Showing posts with label redistribution of wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label redistribution of wealth. Show all posts
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Portsmouth courts social ill
Portsmouth courts social ill
The Virginian-Pilot
There are any number of good reasons, especially in Portsmouth, to fight the huge fees coming for the Downtown and Midtown tunnels: The regressive nature of the tolls; the further atomization of a fragmented region; the precedent they set for a community defined by river crossings.
But replacing one complex set of social ills with the ones caused by gambling is perhaps the worst solution floated so far.
State Sen. Louise Lucas is, once again, pushing for Portsmouth to accept casino gambling. Last year, she promised that gambling revenue would allow Portsmouth to lower its property tax rate. This year, she claims it would allow Portsmouth to cut the Elizabeth River tolls due to begin in February.
In reality, it would burden an already burdened city with an industry that takes a horrifying toll on its host.
Today's casinos, according to a study panel convened by the Institute for American Values (http://www.americanvalues.org/) "are affecting our health, our economics, our politics, our ideas and social values, and perhaps even our sense of who we are as a people and what obligations we have toward one another. [Casinos] appear to be connected in important ways to the rise of American inequality."
The IAV panel - the Council on Casinos - compares the rise of local gambling with the spread of payday lenders and fast-food franchises.
Modern food is carefully engineered to make us crave it. If you give in to that craving too often, it will destroy your health. Modern casinos are engineered to make us crave the thrill they create. If you give in to that craving too often, it can destroy your financial and emotional health.
Unlike destination casinos, with their table games and vacation crowds, "regional casinos" depend on repeat visits by nearby habitual gamblers. The casinos depend almost wholly on slot machines - sophisticated computers manipulated to separate gamblers from their money.
People with gambling problems account for "40 to 60 percent of slot machine revenues," according to the IAV report, entitled "Why Casinos Matter." Casual players - which the casinos claim to target - produce a paltry 4 percent of revenue, according to a Canadian study. Indeed, according to the IAV report, people within 10 miles of a casino are twice as likely to have a gambling problem.
The nonprofit Institute for American Values aims "to renew civil society." It brings together all kinds of thinkers from all kinds of perspectives to consider big issues affecting America. Its focus at the moment is on bolstering the institution of marriage, invigorating thrift and strengthening shared values.
For the report, the Council on Casinos reviewed a number of studies, many of them done abroad.
Reliable data on gambling in America has long been difficult to find. There is little research financed by anyone other than the industry, and the rise of regional casinos is a relatively new phenomenon.
The IAV's report - while also urging more and better research - found that in addition to harm to gamblers, casinos do serious damage to communities, lowering property values, weakening nearby businesses and redistributing wealth from the poor to the rich.
Portsmouth already has the lowest per capita income in Hampton Roads and one of the highest poverty rates. More than 40 percent of the city's property belongs to entities that don't pay taxes. But the deleterious impact of gaming extends far beyond any city's borders.
Gambling puts a state in the hypocritical position of needing the revenue while having the responsibility to protect citizens from exploitation. Virginia faced the same dilemma on tobacco.
Because the commonwealth's financial health depended on the industry, it was late and begrudging in taking steps to regulate cigarettes and recoup the massive social costs of smoking.
Virginia - and its lawmakers - should do everything they can to avoid a similar mistake with gambling.
Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe and lawmakers have pledged to search for a way to lower the tolls on the Midtown and Downtown tunnels. They are likely to find that task difficult given the sweetheart terms of the deal with Elizabeth River Crossings. Still, that effort should continue, even as lawmakers send Lucas' gambling proposal to oblivion.
The tolls at the Midtown and Downtown tunnels - $1.84 for passenger vehicles and $7.36 for trucks at rush hour - will affect business and settlement patterns across Hampton Roads, changing where people live and work and play. They will change this place for generations to come.
The terrible and well-understood social costs of gambling are about the only things that make those tolls look harmless.
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/12/portsmouth-courts-social-ill
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Mississippi law firms perfecting sucking discretionary income from the local economy
Someone's getting rich from casino gambling and it's not the Gambling Addicts!
One constant in the casino market's maturation process: lawyers. At the beginning, there were regulations to learn and transactions to clear for brand new clients. Now firms have teams of lawyers dedicated to handling gambling issues.
Tommy Shepherd, Gaming Industry Team co-leader with Jones Walker, and Danny McDaniel, chairman of Baker Donelson's Gaming Industry Service Team, were among the first to learn the ropes of the new industry.
Shepherd recalled that in the early 1990s "true entrepreneurs" came to Mississippi and pioneered the gambling industry.
"After that, some of the entrepreneurs took their companies public, like Lyle Berman and his company, Grand Casinos. Then we entered a period of consolidation and acquisitions by private equity groups," Shepherd said.
With the downturn in the economy, he said, some companies are taking stock of their Mississippi casino holdings and are looking at whether they should keep them in their portfolios.
"That evaluation process and the bankruptcies of several Mississippi gaming companies may result in sales of some properties to new entrants to the gaming industry, such as Golden Nugget Gaming in Biloxi," Shepherd said. "In other words, we may be going back to the future with entrepreneur ownership of Mississippi casinos."
They'll still need their lawyers. So will the makers of slots and table games, casino suppliers and the banks that are involved in gambling.
"Whenever there's a change in ownership, that triggers gaming approvals or when there is a new financing, we play a role in the transactions," Shepherd said.
