After Redevelopment

Loaning money to a card room?

This article was so baffling.....as widespread Predatory Gambling sucks the California economy dry, it seems sad that this is the best they can do.

After Redevelopment By Joe Mathews
Gene Cubbison reports

Calwatchdog, the website funded by conservative interests, posts a piece criticizing the city of Ventura for what it says is "loan sharking" as a way of raising revenues.

Please.

The charge is that the city of Ventura loaned money to a local business -- the Players Casino, a card club -- at a rate that allowed the city to make money.

Call the police!

Seriously, in this day and age, why wouldn't a California city do a deal in which it could assist a local business and bring in some revenue -- since both local businesses and revenues are a bit scarce.

In this state, cities must do everything they can to bring in revenues -- because in California, local governments have few of the normal options for raising revenue.

California's budget and governing system does not allow local elected officials to raise taxes. Taxes have to be raised either in Sacramento or by local voters -- and even then supermajorities are required.

Redevelopment agencies, which were recently eliminated by the state, had become one vehicle for cities to secure money on their own. But this was problematic -- because the money didn't do much for jobs and because the money came out of funds that should go to schools.

So cities are turning to other methods of raising revenue on their own, even unconventional ones.

You want to stop loans like the one in Ventura? Permit local officials to raise taxes.

Of course, if someone proposed this, sites like Calwatchdog would be screaming about how Prop 13 -- and specifically its provisions on local taxes -- was being violated.

If you're a California city, you can't win.

Gambling addiction groups wary

Gambling addiction groups wary of new Jacksonville poker room
A Florida gambling addicts group cites card games as a frequent cause of financial problems.

By Adam Kealoha Causey The Florida Times-Union

A new Jacksonville poker room may seem a sure bet for the owners’ pocketbooks, but gambling addiction support groups and community leaders say BestBet Jacksonville could be a bad deal for card players.

Florida gambling addicts cite card games as the second most frequent cause of their financial woes, according to the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling. Slot machines rank No. 1.

Television should take part of the blame, said Brian Kongsvik, who runs the Florida council’s help line. A nearly constant offering of blackjack and Texas Hold ’em shows glamorizes poker.

“At any given time of the day or night you can turn on one of the sports channels and there’s going to be a tournament on,” Kongsvik said.

Removing state-mandated limits also added to the allure, Kongsvik said. It paved the way for bigger winnings, which has drawn bigger advertising campaigns.

Sal, a 74-year-old recovering addict who counsels others through Gamblers Anonymous, said he’s noticed more complaints about poker as dog and horse tracks added card rooms. He asked that his last name not be published to keep with Florida Gamblers Anonymous rules.

Gamblers Anonymous doesn’t push to close gambling establishments. But having more options to bet only increases changes to slip into addiction, Sal said.

In his view, it’s not poker itself that hooks potential addicts. It’s availability. Another 70 tables at BestBet on Monument Road fits the description.

“We gamble to gamble,” said Sal, who quit 27 years ago after running up $50,000 in debt. “It does not make a difference to us compulsive gamblers. “

The Washington-based National Council on Problem Gambling, affiliated with the Florida council, views card games as a particular concern for addicts.

Because poker requires a level of skill, according to national council President Keith Whyte, it pushes gamblers to be persistent.

“It can encourage them to stay at the table to beg, borrow or steal enough money to chase that loss,” Whyte said. “Some of the behaviors we see among problem gamblers can be magnified at the poker table.”

Whyte’s organization advocates for responsibility from government and business. He hopes Florida will require poker rooms to contribute more profit to addiction treatment.

“It’s sort of like alcohol. There’s a known percentage of people that will develop problems,” Wyte said. “Those problems will be costly.”

Jacksonville Greyound Racing, which owns BestBet, the Orange Park Kennel Club and the St. Johns Greyhound Park, doesn’t voluntarily give money to the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, Kongsvik said.

