TYRE — Casino opponents have the evidence on their side, says Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling. They just need to awaken the public conscience.
“The benefit that this community has is, the evidence is overwhelming that this is a failed public policy,” he said. “It’s not a question of if [a local casino would fail], it’s a question of when.”
Bernal spoke Thursday at an 11 a.m. press conference on Chase Road; it was organized by Casino Free Tyre. Behind him, across an open field, was the site where Wilmorite hopes to build a casino.
Bernal attacked casinos on several grounds, saying they base their business model on addiction.
“The slot machine itself, which is the bedrock of casinos, is designed to be addictive,” he said. “Why would we bring in an industry to any community where its product is going to get local citizens addicted to it?”
Bernal also argued that casinos provide no widespread economic benefits to their host communities. Instead, he called government-backed casinos poster children for the creation of unfairness and unequal opportunity.
“This is a government program that is actually extracting wealth from middle-income and low-income families in the name of funding public services,” Bernal said.
Casino Free Tyre reached out to Bernal as part of its effort to block the local project. Bernal also planned to speak at a public meeting at the Gould Hotel Thursday afternoon and at Thursday night’s Tyre Town Board meeting.
Desiree Dawley of Casino Free Tyre said Bernal brings the expertise, studies and research background to back up local concerns about the Wilmorite project.
During his press conference and a subsequent interview, Bernal returned repeatedly to the theme of casinos as failures.
In Atlantic City, N.J., home to casinos for 40 years, the poverty rate stands at 30 percent and unemployment at 18 percent, he said. Meanwhile, the state government is bailing out failing casinos.
“The only winners in this process are the people who own the casinos and a handful of public officials,” Bernal said. “This represents a failure. This represents a failure of leadership.”
Bernal said he became interested in the casino issue when he served as chief of staff for the Massachusetts state senate. As casinos tried to gain a foothold in Massachusetts, he became a passionate opponent.
Now, as executive director of Stop Predatory Gambling, he travels the nation trying to stop casino
projects.
“What’s happening in this location is happening all over America,” Bernal said. “It’s being driven by state governments that are desperate for revenue.”
He believes residents will turn down casino projects when given the chance and provided all the information they need to make informed decisions. That has happened many times in Massachusetts and, more recently, in Saratoga Springs.
Casino Free Tyre members hope that will happen locally too.
Dawley and her husband own a parcel of woodland adjacent to the proposed casino site. She said they use part of it as a shooting range and would no longer be able to do that if a casino is built.
“I’m going to have a six-story parking garage as my neighbor,” she said.
About a dozen people attended Bernal’s press conference. Most or all of them own land near the casino site, but Dawley believes the group has support throughout the town.
More than 170 Tyre residents have signed the group’s anti-casino petition, and she said the Mennonite community, whose members do not sign petitions, also opposes the project.
“We have about half the adult population, at least as far as the voters go, signing our petition,” Dawley said.
Showing posts with label failed fiscal policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label failed fiscal policy. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Maryland Casinos not making enough money seek to lower minimum slots payouts
Casinos seek to lower minimum slots payouts
(Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)
Maryland's five casinos have asked the state to let them reduce required payouts on slot machines — a move that could shift tens of millions of dollars in winnings from customers to the casinos, state records show.
The request was included among a group of recommendations the casinos recently submitted to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, according to documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun in a Maryland Public Information Act request.
Under the proposal, the state would relax a requirement that each casino must pay out an average of 90 percent to 95 percent of the money bet at its machines over the course of a year. The casinos want to lower the minimum payout to 85 percent, which would increase the casinos' "hold" — the amount of wagers retained from slots play.
"The patrons would end up receiving less," said Charles LaBoy, the state's assistant director for gaming. "The flip side is that the hold would increase. So there is a potential revenue upside to the state on this."
LaBoy declined to estimate how much more revenue — it's potentially tens of millions of dollars — the casinos and the state could reap.
The state would gain because it shares slots revenue with casinos. Although their popularity has ebbed in recent years, slot machines generated $622 million at the five casinos through the first 11 months of this fiscal year. The biggest chunk — $290 million — went to Maryland's Education Trust Fund, while casino operators took $229 million.
''Certainly there's an opportunity for us to bring in additional revenues for us and the state,'' Matthew Heiskell, general manager of Hollywood Casino Perryville, said of the proposal.