Shepherd, who spends "90 percent plus" of his practice devoted to gambling, put together a legal team that's considered one of the state's largest gambling practices. The law firm publishes the widely read Mississippi Gaming Law Blog at www.msgaminglaw.com.
Danny McDaniel practices exclusively in gambling law in Mississippi and Louisiana. He has been involved with Mississippi's casino "since day one." He recalled the developers of the state's early riverboat industry as "really dynamic, independent entrepreneurs like Lyle Berman and John Connolly" who became so successful "they had investment bankers throwing money at them."
Now gambling has spread throughout the country and it's back in the hands of independent entrepreneurs, he said. Nowadays McDaniel works mostly with wealthy independent entrepreneurs who are developing projects "when most publicly traded companies are facing competition and focusing on the East Coast and other places" besides Mississippi.
That's a far cry from the early days that McDaniel describes as the build-it-and-they-will-come era.
"Back then you put up a casino and people waited in line and paid $5 for the privilege of gambling," he said.
The new independent casino entrepreneurs aren't bound by corporate restrictions or bureaucracy.
"They can move quicker and more decisively," said McDaniel.
Shepherd and McDaniel both say they, like most everybody else, had no idea that gambling would grow into such a large industry has it has in Mississippi.
Shepherd said his first gambling client in 1992 had a small project on the coast that "didn't go anywhere," but it introduced him to the new statutes and the Gaming Commission members.
"I didn't think many people except a few visionaries thought we would have anything like this in Mississippi today," said Shepherd.
"We thought we would have a decent practice in it and many good clients. I don't think any of us who do regulatory work thought it would be as much or as consistent as it is."
The statutes and regulations have stayed substantially the same for many years, Shepherd said, but there's some tweaking from time to time.
McDaniel had recently left a job in the U.S. Attorney's Office civil division and joined Heidelberg and Woodliff in 1991. Five years later he moved to Phelps Dunbar where he began its gambling practice. He's been with Baker Donelson since 2010.
"When gaming came in, I ended up representing one of the first gaming companies on the coast and it just went from there. I thought it was just something else I would do in my practice. But once I started doing gaming work it was hard to go back to my previous practice."
Shepherd said the most memorable person he has met in the gambling industry was Bill Boyd, founder of Boyd Gaming.
"He was remarkable in that he is not what you might have expected a gaming executive to look and act like," said Shepherd. "He is a genuine person, a kind and decent man."
Today's crop of entrepreneurs aren't like Bill Boyd, who came up in the gambling industry, McDaniel said. They're businessmen like Carl Icahn and Landry's Restaurant founder Tilman Frittata, who see casinos as a part of their holdings.
"The reason this is so much fun is because I'm dealing with some of the wealthiest and most dynamic people in the world," McDaniel said.
Six clients have been on Forbes' World Billionaires List.
[Of course they have been because this is a massive redistribution of wealth.]
"They're all extremely bright and dynamic and have this self confidence that is just amazing," McDaniel said. "It's a fascinating way to make a living."
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/jun/23/mississippi-law-firms-dedicated-gambling-issues/
Mississippi law firms dedicated to gambling issues
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Gutsy casino entrepreneurs helped launch Mississippi into the gambling business more than 20 years ago, and today a new breed of entrepreneurs are buying up properties for their portfolios.One constant in the casino market's maturation process: lawyers. At the beginning, there were regulations to learn and transactions to clear for brand new clients. Now firms have teams of lawyers dedicated to handling gambling issues.
Tommy Shepherd, Gaming Industry Team co-leader with Jones Walker, and Danny McDaniel, chairman of Baker Donelson's Gaming Industry Service Team, were among the first to learn the ropes of the new industry.
Shepherd recalled that in the early 1990s "true entrepreneurs" came to Mississippi and pioneered the gambling industry.
"After that, some of the entrepreneurs took their companies public, like Lyle Berman and his company, Grand Casinos. Then we entered a period of consolidation and acquisitions by private equity groups," Shepherd said.
With the downturn in the economy, he said, some companies are taking stock of their Mississippi casino holdings and are looking at whether they should keep them in their portfolios.
"That evaluation process and the bankruptcies of several Mississippi gaming companies may result in sales of some properties to new entrants to the gaming industry, such as Golden Nugget Gaming in Biloxi," Shepherd said. "In other words, we may be going back to the future with entrepreneur ownership of Mississippi casinos."
They'll still need their lawyers. So will the makers of slots and table games, casino suppliers and the banks that are involved in gambling.
"Whenever there's a change in ownership, that triggers gaming approvals or when there is a new financing, we play a role in the transactions," Shepherd said.
Shepherd, who spends "90 percent plus" of his practice devoted to gambling, put together a legal team that's considered one of the state's largest gambling practices. The law firm publishes the widely read Mississippi Gaming Law Blog at www.msgaminglaw.com.
Danny McDaniel practices exclusively in gambling law in Mississippi and Louisiana. He has been involved with Mississippi's casino "since day one." He recalled the developers of the state's early riverboat industry as "really dynamic, independent entrepreneurs like Lyle Berman and John Connolly" who became so successful "they had investment bankers throwing money at them."
Now gambling has spread throughout the country and it's back in the hands of independent entrepreneurs, he said. Nowadays McDaniel works mostly with wealthy independent entrepreneurs who are developing projects "when most publicly traded companies are facing competition and focusing on the East Coast and other places" besides Mississippi.
That's a far cry from the early days that McDaniel describes as the build-it-and-they-will-come era.
