Government Addiction to Gambling Revenues

Woman, who says she embezzled to pay for gambling, must pay $500K in restitution

 by Kyle Schwab  Published: May 9, 2016

An admitted problem gambler who paid for her addiction by embezzling funds belonging to the city of Oklahoma City was ordered Monday to pay nearly $500,000 in restitution. 

"The addiction was strong," Renne M. Magerus told an Oklahoma City federal judge during the sentencing. 

"What were you thinking?" U.S. District Judge David L. Russell asked her at one point.

"I wasn't thinking," Magerus replied, "(I was) covering up my gambling addiction."

Prosecutors alleged that while Magerus was employed as an accounting manager for Republic Parking System she embezzled nearly $420,000.

Republic Parking System manages downtown parking garages and lots for the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority. The city of Oklahoma City created the authority, or COTPA, in 1966.

Part of Magerus' responsibilities included handling and verifying cash and credit card receipts collected on a daily basis at each parking facility managed by Republic Parking System. 

“Magerus embezzled funds by holding back envelopes containing cash from the various parking facilities, then deleting the corresponding cash receipts from the COTPA daily revenue reports and, finally, emailing the falsified reports to COTPA,” prosecutors alleged. 

The embezzlement began in April 2012 and continued through November 2014, prosecutors said. Republic Parking System hired Magerus in 2000 as a bookkeeper and later promoted her to accounting manager. 

Magerus, of Moore, pleaded guilty in November to wire fraud and tax fraud. She was 36 years old at the time, she wrote in her plea paperwork. 

“I just want to take responsibility and move forward,” she also wrote. “I executed a scheme to defraud COTPA by emailing a daily revenue report that I had falsified.”

She also admitted to filing a falsified tax return in April 2013. Prosecutors alleged Magerus didn't report $80,570 of additional income received in 2012. 

Punishment

“There's nothing sympathetic about what you did. ... It was wrong,” the judge said before revealing his punishment. “You wreaked havoc on a lot of people.”

The judge ordered Magerus to pay $497,887 in restitution, spend 60 months on probation and serve 216 days in jail on weekends. The judge divided the nearly half million dollars in restitution between three entities.

Twin City Fire Insurance Co. is to receive $369,616 of the restitution. Documents show the insurance company reimbursed that amount to Republic Parking System “to cover all of the embezzled funds except for the victim's $50,000 deductible.” 

Republic Parking System is to receive $99,410. The IRS is to receive $28,861. 

Apology

Magerus apologized Monday for her actions. 

“I would like to make an apology to the court and all parties involved,” she told the judge.

She also apologized to her family. “I know they were shocked, upset and angry,” she said. 

Magerus told the judge she would gamble on her lunch breaks and sometimes on the weekends.

She said she would either tell her family that she won or only spent $40. 

Magerus' attorney told the judge that her gambling addiction “took her down a dark path,” but she is getting treatment. At the time Magerus pleaded guilty, she reported she was working for a publishing company.

Magerus and her attorney declined to comment after the sentencing. 

http://newsok.com/article/5497093

A look at the most gambling-addicted states

By Nancy Marshall-Genzer

May 09, 2016

The states with the most gambling addicts all have casinos, according to WalletHub. - thomashawk/Flickr

The Kentucky Derby just happened this past weekend. It was a big event for horse lovers, of course. But also for gamblers.

Which brings us to a new study from the personal finance website WalletHub that looks at which states have the most addicted gamblers and why. 

People bet on horse races, of course. But in many cases, racetracks are connected to casinos.

In fact, WalletHub said the states with the most gambling addicts all have casinos. Nevada tops the list, followed by:

“South Dakota, Mississippi, Montana and Oklahoma,” said  Jill Gonzalez, an analyst for WalletHub.  

WalletHub

Click the above image to get a by-the-numbers look at the Kentucky Derby.

According to Gonzalez, the states with the most addicted gamblers have two things in common:

“How close you live to a casino, and what are the rules in your state?” she said.

For example, does your state have a lottery?

Click your state below to see where it ranks among WalletHub's 2016 list of the most gambling-addicted states:

CLICK ON LINK

But gambling addiction is hard to measure, especially since millennials don’t like casinos.

“They certainly don’t want to sit there and play in front of slot machines. That doesn’t do anything for them,” said Richard McGowan, a professor of statistics, economics and business policy at Boston College.

But casinos are reaching out to millennials with new machines that let them play against each other.

Follow Nancy Marshall-Genzer at @MarshallGenzer. 

http://www.marketplace.org/2016/04/29/world/most-gambling-addicted-states

This State Has the Worst Gambling Addiction

• Ethan Wolff-Mann 
 

May 9, 2016

And here's how the other 49 rank.

Whenever legalizing gambling is discussed, it becomes a seriously contentious issue, for obvious reasons—fun and games can quickly spiral out of control into addiction. Gambling may not be legal in many states, but its addiction is a fairly sizable and expensive problem that affects over 2% of the population and had a total social cost of $7 billion in 2013, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.

According to a recent WalletHub analysis — which compared 13 metrics that compared “gambling friendliness” with “gambling problem and treatment” — Nevada, home to Las Vegas, was in fact the worst state in the union for gambling addiction. It was the second most gambling-friendly place and ranked number 12 for gambling problems.


http://time.com/money/4322783/gambling-addiction-worst-states/

WALLETHUB Fallout

Below are a few articles in response the the WALLETHUB STUDY: 

STEVEN STRADBROOKE

HAWAII IS 27TH MOST GAMBLING-ADDICTED STATE DESPITE NO LEGAL GAMBLING OPTIONS

APRIL 26, 2016

A new study has ranked US states by their levels of problem gambling prevalence, with casino-heavy states Nevada andSouth Dakota leading the pack.