"In varying amounts, casinos dole out millions on 'free play'"
But Heiskell and gambling analysts said the casinos wouldn't drop payouts so much for competitive reasons. With five casinos and a sixth on the way, Maryland has become one of the country's most saturated gambling markets. And it is surrounded by states eager to vie for gaming action.
Currently, Maryland is "right in the ballpark" compared to neighboring states in its slots floor average, encompassing all five casinos, LaBoy said.
The state's payout average from July 2013 to June 2014 was 90.38 percent, according to the American Casino Guide. That placed Maryland behind Delaware's 92.23 percent, Ohio's 91.62 percent and New Jersey's 91.01 percent, but ahead of Pennsylvania's 90.01 percent and West Virginia's 89.86 percent.
"Like any place, we're going to have a large mixture," Heiskell said of slots payouts. "You want people to know they can win at your place."
"Revenues from state casinos decline for third straight month"
Casinos say the proposal would give them needed flexibility to develop innovative slots offerings with widely varying payouts. The proposal "allows for more competitive customer offers," the casinos wrote in a memorandum to the agency.
They also say the plan would provide them economic parity with casinos in states offering more generous financial cushions than Maryland.
In their memorandum, the casinos also asked the state to roll back — from 87 percent to 85 percent — the lowest average amount that individual slot machines must pay out from bets over a year. They say the 87 percent requirement is high compared to nearby states.
Pennsylvania and Ohio mandate at least 85 percent payouts per machine, New Jersey requires a minimum 83 percent and West Virginia 80 percent, according to figures compiled by Maryland regulators from the American Casino Guide. Delaware's requirement is the same as Maryland's.
Vacation gamblers won't know the difference. Regulars will visit casinos where the odds are better. The question is which group of gamblers does Maryland mostly have? The riots are already going to hurt tourism for a couple of years. Maybe it's the wrong time to make the switch.
Representatives of Horseshoe Casino Baltimore and Rocky Gap Casino declined to comment, and officials from the Casino at Ocean Downs did not respond to an interview request.
"We don't have authority to change that in regulation," he said. "That would require statutory change."
LaBoy said regulators have "flexibility" to consider the casinos' broader proposal on the overall slots' payout. "Maybe there is a compromise in there that we can look to do," he said.
Any change would require not only the approval of state gaming regulators — who aren't expected to decide until later this summer — but of the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review.
"I think we would keep a close eye on it," said Del. Eric G. Luedtke, a Montgomery County Democrat and the House chairman of the Joint Committee on Gaming Oversight. "The counter argument is if people feel they're getting a bum deal, they're not going to play. I would worry that players in Maryland might consider going elsewhere if they felt payouts were higher in neighboring states."
The casinos' recommendations came as part of an annual process in which they suggest modifications or updates to gaming regulations. If the casinos disagree on an item, "then it doesn't make the list," Norton said.
Because slot machines are governed by random number generators, they can seem a mystery to players trying to guess which machine will "hit" and when. But the state closely monitors payouts from slots floors collectively and from individual machines. The machines are programmed to pay out a set percentage, albeit on a random basis.
Although Hollywood and Rocky Gap dipped below the 90 percent minimum, regulators said the casinos did not violate the regulations because the requirement is for a full year.
Experts say it's hard to gauge the impact that lowering the minimum payouts could have on casino revenues or attendance.
"Most players probably won't recognize if the hold percentage goes from, say, 8 percent to 10 percent," said James Karmel, a casino analyst and history professor at Harford Community College. "Let's say you're an Anne Arundel County-based based slots player who likes to go to [Maryland] Live. If you find out the slots hold went up 3 percent, does that make it worth your while to go to Delaware or West Virginia? Probably not."
In varying amounts, casinos dole out millions on 'free play'
Beverly Johnson, 65, plays the Horseshoe slots twice a week. The West Baltimore resident doesn't think the slots proposal would drive gamblers away, even if they're not winning as much.
"I lost tonight, but I'm not mad. I'm going home with a smile on my face," she said on a recent weeknight. "I don't think many people would pay that much attention to it."
Victoria Gay, 62, and John Bush, 69, drive from Hyattsville to visit either Maryland Live or the Horseshoe Baltimore about once a week even though Bush said he thinks the slots at Maryland's casinos have low payouts already.
Vacation gamblers won't know the difference. Regulars will visit casinos where the odds are better. The question is which group of gamblers does Maryland mostly have? The riots are already going to hurt tourism for a couple of years. Maybe it's the wrong time to make the switch.