"Back then you put up a casino and people waited in line and paid $5 for the privilege of gambling," he said.
The new independent casino entrepreneurs aren't bound by corporate restrictions or bureaucracy.
"They can move quicker and more decisively," said McDaniel.
Shepherd and McDaniel both say they, like most everybody else, had no idea that gambling would grow into such a large industry has it has in Mississippi.
Shepherd said his first gambling client in 1992 had a small project on the coast that "didn't go anywhere," but it introduced him to the new statutes and the Gaming Commission members.
"I didn't think many people except a few visionaries thought we would have anything like this in Mississippi today," said Shepherd.
"We thought we would have a decent practice in it and many good clients. I don't think any of us who do regulatory work thought it would be as much or as consistent as it is."
The statutes and regulations have stayed substantially the same for many years, Shepherd said, but there's some tweaking from time to time.
McDaniel had recently left a job in the U.S. Attorney's Office civil division and joined Heidelberg and Woodliff in 1991. Five years later he moved to Phelps Dunbar where he began its gambling practice. He's been with Baker Donelson since 2010.
"When gaming came in, I ended up representing one of the first gaming companies on the coast and it just went from there. I thought it was just something else I would do in my practice. But once I started doing gaming work it was hard to go back to my previous practice."
Shepherd said the most memorable person he has met in the gambling industry was Bill Boyd, founder of Boyd Gaming.
"He was remarkable in that he is not what you might have expected a gaming executive to look and act like," said Shepherd. "He is a genuine person, a kind and decent man."
Today's crop of entrepreneurs aren't like Bill Boyd, who came up in the gambling industry, McDaniel said. They're businessmen like Carl Icahn and Landry's Restaurant founder Tilman Frittata, who see casinos as a part of their holdings.
"The reason this is so much fun is because I'm dealing with some of the wealthiest and most dynamic people in the world," McDaniel said.
Six clients have been on Forbes' World Billionaires List.
[Of course they have been because this is a massive redistribution of wealth.]
"They're all extremely bright and dynamic and have this self confidence that is just amazing," McDaniel said. "It's a fascinating way to make a living."
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/jun/23/mississippi-law-firms-dedicated-gambling-issues/
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Indiana's Gambling Addiction
This is Massachusetts' future --
Senate President Pro Tem David Long says the more serious opposition to the bill is likely to center on its fiscal impact.
A bill rewriting Indiana casino regulations cleared its first hurdle without any dissenting votes. But opposition may be coming on two fronts.
The Senate Public Policy Committee has voted unanimously to allow live table games at racetrack casinos in Anderson and Shelby County.
Senate President Pro Tem David Long says that‘s an expansion of gambling, something that‘s been a red line for legislators for years.
“They‘re seeking to be a full-blown casino,” Long says. “Obviously, if you walk in there, you see an electronic blackjack table. I‘m not sure that‘s what we perceived as ‘electronic slots‘ when they were passed originally. But to give them the other table games, that‘s definitely adding to their gaming.”
Long says some gambling opponents in the Senate will oppose the measure on that basis alone. But
Long says the more serious opposition to the bill is likely to center on its fiscal impact.
A legislative analysis calculates changes in how casinos are taxed would cost the state at least $150 million over the next two years.
Long says it‘s clear that if legislators do nothing, the casinos and the state will take a financial hit from new casinos springing up in Ohio and Michigan, and possibly Illinois and Kentucky as well.
He says legislators have to decide whether the casino industry deserves a hand, and what form it should take. And Long warns that decision is complicated by the casinos‘ difficulty in agreeing amongst themselves.
[The tail wags the dog!]
http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/expanded-gaming-opposition-legislature-43613/
Expanded Gaming Might See Opposition In Legislature
By Network Indiana
Posted January 25, 2013
Senate President Pro Tem David Long says the more serious opposition to the bill is likely to center on its fiscal impact.
Photo: Rob Boudon
The Senate Public Policy Committee has voted unanimously to allow live table games at racetrack casinos in Anderson and Shelby County.
A bill rewriting Indiana casino regulations cleared its first hurdle without any dissenting votes. But opposition may be coming on two fronts.
The Senate Public Policy Committee has voted unanimously to allow live table games at racetrack casinos in Anderson and Shelby County.
Senate President Pro Tem David Long says that‘s an expansion of gambling, something that‘s been a red line for legislators for years.
“They‘re seeking to be a full-blown casino,” Long says. “Obviously, if you walk in there, you see an electronic blackjack table. I‘m not sure that‘s what we perceived as ‘electronic slots‘ when they were passed originally. But to give them the other table games, that‘s definitely adding to their gaming.”
Long says some gambling opponents in the Senate will oppose the measure on that basis alone. But
Long says the more serious opposition to the bill is likely to center on its fiscal impact.
A legislative analysis calculates changes in how casinos are taxed would cost the state at least $150 million over the next two years.
Long says it‘s clear that if legislators do nothing, the casinos and the state will take a financial hit from new casinos springing up in Ohio and Michigan, and possibly Illinois and Kentucky as well.
He says legislators have to decide whether the casino industry deserves a hand, and what form it should take. And Long warns that decision is complicated by the casinos‘ difficulty in agreeing amongst themselves.
[The tail wags the dog!]
http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/expanded-gaming-opposition-legislature-43613/
Sunday, October 28, 2012
When will politicians stop....
In Massachusetts, the propaganda has largely been driven by the construction unions.