A spokeswoman for the company would not offer specifics on how much the company spends to prevent addictive behavior. But its staff watches patron spending and will work with family members of gamblers to direct their loved ones toward treatment.

The poker room at the Orange Park Kennel Club hasn’t led to an increase in violent crime, according to town Police Chief James Boivin. But one thing he’s noticed there: counterfeit bills.

Boivin partly blames the sluggish economy. His department also has picked up fake cash from fast-food restaurants.

“People are making funny money and trying to pass it wherever they can,” Boivin said. “Wherever you can get money exchanged real fast, that sometimes happens.”

Anything potentially addictive concerns Jim Kilpatrick, executive director of Jacksonville’s Trinity Rescue Mission. The ministry doesn’t track gambling among the people in its shelter, but it notes the effects of it and other addictions.

“We have seen the impact on women and children who have been left homeless because of the effects of financial mismanagement because of addiction in their households,” Kilpatrick said. “We are focused on helping others overcome addictions and we believe our community would be best served by tackling these tough problems instead of potentially reinforcing them.”



Dark side

A 2010-11 survey ranked card games as the second most prevalent cause of Florida gambling problems behind slot machines. Other finds among those who cited poker and other card games were a problem:

- 89 percent were male, 11 percent were female.

- 57 percent were white, 19 percent were black, 15 percent were Hispanic.

- 60 percent held full-time jobs, 25 percent were unemployed or on disability.

- 70 percent said they had problems paying household bills, 51 gambled away savings or retirement money, 40 percent sold or pawned belongings for gambling money.

- 34 percent did something illegal to finance their gambling.

Source: Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-02-28/story/gambling-addiction-groups-wary-new-jacksonville-poker-room#ixzz1nm47K6pG

"Lucky Chances" mauls a patron then seeks protection

This video certainly appears that a patron who wasn't resisting was mauled by "Lucky Chances" employees.





Casino Sues To Keep Videos Of Patron Fights Off YouTube

COLMA, Calif. -- Representatives for a Colma card room have filed an unusual lawsuit in an attempt to stop people from posting internet videos that show people fighting at the gambling establishment.

The suit was filed over cell phone video of several fights that happened inside the Lucky Chances Casino. The exposure the videos have received on YouTube has hurt its business, according to and the casino owners.

One of the videos posted on YouTube under the name "Casino Fight 555" shows a man in a black suit wrestling with a patron at one of the card tables. Another clip titled "Casino Fight 333" shows a skirmish breaking out in one of the larger card rooms.

Company representatives wouldn't talk to KTVU about the legal action. But in the suit, the owners of Lucky Chances said the video paints their business in a negative light as a "disorderly and unsafe" place.

KTVU spoke with a regular patron outside the card room who didn't want to be identified. He said many frequent visitors like him have already seen this video.

“The way money changes hands and the way people come in here when they really can't afford to, I'm surprised this doesn't happen a lot more often,” said the man. “Anyone coming to this place is not going to be deterred by something like that, I'll tell ya."

Other patrons KTVU spoke with agreed.

“It doesn't look good,” said Joe Liu, who was visiting the card room while vacationing from Columbus, Ohio. “But I don't know who's right, or who's wrong.”

KTVU also showed the video to Golden Gate University law professor Michael Zampirini.

“My first impression is that it's not somebody taping the fight. It's someone taping the security camera taping the fight,” said Zampirini.

In the upper left-hand corner of the video, time-code is visible on the screen. In the suit, Lucky Chances claimed the people who posted this video on YouTube without their consent were essentially stealing from them.

And in an era of ubiquitous cell phone cameras and hand-held recorders, Zampirini said there will be many more lawsuits like this.

This is a big area of internet law and privacy,” said Zampirini. “If you're used to taking out your phone and just filming whatever's there, you may be filming without the authority to do so.”

A YouTube spokesperson told KTVU over the phone that they would reveal the identities of the people who posted the video if a judge ordered them to do so.