JUNE 13, 2015
As they settled into playing a penny slots machine at Horseshoe, Gay said she didn't like the idea of lowering the percentage. She thinks it should be increased. "Whatever you play, she said, "they ought to at least match."
Norton said casinos can't be stingy in their slot payouts and expect to compete.
"If it were that simple, every [Maryland] casino would just set every game at 87 percent," he said. "The reality is you have to balance the experience or balance the creativity and uniqueness of the gaming environment."
Payout averages are generally lower than they were 10 years ago, said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
He believes that's partly because of the popularity of penny slots and other low-denomination machines that have relatively low payouts and high "holds."
If the casinos' request is granted, LaBoy predicted that "the overall state floor average will remain very close to where it is."
Players might be better able to notice such a shift in smaller casinos where the universe of games is limited and payback trends are more evident.
"If you go to Rocky Gap casino, obviously you would feel it more there than at a big place like Maryland Live," said Alan Woinski, whose Gaming USA Corp. publishes industry newsletters.
"Realistically, the players find out very quickly if a casino has tight machines," he said. "The players aren't that dumb."
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-slots-payouts-plan-20150613-story.html#page=1
Monday, May 11, 2015
....states' gambling way to financial health not a good bet
Fitz's Hits: .... states' gambling way to financial health not a good bet
By Edward Fitzpatrick
Journal Columnist
Posted May 9, 2015
YouGottaBeKiddingMe
Twin River Management Group is hoping to shut down the Newport Grand slots parlor and build a casino near a stream in Tiverton, and guess what the name of that stream is? Sucker Brook. Apparently, sites adjacent to Chump Creek and The River Sap were unavailable. Now certainly, I understand the importance of gambling revenue to Rhode Island's budget. Lottery transfers to the general fund are expected to total $383 million in fiscal year 2015, up from $376 million last fiscal year. But I wonder about the larger trend that has New England awash in gambling proposals such as a Plainville slots parlor and a casino proposed for New Bedford. Apparently, states are planning to gamble their way to financial health and prosperity. And even from the banks of Sucker Brook, that doesn’t look like the best bet.
http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150509/NEWS/150509285
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Bay State's first casino to open in 3 months
Bay State's first casino to open in 3 months
Mashpee Wampanog effort still languishing in Washington
Twenty miles from the proposed Wampanoag casino, Plainridge Park Casino will open in 3 months. Image courtesy of PlainridgeParkCasino.com.
Penn Gambling: Plainridge Park Slots Casino to open June 24
No decision yet on Wampanoag's Taunton Casino land
With the Mashpee Wampanoag's efforts to get the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington to approve their proposed land for a casino in Taunton still on hold, the state's first casino is due to open less than 20 miles away in Plainville Massachusetts.Pending final approval, the first expanded gambling facility under the state's 2011 casino law will open in three months.
Penn National Gaming announced Monday that Plainridge Park Casino, a slot machine venue with dining, entertainment and harness racing, will open Wednesday, June 24 and lead to the creation of 500 jobs.
The $225 million, 106,000 square foot venue is located on Route 1 in Plainville, 35 miles south of Boston and 18 miles from Providence, R.I. and only 20 miles west of the proposed Wampanoag land trust in Taunton. The new casino will include a banquet room, simulcast wagering, and 1,800 parking spaces and plans to remain open 24-7.
Mashpee still on hold, skeptics say approval is unlikely
On a different track, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is seeking to build a casino in Taunton (on right) and is waiting to see whether the federal government will take land into trust for the tribe.
In 2013 a group in Taunton called Stop Taunton Casino claimed to possess documents proving the Mashpee Tribe doesn’t meet the requirements to have the land in Taunton taken in trust.
Neighboring states like Connecticut, attempting to respond to the Bay State's foray into the casino market, are discussing gambling industry expansions.
Read the Herald-News story here.
See the Stop Taunton Casino here.
See the BIA's complete file on the Mashpee Tribe here.
Plainridge Park (below) is the only gaming casino and live harness-racing track in Massachusetts.
About the Author »
Editor
Walter Brooks is the Editor and Founder of CapeCodToday.com. He also is the founder and owner of Best Read Guide and writes the Blogfather blog. Connect with Walter on Facebook, LinkedIn and on Google+.
http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2015/03/24/29433-Bay-States-first-casino-open-3-months
http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2015/03/24/29433-Bay-States-first-casino-open-3-months
New York State: Rensselaer's bad casino bet
Editorial: Rensselaer's bad casino bet
Published 6:52 pm, Tuesday, March 24, 2015
- Photo illustration by Jeff Boyer / Times Union ()
Yet again, there's talk of gambling revenues to bail out fiscally stressed Rensselaer.