Do the union leaders truly believe this delusion? Are they so blinded they have failed to consider the communities that have been destroyed? Examples and studies abound.
The unions transported union members from Atlantic City to proselytize while the Beacon Hill Bobble Heads nodded agreement.
Only one Senator asked the starting wage. Senator Sue Tucker, bless her!
The Bobble Heads nodded agreement without question, without challenge.
From Gambling Hurts:
When will politicians stop being hood-winked OR stop trying to hood-wink the people by the gambling industry ballshit that gambling is in any way good for the economy or job creation. Gambling transfers wealth out of countries into offshore tax havens benefiting a few mega rich and sponsors of the mega rich. In return it destroys lives, and communities with proliferation of gambling and its associated ills. The few minimum wage jobs the gambling industry create do not offset the damage to local business by the loss of wealth to these faceless corporations nor the loss of taxation by the cash transfers out of local economy. In addition there is significant additional negative consequences to gamblers and families of the drop out and marginalization of addicts in society. The gambling industry talk crap, gambling proliferation is mostly negative.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
No dice
No dice
A casino would hurt, not help, Holyoke’s economic redevelopment efforts
October 11, 2012
SINCE THE STATE of Massachusetts legalized casino gambling, many cities throughout the state have begun competing for the opportunity to place a casino within their borders. Indeed, many in my hometown have advocated for a casino in Holyoke, calling it a potential boon to our struggling economy. Proponents of a casino here suggest that this industry will be the city’s saving grace. They frame this issue as a cure-all for our city’s economic struggles. After doing my own research, I came to a much different conclusion: A casino in Holyoke would not aid in our economic rebirth, but would ultimately undermine the effort.
Despite the fact that this industry produces nothing, sells nothing, and siphons money from the local economy and into the hands of distant owners, the casino sympathizers think a Holyoke casino is the city’s best bet for economic rebirth. Where are the examples of cities that have been reborn thanks to a casino? Which cities have made the successful transformation from an industrial-based to a knowledge-based economy thanks to a resort powered by gambling? What proponents of a casino will not say is a belief that lies at the heart of their argument: that the city of Holyoke cannot do better than a casino.
A casino in Holyoke would not lay the foundation for the type of sustainable economic growth we need. To be sure, a casino could well have some short-term benefits, including increased tax revenue. But to champion casino economics in Holyoke would be to accept a shortsighted, narrow solution, when a more holistic and long-term approach is warranted.
Studies of the effects of casino gambling on local economies have demonstrated that the alleged benefits of casinos have been exaggerated, while the costs have been understated. Legalized gambling does produce marginal increases in tax revenue and employment. But the amount of consumer spending that shifts from local businesses to legalized gambling has very damaging effects on the local economy.
A casino does not create wealth; it transfers it. Regions benefit from casino gambling when people from outside the region come to spend money there. But there is no evidence that this would be the case at a Holyoke site. A casino in Holyoke would not be a destination gambling site, but a convenience gambling site. It would thus serve primarily to remove money from the local economy and put it in the hands of casino owners who do not live here. This is how casinos work—by design. Because of this, I do not believe a casino would be useful even as part of a holistic approach. We have the resources and the drive to create an economy that will benefit all, and for generations to come. When it comes to a casino, we do not need to settle.
I ran for mayor because I wanted our city to dream bigger. While casino proponents see a massive casino complex sitting atop the natural splendor of our Mount Tom range as progress, I see something different. I see Holyoke poised to become one of the most desirable innovation and technology centers in the US. I see Holyoke as the epicenter for the next generation of American ingenuity, competitiveness, and growth.
We have multiple advantages in our favor to compete in what is now a global economy. Our location allows us to serve two of the largest markets in the United States in Boston and New York City. We have a world-class fiber-optic communications infrastructure. We have a solid manufacturing base and the cheap, green energy sources that attract this industry in a time where our country is pulling together to see a renewed era of manufacturing. And we are surrounded by dozens of quality, higher-education institutions that serve more than 100,000 college students
and every year churn out thousands of graduates who become productive members of the new knowledge-based economy.
All of these advantages played a role in locating a new, high-tech computing center in Holyoke. Two of the best universities in the world, Harvard and MIT, are investing here in the computing center, and this move is not lost on other investors. The supercomputing power we’re hosting is already drawing interest from companies and universities that can use this technology.
The great shortcoming of our region is that we see so many college graduates abandon Holyoke and the Pioneer Valley in favor of other metropolitan areas that offer the types of jobs and urban environments they seek. We need to use the computing center as leverage to create the entrepreneurial environment which will expand our technology, manufacturing, and innovation-based economy. That is precisely the premise of the Holyoke Innovation District Task Force, which the city co-chairs. This group of government, academic, and private-sector stakeholders from Holyoke, region, and state are working together to have our city serve as a catalyst and epicenter of innovation in the Pioneer Valley, while also strengthening other economic and job opportunities related to manufacturing and commerce.
Furthermore, my administration has aggressively sought to foster the creative energy of our residents that will fuel our creative sector businesses and organizations. Part of this approach was the creation of a new position for a creative economy coordinator. This position, which I proposed and the City Council approved, will promote businesses and jobs in Holyoke related to art, culture, design, architecture, marketing, hospitality, and tourism as a way to leverage private investment and create a vibrant urban downtown through creative place-making strategies.