The study, which was conducted by financial fitness firm WalletHub, compared states on two specific categories, including ‘gambling-friendliness,’ which takes into account the availability of gambling options, including casinos, lotteries, the legality of daily fantasy sports, sports betting and horseracing, plus the presence of illegal gambling operations.

The second category ranked states on ‘gambling problem & treatment,’ which includes criteria such as the number of state residents with diagnosed gambling disorders, the availability of problem gambling treatment options and the number of gambling-related arrests.

Nevada topped the ‘most addicted’ ranking with an overall score of 57, narrowly edging out runner-up South Dakota’s 56.62. The two states tied for the most number of casinos per capita, and ranked #1 and #2 respectively in gaming machines per capita. South Dakota also tied for highest lottery sales in the nation, while Nevada lacks a state lottery.

The top two scores would suggest a direct correlation between gambling addiction and the availability of casinos, yet Hawaii – which doesn’t permit gambling of any kind – ranked 27th on the chart, thanks to coming in second in the problem gambling treatment category.

Utah also doesn’t permit gambling within its borders, yet it somehow managed to avoid Hawaii’s fate by ranking dead last on the addiction scale. Utah tied for the fewest number of gambling-related arrests, which begs the question: is Utah better at quelling gambling urges, or is Hawaii more diligent in busting illegal gamblers?

Minnesota and Mississippi earned the dubious honor of tying for first place in the highest numbers of adults with gambling disorders, followed by Louisiana, while New Jersey and Ohio tied for fourth.

At the opposite end of the scale, Florida ranked dead last on the gambling disorder ranking. Interestingly, South Dakota tied for fifth-best in this category, despite the ubiquity of its casino offering.

Ohio ranks high for problem gamblers, study says

By Karen Farkas, cleveland.com 
on April 28, 2016

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ohio has one of the highest percentages of problem gamblers in the country, according to a new analysis.

WalletHub,  a personal finance website, examined the percentage of adults with gambling disorders, presence of gambling-addiction treatment programs an number of gambling-related arrests per 100,000 population. Ohio tied for fourth with New Jersey behind Minnesota, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Specific percentages or numbers were not indicated.

Overall, Ohio ranked 17th of all states in gambling addiction. Nevada was first. Pennsylvania was 24th and Michigan was 35th.

Ohio didn't rank in the top five in any other categories in the study, including highest and lowest lottery sales per capita and most and least gambling arrests per capita.

Problem gambling affects slightly more than 2 percent of all U.S. adults, WalletHub said.

In Ohio, which has four casinos and seven racinos, research has shown that 2.8 percent of Ohioans are at some level of risk for problem gambling. Ohio's casinos and racinos have not yet led to an increase in problem gambling, officials recently said.

The state's numerous options for gamblers led to a new campaign last fall to identify problem gambling.

New educational campaign targets problem gambling

Ohio's numerous options for gamblers - including casinos, racinos and the lottery - have led to a new campaign to identify problem gambling.

"Be the 95%" was launched by Ohio for Responsible Gambling, a partnership of the Ohio Lottery Commission, Ohio Casino Control Commission, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Ohio Racing Commission.

The campaign and website, the95percent.org, were named for the percentage of people who gamble responsibly.

On a societal level, compulsive gambling costs an estimated $6 billion per year, according to a study by the National Council on Problem Gambling, WalletHub said.

Individually, a male gambling addict accumulates an average debt between $55,000 and $90,000 whereas a female averages $15,000, by one estimate.

Most people do not have adequate resources to pay back what they owe, WalletHub said. As a result, gambling addicts develop a high tendency to amass even more debt, suffer from other health issues, lose their jobs, strain their relationships or even commit crimes.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/04/ohio_ranks_high_for_problem_ga.html

Study: Mississippi has problem with gambling addiction

by: Tom Dees Updated: Apr 28, 2016

A group of highly-regarded psychologists and economists who study gambling addiction across the U.S. say Mississippi is among the most addicted states in the country.

The Magnolia State was ranked the third most addicted.

FOX13 examined the report, and there appears to be a direct correlation between the gambling addiction problem and the lack of treatment options.

"I had a personal friend who ran off a very large gambling debt,” Southaven resident Jackie Smith said. “(He) committed suicide because he felt like there was no way out."

James Whelan is Co-cirector of the University of Memphis gambling education and research center. We asked him about treatment options in Mississippi.  

"I am not aware of a gambling-specific treatment facility in the North Mississippi area. We do get folks for Mississippi," Whelan said

Whelan told FOX13 it's not just the gambling that is a problem.

"Committing a crime is something that is well-established and something we do see people with severe gambling problems engage in," Whelan said.

The numbers also indicate Tennesseans struggle with gambling addictions. There is also a lack of treatment options in the Volunteer State as well.

VIDEO ON LINK
http://www.fox13memphis.com/news/study-mississippi-has-problem-with-gambling-addiction/247857254

Nevada ranked top state for gambling addiction

BY JACLYN SHEARER WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27TH 2016

RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — Nevada has been ranked #1 in the nation for gambling addiction.

WATCH to learn more.

VIDEO ON LINK
http://mynews4.com/news/local/nevada-ranked-top-state-for-gambling-addiction

WALLETHUB: 2016’s Most Gambling-Addicted States

2016’s Most Gambling-Addicted States

Source: WalletHub

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-addicted-to-gambling/20846/