THE STAKES:
The city's choice waterfront surely presents a viable alternative to oversaturating this area with casinos.
If you wish to view the rest of this article please click here to either sign in or sign up.
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-opinion/article/Editorial-Rensselaer-s-bad-casino-bet-6156425.php
Monday, March 2, 2015
Invitation to testify before Congress on internet gambling
Sorry to post this late!
Congress is holding a hearing next week on abolishing the recent practice by some state governments of sponsoring internet gambling. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security is hearing H.R. 707 the "Restoration of America's Wire Act" on Thursday, March 5 at 9:30am.
We have been asked to testify at the hearing and I want to invite you to please send along any arguments, evidence, stories or general advice that you believe we should consider emphasizing in our testimony. Our written testimony is due 48 hours before the hearing so if you want to send anything, please try to do so by this weekend when I'll be sitting down to write. My email is les@stoppredatorygambling.org.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney (and current SPG National Board member) Mike Fagan, who teaches International Money Laundering, Corruption, and Terrorism at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, was also invited to testify before the congressional committee. He is one of the nation's most knowlegeable experts about the relationship between internet gambling and crime. Because of the importance of his expertise to this issue and his membership in SPG, I ask you to please make a tax-deductible donation of $10 to help us cover Mike's airfare to the hearing. He will be traveling from St. Louis to Washington, DC and the plane ticket is approximately $400.
Thanks. We'll hit it as hard as we can next week.
Best,
Les
____________
Les Bernal
National Director, Stop Predatory Gambling
End government-sponsored gambling because it is dishonest, financially damaging to citizens and contributes to the rising unfairness and inequality in our country.
If you support our mission and work, please become a member of Stop Predatory Gambling today.
|
Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation ι 100 Maryland Avenue NE, Room 310 ι Washington, D.C. 20002 ι (202) 567-6996 ©2013 Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation. All rights reserved. | |
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Ohio Defunding Host Communities
The article at the bottom goes far beyond PREDATORY GAMBLING, IMPACTS and the costs to HOST COMMUNITIES.
This defines the Failed Fiscal Policies.....
How Ohio Pulled $4 Billion+ from Communities and Redistributed It Upwards
Ohio: Poster Child for Mindless Global Self-Destruction
Racino communities looking to governor for payment plan
When the governor vetoed a legislative proposal to provide $500,000 each to Austintown and Dayton for hosting racinos, we thought he would lay out his ideas for the payments in the executive biennium budget he submitted to the Ohio General Assembly earlier this month.
But much to our surprise, Gov. John Kasich’s budget makes no mention of the racino communities.
Thus, we, along with Austintown Township officials, state Rep. Ronald Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, and Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, wonder if the governor has had a change of heart, or if there’s a hitch.
Last December, Kasich vetoed an amendment that would have required Penn National Gaming to pay $250,000 to each community, with the other $250,000 coming from the $150 million Penn National will be paying into a special fund over the next 10 years.
The governor contended that Penn National should be responsible for the entire amount, and then he went a step further: He said that four other communities that host racinos, North Randall, Northfield, Lebanon and Cincinnati, must also receive annual payments from the owners of the gaming facilities.
Excluded from his plan is Franklin County, which is home to Scioto Downs Racino. Hollywood Casino Columbus already is paying the county government.
In addition to Penn National, other gaming companies operating in Ohio are Rock Ohio Caesars, MTR Gaming, Hard Rock International, Miami Valley Gaming and Pinnacle Entertainment.
We praised the governor for coming up with a fair solution, but Gerberry issued a warning at the time that may be coming to pass.
Here’s what the veteran legislator said in the wake of Kasich’s action:
“I’m just hopeful that the persuasion of the governor’s office is very strong in 2015 on the majority party of the Senate.
The reason that this is not getting done is that there are some folks in the majority that believe that the host racino communities shouldn’t be paid $500,000 a year, and they’ve been able to stop it.
That’s unfortunate.”
We were skeptical about Gerberry’s claim that some senators do not believe racino host communities should be paid, but recent developments have given us pause.