With such promising work ahead of us, we do not have time to entertain the fanciful notion that a casino is our economic salvation. Going after a casino is a gamble in and of itself, one that would tie up valuable city resources, jeopardizing our progress at this critical juncture in our economic transformation.
Now is a time for Holyoke to renew its highest ideals and remember its better history. In the 1860s, our Holyoke forebears recognized opportunity in the soon-to-explode industry of paper manufacturing, and they pursued it aggressively. The result of their foresight can be seen all around us—in our magnificent buildings and our stately homes. By harnessing the economic potential of the paper industry, Holyoke became one of the wealthiest communities in Massachusetts. When I look at Holyoke today, I see what our Holyoke ancestors saw when they created the Paper City of the World: a city of limitless possibility.
The innovators and entrepreneurs Holyoke needs to attract do not want to live and work in gutted shells of cities; they want to invest and live in vibrant communities that allow businesses to flourish. I oppose a casino in Holyoke because I have not given up on Holyoke. We need to attract job creators and jobs in productive industries, support our budding creative community, and guide the biggest investors to our city. Furthermore, we want to encourage industries that will make Holyoke a place to which our young people want to return.
The majority of the jobs available at a new casino complex would be low-skill and low pay. Is this really a way to entice our young people to return to our community after college? If we want to cultivate the talents and creative energy of our young people, we need something firmer and more sustainable.
We need to do better and we will do better—and the first step is rejecting shortsightedness in favor of a more sustainable approach.
Alex B. Morse is the mayor of Holyoke.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Adelson: The Power of Gambling $$$$
From Dianne M. Berlin:
Special interests influencing the media especially through ownership is not good news for the public. Having gambling interests in that position is outrageous. That happened here in PennsylVEGAS and the position of the papers involved changed from an anti-fleecino one to one of support.
GOP backer Adelson accused of commandeering Israel's media market
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who has poured millions into GOP coffers, also bankrolls a pro-Netanyahu Israeli newspaper that could transform the media market.
By Joshua Mitnick,Correspondent
September 24, 2012
Casino owner Sheldon Adelson attends a campaign fundrasing event with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at Red Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Friday, Sept. 21.
Charles Dharapak/AP
Tel Aviv
Sheldon Adelson grabbed the spotlight in the earlier this year for making multi-million dollar campaign contributions to Republican presidential candidates on the bet that their policies would better jibe with those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than with President Obama's.
In Israel, Mr. Adelson is better known as the force behind the five-year-old free newspaper, "Yisrael Hayom" (Israel Today), which is seen by some as the Israeli print equivalent of Fox News. Touting Israeli patriotism, it is among the most widely read newspapers in the country and has a reputation for its fiercely loyal coverage of Mr. Netanyahu – and now Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Adelson rejects accusations of bias, insisting in a previous interview that his paper is a "fair and balanced" alternative to other newspapers more critical of the government and that he is breaking rival newspaper Yediot Ahranot's monopoly on the market. Many Israelis nonetheless see the paper as a political vehicle to support the prime minster, and now, American Republican politicians. And with other newspapers floundering financially while Adelson puts his substantial wealth behind Yisrael Hayom, some worry that he is squeezing other political ideologies out of the market.
"You can see completely biased coverage always emphasizing good news for the Republicans, or always hiding or eliminating bad news for the Republicans," says Oren Persico, who writes a daily analysis of print news coverage for Israel’s media magazine "The Seventh Eye." "It's one-sided, so Israelis will stand behind Romney."
While it is impossible to discern the exact role Yisrael Hayom plays in shaping those opinions, its critical take on Obama and its upbeat coverage of the Republican campaign stand out from the rest of Israeli media coverage of US politics.
For example, the day after the Romney campaign was rocked by a video of the candidate making disparaging remarks about Americans who pay no income tax, Yisrael Hayom featured a front page opinion piece alleging the US is a declining empire and accusing Obama of "voluntarily lowering the profile" of the US and fueling unrest in Arab countries. The story about the video was on page 23.
A day later, the newspaper wrote in a subhead that "commentators think the affair will help" and quoted conservative columnist Ann Coulter saying that Romney comments were on the mark. Today the newspaper acknowledged that the video is having a negative impact on public opinion of Romney, but cited "optimism from surveys" indicating that the Republican candidate remains close in the polls, despite the uproar.
Yisrael Hayom is not the only paper that comes across as promoting a particular political agenda in Israel. News coverage in the liberal newspaper Haaretz, for example, is known to be sympathetic to the US president and heavily critical of Netanyahu. But critics of Yisrael Hayom say the fact that the paper has never reported a profit is further evidence that the goal of the paper is primarily political rather than a business enterprise.
Nahum Barnea, an Israel Prize laureate columnist who works for rival newspaper Yediot Ahronot, has denounced Yisrael Hayom as a paper with no business model that serves the interest of "one man" and is undermining Israeli democracy by making it impossible for for-profit newspapers to compete.
And as Yisrael Hayom has surged in readers, other Israeli papers that need to make money in order to stay afloat have struggled – yesterday, the cash-strapped daily newspaper Ma’ariv was sold to Shlomo Ben Zvi, the owner of another right wing newspaper, who announced plans to lay off most of the staff.
"For many years, the media was dominated by left-of-center views and families supporting the Labor party," says Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster. But today the paper’s sympathetic coverage of US Republicans has a natural audience in Israel, he says.
"In general, Israelis have been disappointed with the promise and hope of Obama. That’s not specific to Yisrael Hayom."
