downturn, the state removed the gambling fuse breakers by increasing stakes from $2 to $100 and let casino's operate 24/7.

Recently Missouri, which legalized riverboat gambling in 1996, chose to ease its restrictions on compulsive gamblers. Missouri is one of a few states that allowed gamblers to identify themselves as having a problem such that they could blacklist themselves from Missouri casinos for life.

Although there were logistical challenges enforcing the ban, thousands of self-identified problem gamblers have been expelled from Missouri casinos over the years because of the blacklist. But cash-strapped Missouri, instead of finding ways to improve enforcement of their voluntarily imposed ban, has opted to ease it from a lifetime restriction to five-years.

Behavioral experts agree that compulsive gambling might be controlled but never cured. Nonetheless, Missouri has decided to welcome back to its wealth-depleting slots and tables 11,000 self-identified gambling addicts who have been on the casino blacklist for more than five years. Of course these are not just any addicts, these are the rare addicts who actually sought to make use of a tool that they hoped might prevent harm to themselves and their families.

We deplore all the lies associated with gambling and lament the inevitable sorrow that surrounds it. We find it particularly contemptible that states would cynically seek additional revenue by abandoning controls designed to protect vulnerable addicts. It is an irresponsible government that allows such practices to persist. It is a predatory state that profits from them.