ReluctanceFor instance, Gerberry and Schiavoni have been trying to get leaders from the four communities the governor added to the list to publicly support Kasich’s payment proposal, but their unwillingness to take a stand does raise questions.
After all, it’s their constituents who stand to benefit.“I think there should be at least 10 to 15 state reps crying over here saying, ‘Why haven’t these communities gotten their money?’
I don’t know why there isn’t more of a push from every racino community ... Don’t you think you would have gotten involved? Actively involved?”
We certainly would think so.In the end, however, it’s up to Gov. Kasich to press the GOP leaders in the House and Senate to take up the issue.
After all, he said no to the original proposal that would have resulted in Austintown and Dayton being paid by now.
The two communities have already budgeted for the $500,000, which is not a handout.
While the seven racinos in Ohio — there also are four Vegas-style casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo — have spurred economic growth, they also forced governments to spend more on police and fire protection and road maintenance.
- See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2015/feb/21/racino-communities-looking-to-governor-f/#sthash.ewD4jH8J.dpuf
Saturday, August 23, 2014
New Jersey's Addiction to GAMBLING REVENUE...
September showdown is set to override Chris Christie's sports-betting veto: Mulshine
By
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on August 22, 2014
Overrides of gubernatorial vetoes are extremely rare in New Jersey. But on Sept. 22 we may see the most realistic attempt at an override in recent history.
That’s when state Sen. Ray Lesniak has decided to push for an override of Chris Christie’s veto of a bill he sponsored that would repeal the state’s ban on sports betting at casinos and racetracks.
Earlier this month, Christie vetoed that bill for reasons that didn’t seem to make a lot of sense.
In his veto statement Christie first said he did not wish to defy the federal law prohibiting states from setting up sports-betting operations. But that bill does nothing of the sort.
In its decision on New Jersey's prior attempt to set up a sports-betting system, the Third Circuit ruled that the state can’t set up a system to regulate the practice.
But the court also left open the possibility that instead of setting up a sports-betting system the state could simply repeal its laws prohibiting the practice. That’s what Lesniak wants to do. (Read more on that here.)
Apparently so does Christie. Right after writing that he didn’t want to sidestep the law, Christie proposed doing just that. He wrote that “the time is right to examine the Third Circuit’s opinion carefully and determine if a different approach towards sports wagering would comply with federal law...."
But the governor has yet to tell us just what that approach might be.
Chris Christie: If he doesn't like Ray Lesniak's plan for sports betting then he should put forth his own.
“Put up or shut up,” said Lesniak, a Democrat from Elizabeth. “He’s had over 60 days to let me know what this other way is. If he doesn’t know by now, he’ll never know.”
The bill passed both houses overwhelmingly. If the legislators simply stuck to their prior votes, the override would pass. However in normal circumstances legislators won’t go against a governor of their own party.
“Put up or shut up." - state Senator Ray Lesniak
But these are not normal circumstances. Three casinos are set to go out of business in the next couple weeks. Lesniak said that about 10,000 people will be losing their jobs. That should put pressure on Christie’s fellow Republicans to provide the votes need to reach the two-thirds majorities need for an override.
Besides, what’s the harm in trying?
Christie didn’t make that clear in his statement. Monmouth Park is set to go ahead with sports-betting as soon as a bill becomes law. Does that mean the feds would come and arrest the people running the betting?
Nope. The law in question, called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA for short), does not have criminal penalties. It simply states that the sports leagues can go to court and sue to get an injunction against the racetrack.
“The state wouldn’t even be involved,” said Lesniak. “I don’t expect we would lose, but if we did no harm, no foul.”
There’s a good chance the court case could drag on for months while the betting continued, he said. That would help set a further precedent for legalization. And there's also a good chance the leagues would lose the suit. In the prior case, they conceded that
"Nothing in the unambiguous text of PASPA requires states to keep prohibitions against sports gambling on their books."
"Nothing in the unambiguous text of PASPA requires states to keep prohibitions against sports gambling on their books."
The state certainly needs to try something. Among the casinos closing is the multi-billion-dollar Revel, which opened just a couple years ago. At the moment there are no buyers, but sports-betting offers the best way to breathe life into it and the other two casinos that are shutting their doors.
“The Revel was not designed for casinos but would be a welcoming location for sports bettors,” he said. “Unlike the average Atlantic City visitor who spends 11 hours in the city, they’d come for long weekends during football season, the Super Bowl and the NCAA championships.”