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0924/GOP-backer-Adelson-accused-of-commandeering-Israel-s-media-market
Friday, September 21, 2012
Ohio: Welcoming sucking discretionary income from local economy
Ever notice - Man prosecuted for cheating casinos, but no prosecution for casinos cheating patrons?
Lakewood Man Misses Sentencing After Pleading Guilty to Cheating Casino
Nidal Abuaun faced up to a year in jail after he recently pleaded guilty to “capping his bets” at the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland.
A 50-year-old Lakewood man facing a year in prison for cheating the Horseshoe Casino didn’t show up for his sentencing on Wednesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
A warrant was issued for Nidal Abuaun’s arrest on Thursday.
He pleaded guilty last month to a charge of gambling, a fifth-degree felony, stemming from allegations that he “capped” his bets — meaning that he made a bet after the cards were dealt — at the Horseshoe Casino.
Nicole DiSanto, a spokeswoman for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office, said that the charge against Abuaun was a “probationable offense."
“He didn’t show up for sentencing,” she said, adding that she heard from defense attorney’s that Abuaun had been hospitalized.
He faces one year in prison after he was caught “capping his bets” once he knew he won a hand of Texas Hold ‘Em at the Cleveland casino.
Abuaun and another Lakewood man were among seven indicted in June on charges of cheating the Horseshoe Casino earlier this year.
The trial for the other man, Philip Koch, 54, of Lakewood, is set to begin next week.
Five others — four men from Cleveland and one from Akron — were also indicted for cheating at the casino.
“Ohio now has statutes in place to address crimes committed in the new casinos,” said prosecutor Bill Mason in a statement. “My office will continue to prosecute these crimes as we would any other crime in our county.”
http://lakewood-oh.patch.com/articles/lakewood-man-misses-sentencing-after-pleading-guilty-to-cheating-casino
Monday, September 10, 2012
Gambling's economic, social costs outweigh supposed gains
....according to a recent Pew Center on the States research study, of the 48 states that have some form of legalized gambling, only two have managed to reach their initial revenue projections.
Gambling's economic, social costs outweigh supposed gains
In Las Vegas, the inside of a casino in the dead of night looks absolutely no different than the inside of a casino in the middle of the afternoon. There are no windows to let in natural light. There are no clocks on the walls to remind gamblers that they may have obligations elsewhere. Every enticement — free drinks, free food, plentiful entertainment — is provided to keep people spending money at the tables.
There is little, in other words, to remind people of responsibilities or accountability.
As a recent story in the Deseret News noted, a move is afoot to legalize gambling in more states as a means of combating a sluggish economy. However, according to a recent Pew Center on the States research study, of the 48 states that have some form of legalized gambling, only two have managed to reach their initial revenue projections. And while gambling doesn't significantly broaden the tax base, it still somehow manages to jack up crime rates. Studies show that when a casino opens its doors, robberies in the area increase almost immediately. After five years, property crime increases by an average of 8.6 percent, while violent crime goes up by a staggering rate of 12.6 percent.
Perhaps the biggest problem of all is that casinos are not economic development. They don't produce or sell anything of value, they just suck money away from people with the false lure of getting rich, and the taxes they raise come mostly from the poor and middle class, quite the opposite of the kinds of tax policies many politicians push in their campaign speeches.
Legalized gambling is not really a gamble at all — at least not for those behind it. Casino owners know that if they can keep people betting long enough, even the hottest winning streak will go cold and, sooner or later, they will throw away a great deal of money in an attempt to come out ahead.
That's not optimism; it's basic statistics. The games are all structured so that, over time, it's mathematically impossible for the house to lose.
All too often, that provides a powerful incentive for government to become "the house" themselves in order to find a new source of revenue. The siren song of legalized gambling has lured many a local legislature toward the promise of easy money, but inevitably state governments that succumb to this temptation find themselves crashing against the rocks of unrealistic expectations and staggering social costs.
Gambling ultimately fails to generate long-term because it's a zero-sum game that transfers wealth without producing it. Families in poverty buy, on average, three times as many lottery tickets as the average middle-class family. This unconscionable tax on the poor inevitably leads to markedly increased rates of addiction, divorce, and suicide. Ultimately, it's a game where nobody wins.
Utah has wisely avoided any form of legalized gambling. Holding the line will help make the state's economy stronger in the long run.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Ohio Gamblers bet less for second straight month
Published: 9/8/2012
Report: Ohio casino wagers show 11% drop from July
Gamblers bet less for second straight month
BY TYREL LINKHORNBLADE BUSINESS WRITER
Gamblers bet less money at Ohio's two casinos for a second straight month in August, with statewide wagers falling about 9 percent from July.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission released its monthly statewide casino gambling report Friday.
The numbers show Hollywood Casino Toledo took in $168.2 million between its table games and slot machines last month, down 11 percent from $189.1 million in July.
[This represents money sucked from the local economy.]
The casino paid back about 90 percent of that in winnings, with the commission reporting gross revenue after payouts at Hollywood Toledo of $17.4 million on the month. In July, the casino posted a gross revenue after payouts of $19.1 million. The figures relate to gambling income only and do not include food, drink, or other merchandise sales.
Officials with Penn National Gaming, which operates Hollywood Toledo, didn't return calls seeking comment.
Currently, two of the four approved Ohio casinos are up and operating -- Hollywood Casino Toledo and Horseshoe Casino in downtown Cleveland.
Casinos in Columbus and Cincinnati are expected to open this fall and next year, respectively.