Meanwhile the state’s racetracks could also come back from the brink by offering an attraction outside of racing season. And there are a few Republican senators who have either tracks or horse farms in their districts.
So this should be fun for sports fans. It will also be fun for us conservatives. There’s been a big resurgence in interest in what is known as “nullification” among conservatives – the historical practice of states telling the federal government to mind its own damn business. This could be a classic battle along those lines.
It's usually liberals who get their knickers in a knot over nullification. Christie is on the wrong side of that battle.
Still, maybe he’s got some plan of his own up his sleeve. If so, he should put it on the table. But if Christie's not going to propose anything, then he can hardly object if the Legislature gives it a shot.
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/08/september_showdown_set_to_override_chris_christies_sports-betting_veto_mulshine.html
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Casino endorsements shouldn't be for sale
Editorial: Casino endorsements shouldn't be for sale
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
There's just so much fundamentally wrong with the city of Rensselaer's attempt to buy the city of Albany's support for a casino that it's difficult to know where to start criticizing.
Rensselaer Mayor Dan Dwyer has offered Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan $10 million over 10 years out of his city's share of tax revenues from the proposed Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. In exchange, Albany would come out publicly in support of the Rensselaer project, an endorsement Dwyer hopes will help sway the state Gaming Commission to award Hard Rock the Capital Region’s gaming license.
What about this doesn't sound like a bribe? Is it fair? Is it even legal? In any case, what about this sounds remotely like a legitimate way to decide the location of a casino?
One of the casino application requirements was a demonstration of local support. How does voting to split the casino booty with surrounding communities in exchange for an endorsement demonstrate actual community support? For $10 million, most local towns would probably round up all their grandmothers and hand them over. For an endorsement, this is a great deal.
Would the Gaming Commission actually take this endorsement seriously, or would it see it for the fraud that it is? And if it did take the endorsement seriously, then what would that say to the other applicants who garnered actual local support from chambers of commerce, government bodies and citizens?
By allowing this to influence them, the Gaming Commission would be admitting to tilting the table in favor of one applicant over another. The whole thing is an invitation to lawsuits and criminal investigations.
If you're residents of the city of Rensselaer, you might be rather upset that your city government is willing to part with a substantial chunk of money that, by design of the application process, rightly belongs to you. The money is to offset the cost of dealing with the casino's effects on the local community, such as increased crime, traffic and loss in local business. By giving Albany $1 million, that's $1 million less that the city of Rensselaer has to combat the problems.
Rensselaer stands to collect about $5.7 million a year in gaming taxes, so the $1 million a year represents about 17.5 percent of the local share. For that, they’re assuming Albany’s endorsement will sway the Gaming Commission, a very risky assumption.
And what if you're a casino operator, who is being forced to pay a lot of taxes for all the problems your project is going to allegedly cause? If the host communities don't need all that money, as Rensselaer appears to be admitting, then you'd have to wonder why you're paying so much to them.
Albany officials justify accepting the money by saying their city will be affected by a casino, too. But the surrounding counties are already getting a share of casino taxes. Why does Albany deserve even more?
Schenectady's mayor says even if the city was approached, it isn't looking to share its casino revenues. He's right. The city should not have any part in this affair. In fact, no one should have any part in this affair.
The Gaming Commission should strongly declare that it will not consider endorsements that were garnered in exchange for money. And the other potential host communities should protest this practice for the unfair influence-buying that it is.
So to answer the question, where do you start criticizing this? Pretty much anywhere.
http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2014/aug/20/0820_editcasino/
Monday, June 9, 2014
Friday, May 16, 2014
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Anne Arundel shuffled casino funds: ...nobody has a sense of financial accountability on this.....
Auditor: Anne Arundel shuffled casino funds
Report shows Neuman, Leopold moved impact money without public input
Posted: Saturday, May 3, 2014
Auditor: Anne Arundel shuffled casino funds
CapitalGazette.com
As the first gush of money from casino revenues started pouring in 2012 and 2013, Anne Arundel County shifted millions of dollars earmarked for communities closest to Maryland Live! to other priorities, an audit released this week shows.
County Auditor Teresa Sutherland reviewed county records for two fiscal years and found that a portion of the $20.8 million promised for items such road improvements and police services either wasn’t spent or was used for other purposes, such as paying interest on school construction bonds or aid to Anne Arundel Community College.
The money was generated by the first 13 months of casino operations under then-County Executive John Leopold. It went into the General Fund where it was mixed with other county revenues.
Sutherland said “more precise” methods were needed to ensure it was spent on communities next to the casino as required by state law.
“We do not express an opinion or any other form of assurance on local impact grant revenues and expenditures or on management’s compliance with state law,” she wrote in the review of her office’s findings.
In fiscal 2014, the county created the Video Lottery Fund to track the county’s 4.5 percent share of revenues from the successful casino. Sutherland was an advocate of the fund to improve transparency and require County Council approval of spending.
“I think it’s a very good internal control over the money,” Sutherland said.
Other findings in her audit found Leopold’s administration did not consult in a meaningful way on plans for the money with the Local Development Council, a group of business owners and executives, area residents and elected officials created by state law to make recommendations on how to spend the money.
The administration then shifted funds or used unanticipated revenue without telling either group, and has yet to develop a long-term plan as required by state law.
County Budget Officer John Hammond said the spending met the state requirement that the money be spent in the “immediate proximity” of the casino, and blamed the failure to consult with the LDC on the removal and replacement of Councilman Daryl Jones in 2012. Jones was later restored to the council.
Hammond also wrote in his official response to the audit that there is nothing in the law that requires the county to consult the local group if more money than anticipated is collected, as it was in both years.
He ended his letter with a warning that the creation of the fund is exactly the type of “Balkanization” of county funds that creators of the County Charter warned would destroy the budget process.
“Timely advice today as it was 50 years ago,” he wrote.
County Executive Laura Neuman has not released her plans for the funds this year, although Hammond estimated there would be $15 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1. State officials have predicted revenue from the casino will decline once the Horseshoe Casino opens in Baltimore and the state’s sixth casino opens in 2016 at National Harbor.
Where did it go?
Sutherland’s audit was intended to determine if the county spent the money as the Leopold administration said it would.
Leopold’s administration said it spent the entire $1.3 million from the casino received in fiscal 2012 on improving fire services at the Harmans-Dorsey, Jessup and Severn fire stations nearest the casino, according to the audit. But Maryland Live! opened one month before the end of the fiscal year, and auditors said the real cost of services at those stations was closer to $750,000.
The 2013 spending plan presented to the local board and the County Council included $3.5 million for expanded police protection around the casino and Arundel Mills mall. Instead, the auditor found the county only spent $2 million.
Police Chief Kevin Davis recently said no additional officers have been added to the area, although Neuman included funds for them in the budget she unveiled Thursday for fiscal 2015.
In some cases, the county spent more on some items than it told the LDC and council about. The $6.8 million the county said it used to buy and staff a new ambulance and pay for fire department operations around the casino later grew to $8.7 million.
In other cases, items in the spending plan received less funding than outlined or none at all.
The Leopold administration said it would spend $1 million on road improvements around the casino in fiscal 2013, but instead spent nothing, the audit found.
Another $250,000 set aside for economic development has yet to be spent, and the $250,000 dedicated to the Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp. represents 63 percent of all county funds for the agency.
The county allocated $2 million for the AACC campus at Arundel Mills mall in its spending plan, but the budget office said it actually spent $3 million. The auditor found it actually spent $2.5 million.
Another $2.9 million went to pay interest on bonds used to fund county school construction, even though that wasn’t listed as a use in the spending plan and the county never told the local development board or the council.
Jones, the councilman whose district includes the area supposed to benefit from the money, said he was concerned that some spending was not presented to the LDC and council, and was particularly critical of the failure to resurface area roads.
“I think it’s important and concerning that the money for road resurfacing wasn’t used for that purpose,” he said.
Instead, that money was re-allocated to AACC without any documentation on how the college used the extra money, Jones asserts.
Bill Heine, a Republican candidate for council in District 1, expressed similar concern.
“My biggest concern is that it seems nobody has a sense of financial accountability on this,” he said after reviewing a copy of the audit.
http://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland_gazette/hot/auditor-anne-arundel-shuffled-casino-funds/article_e302e347-0fa0-5bec-815e-f6122bc5c532.html
...casino model based on addiction....
QUESTION OF FAIRNESS: Speaker says casino model based on addiction
Posted: Friday, May 2, 2014
Casino opponents
Anti-casino advocate Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling speaks Thursday near the site of a proposed casino in the Seneca County town of Tyre.http://www.fltimes.com/news/article_475c4b1c-d20b-11e3-a098-0019bb2963f4.html
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