Gamblers in Toledo and Cleveland wagered a total of $349.8 million in August, down from $383.8 million in July.
In June, the first full month of operation for both casinos, gamblers wagered $417.8 million.
Tama Davis, communications director for the casino control commission, said the regulatory body expects it will take some time to establish what is normal in terms of revenue and wagers.
"We're very early into this process in growing this industry in Ohio," Ms. Davis said. "I think the baseline is going to come when all four are open and have been open for a certain period of time."
The vast majority of gambling in Toledo was done in slot machines -- just 10 percent of August's wagers were made at the casino's 80 table games. Horseshoe's table games were a little more popular, with the casino's 94 table games making up about 23 percent of total wagers.
The commission report shows both casinos paid out a higher percentage of wagers at the slots. Toledo's August slots payout was 91 percent, while the table games payout was 78 percent. In Cleveland, the slots paid out 89 percent, while the table games paid out 82 percent of wagers.
Cleveland's adjusted gross revenue was $22.8 million in August, down about 5 percent from $23.9 million in July.
http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2012/09/08/Report-Casino-wagers-show-11-drop-from-July.html
Sunday, August 26, 2012
"They've cooked those numbers"
Would you think after experiencing the community destruction that Predatory Gambling has brought, that Michigan lawmakers and citizens might have figured out that it's not a solution?
You can't continue to expect the poor to shoulder the burden of failed fiscal policy.
August 25, 2012
Michigan Supreme Court orders casino proposal put on ballot
By Chad Livengood
Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing — Michigan voters could decide in November whether the state needs eight new privately run casinos, including four in Metro Detroit.
The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday ordered state election officials to place on the Nov. 6 ballot a constitutional amendment that would authorize new gambling facilities in Birch Run, Clinton Township, Clam Lake (near Cadillac), Detroit, DeWitt Township, Grand Rapids, Pontiac and Romulus.
The legal victory by Citizens for More Michigan Jobs sets up a ballot box donnybrook not seen since 2004, when existing casinos spent nearly $20 million on the successful passage of a constitutional amendment requiring statewide and local votes for new nontribal gambling facilities. The harness racing industry spent more than $7 million that year in a failed bid to add slot machines at struggling horse tracks.
The high court reversed an Aug. 14 Michigan Court of Appeals decision that blocked the casino proposal from the ballot.
The Board of State Canvassers will consider Monday whether to add the casino proposal to a loaded general election ballot that could include up to five other constitutional amendments and one referendum.
"The established casinos will spend whatever they think is necessary to beat the thing back," said Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. "Casinos have a capacity to bring a lot of money to bear."
John Truscott, a spokesman for Protect MI Vote, which opposes gaming expansion, said the group is "prepared for a fight" this fall. Protect MI Vote is headed by Detroit's casinos and three tribal casinos.
"It's a very, very bad proposal that will cost jobs and be detrimental to our economy," he said.
The Detroit casinos and three tribal casinos sought to block the initiative, claiming it could unconstitutionally undo a 1996 voter-initiated gaming control law. The Appeals Court agreed with the existing casino operators, but the three-judge panel was overruled by the Supreme Court in a 7-0 decision.
"We always felt confident in our language," said Emily Gerkin Palsrok, spokeswoman for Citizens for More Michigan Jobs, a group of investors seeking voter approval for new casinos. "It just proves our opposition will go to extreme lengths to protect their monopoly."
Citizens for More Michigan Jobs released an economic study this week claiming eight new casinos could attract up to $1.45 billion in new investment in Michigan, create more than 20,000 jobs and generate more than $600 million in new tax revenue. The ballot proposal seeks to hike the commercial casino revenue tax rate from 19 percent to 23 percent.
You don't have to be an expert to realize how irrational the numbers are.
Truscott called the study by former state Treasurer Robert Kleine and former House Fiscal Agency director Mitch Bean "completely bogus" and argued the study doesn't take into account new casino competition in northern Ohio.
"They've cooked those numbers," Truscott said.
The Supreme Court did not hold a public hearing on the matter. But in a concurring opinion, Justice Stephen Markman explained his disagreements with the other justices.
Markman said he agreed with the Court of Appeals ruling that the proposal "thoroughly revises" the Gaming Control and Revenue Act, which authorized construction of the three Detroit casinos.
Opponents have argued a voter-initiated constitutional amendment can't undo a voter-initiated law without the Legislature's approval, and that the proposal could strip the state gaming control board of many of its regulatory powers.
"The petition fails even to alert voters to the fact that they are being asked to amend a law that they themselves previously enacted through the initiative process," Markman wrote.
He also said the Legislature needs to clarify legal procedures for changing the state constitution.
"The people are entitled to know how this process is properly invoked," Markman wrote. "We have seen evidence over the past several weeks, and more such evidence appears imminent, of the confusion that exists in this respect on the part of the people, the Board of State Canvassers, the Secretary of State and this court itself."
From The Detroit News:
Michigan Supreme Court orders casino proposal onto Nov. 6 ballot
August 25, 2012
By Dawson Bell and Paul EganDetroit Free Press Lansing Bureau
John Truscott, a spokesman for the Protect MI Vote group opposing the casino expansion, said the ruling was a surprise.
"It's very alarming to a lot of local officials" because it removes local control over casino expansion, Truscott said.
He said his group plans a campaign to "expose this for the harmful proposal it is."
http://www.freep.com/article/20120825/NEWS06/308250083/Michigan-Supreme-Court-orders-casino-proposal-onto-Nov-6-ballot
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Municipal bankruptcies
From: NoPlainvilleRacino
"San Bernadino files for bankruptcy as officials admit to 'cash flow issue' "
San Bernadino, California has a casino right in the city. Mammoth Lakes, California — with a casino about fifteen miles down the road — filed for bankruptcy last week.
Detroit is headed for bankruptcy, and it has three casinos.
Stockton, California filed for bankruptcy last month. That city has a casino, "card clubs", ...and three other casinos from fifteen to fifty miles away.
Do you suppose the economic multipliers — the effects of consumer spending flowing through the economy — might have felt the impact of predatory gambling in those cities? When you lose consumer activity, when money is spent in casinos and slot parlors instead of buying food, clothing, cars, refrigerators, etc., the economy of a town or city is bound to slow. If $100,000 spent in slot machines results in $300,000 in economic losses, it only stands to reason that cities with predatory gambling facilities are having to turn to bankruptcy when they can't balance the books.
The gambling "industry" doesn't create wealth; it simply transfers money from the less well-off , poor people and seniors to the already wealthy. You can't build a healthy, vibrant economy on taking from the poor and giving to the rich.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Do the Math
Some people get it right!
Opinion
’Round and ’round it goes (sort of like a roulette wheel)
Casino proponents are taking a page out of the playbook of some government entities that apparently don’t know the meaning of no. How many times is the complaint heard that a school board, for instance, will put a tax issue on the ballot over and over again until, finally, a weary public gives in?
Well, here we are again, addressing yet another amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would give a small group of businessmen a monopoly on gambling in the state. And again, we find ourselves saying that it is madness to give special interests a constitutional right to pick pockets.
We understand that some people enjoy gambling, and that many, including those from the Mahoning Valley, travel out of state now to gamble. Casino proponents tell us that Ohio is losing $1 billion a year to such outward migration, and that Issue 3 will put an end to that.
Do the math
But the numbers don’t add up. For one thing, as anyone from this area familiar with gambling patterns can tell you, not everyone who goes to West Virginia or has started going to Pittsburgh to gamble will automatically switch to one of the four Ohio casinos permitted under Issue 3. Some who are going to Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Detroit or Niagara Falls to gamble may go, instead, to Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo or Cincinnati, but not all. Those dollars leaving Ohio are not the target of the would-be operators of Issue 3 casinos. * If they captured every gambling dollar leaving the state, $1 billion isn’t enough to provide the jobs and taxes that Issue 3 proponents promise.
They’ve got their eye on billions of dollars in new gambling money, and those are dollars that will be drained from the discretionary budgets of hundreds of thousands of Ohio families. It is money that now goes for restaurant meals, theater tickets, new clothes, new cars and home furnishings and improvements. And that’s what underlies the deception of promoting gambling as an economic development tool.
Casinos produce little except false promises, the occasional sense of euphoria for the winners and the dejection of defeat for the losers and their families.
We have said before when commenting on other casino gambling issues in Ohio: Gambling is the most successful scheme for the redistribution of wealth ever devised. It takes from the poor and gives to the rich. That’s because, as any gambler can tell you, the house never loses.
Don’t be taken in by the promises of easy money being made by Issue 3 proponents. Vote no on Issue 3.
Opinion
’Round and ’round it goes (sort of like a roulette wheel)
Casino proponents are taking a page out of the playbook of some government entities that apparently don’t know the meaning of no. How many times is the complaint heard that a school board, for instance, will put a tax issue on the ballot over and over again until, finally, a weary public gives in?
Well, here we are again, addressing yet another amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would give a small group of businessmen a monopoly on gambling in the state. And again, we find ourselves saying that it is madness to give special interests a constitutional right to pick pockets.
We understand that some people enjoy gambling, and that many, including those from the Mahoning Valley, travel out of state now to gamble. Casino proponents tell us that Ohio is losing $1 billion a year to such outward migration, and that Issue 3 will put an end to that.
Do the math
But the numbers don’t add up. For one thing, as anyone from this area familiar with gambling patterns can tell you, not everyone who goes to West Virginia or has started going to Pittsburgh to gamble will automatically switch to one of the four Ohio casinos permitted under Issue 3. Some who are going to Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Detroit or Niagara Falls to gamble may go, instead, to Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo or Cincinnati, but not all. Those dollars leaving Ohio are not the target of the would-be operators of Issue 3 casinos. * If they captured every gambling dollar leaving the state, $1 billion isn’t enough to provide the jobs and taxes that Issue 3 proponents promise.
They’ve got their eye on billions of dollars in new gambling money, and those are dollars that will be drained from the discretionary budgets of hundreds of thousands of Ohio families. It is money that now goes for restaurant meals, theater tickets, new clothes, new cars and home furnishings and improvements. And that’s what underlies the deception of promoting gambling as an economic development tool.
Casinos produce little except false promises, the occasional sense of euphoria for the winners and the dejection of defeat for the losers and their families.
We have said before when commenting on other casino gambling issues in Ohio: Gambling is the most successful scheme for the redistribution of wealth ever devised. It takes from the poor and gives to the rich. That’s because, as any gambler can tell you, the house never loses.
Don’t be taken in by the promises of easy money being made by Issue 3 proponents. Vote no on Issue 3.
* Oh, you mean like the $1 billion Clyde Barrow claims is leaving Massachusetts isn't going to create 20,000 jobs?
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