PhillyDeals: Harrah's payout: $92.5 million
Joseph N. DiStefano
There's plenty of money down in Chester.
Sure, the schools are broke, the factories are shut, and family income is half Pennsylvania's average.
But the outside investors who control Caesars Entertainment Corp. were able to pocket $92.5 million in gambling income from their neon-lit Harrah's Chester Casino on Feb. 3, five days before they began selling shares in their company on the Nasdaq stock market.
They needed the commonwealth's blessing to take home those millions.
After two hearings, the state Gaming Control Board approved a Caesars subsidiary's proposal to borrow about $335 million: $234.5 million to refinance what the company still owes from building the gambling hall, at today's lower rates; the $92.5 million for the owners, and $8 million in fees and expenses.
Caesars' controlling owners are Apollo Global Management L.P., the buyout firm cofounded by Joshua Harris, who heads the new Philadelphia 76ers owners' group, and TPG Capital Group L.P. (Texas Pacific Group), the buyout firm that owns Cardone Industries Inc., Philadelphia's largest remaining industrial employer, which has been moving operations to cheap-labor South Texas.
The gaming board's Office of Enforcement Counsel, which is supposed to make sure casino owners aren't stripping their own assets, at first challenged the payout.
"Since [Harrah's] Chester was increasing its debt by approximately $100 million and also upstreaming a large portion of that increased debt" to the casino's owners, "the Office of Enforcement Counsel took the position that [the casino] had to prove its continued financial stability by submitting evidence to the full board," Frank DiGiacomo, one of a team of Duane Morris L.L.P. lawyers who argued Harrah's case, told me.
At two hearings, the casino convinced the board that it could refinance at cheaper rates, that Caesars would keep investing in the casino so it stayed profitable, and that the investors were being paid in lieu of management fees Harrah's hadn't collected up until now, Doug Sherman, the board's chief counsel, told me.
The vote was unanimous, except for the fact that chairman William Ryan recused himself. A former district attorney for Delaware County, where Chester is located, Ryan was appointed by Gov. Corbett after the hearings started.
How much is $92.5 million, in Chester terms? More than five times the $18 million the Chester Upland School District raised from local taxpayers last year; not quite as much as the $87 million kicked in by the state (mostly) and federal governments, which are trying to cut back.
Chester Upland collected $2.75 million in casino revenue-sharing money through the state under Pennsylvania law, not nearly enough to close its deficit. The district faces more cuts and another state takeover.
It's too bad for schools in Chester, and other aged Pennsylvania cities choked with tax-exempt government, nonprofit, and abandoned real estate, that the laws here leave them to depend on local property taxes and the doubtful kindness of strangers. And that they don't own any casinos of their own.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/139603773.html#ixzz1mprHYQrl
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Desecrating Historic Sites
Proposed bill would block casinos near historic sites
By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG -- The odds are against a state-licensed slots casino being built near the Gettysburg National Military Park, but state Rep. Paul Clymer, Civil War historians and other casino opponents aren't taking any chances.
Mr. Clymer, R-Bucks, has introduced a bill that would forbid any future casinos from being built within a 10-mile "buffer zone" around the famous Civil War battlefield -- or within such a buffer zone around a new federally sanctioned memorial park in Somerset County that honors the passengers on Flight 93 who fought for control of their hijacked plane on Sept. 11, 2001. Flight 93, which the hijackers were flying toward a target in Washington, D.C., crashed near Shanksville. "We must prevent a casino from being built within 10 miles of these very important historical places," Mr. Clymer told a House committee last week during a hearing on his House Bill 2082.
"Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War," he said. "It lasted for three intense days, from July 1-3, 1863, and after it ended, the Confederate army was in retreat back to the South. The courage and bravery of those men, on both sides, is a legacy that should not be compromised by putting a gambling casino near the military park, or near the site of the Flight 93 memorial."
At the hearing was a group from No Casino Gettysburg, which helped defeat a developer's attempts to build a casino north of the battlefield in 2006 and then another plan for a casino south of the battlefield in 2010.
Casino developers, backed by many Adams County residents and business owners, had hoped to get state approval in 2010 for a Category 3, or resort hotel casino, inside an existing hotel/conference center five miles south of the center of the town of Gettysburg. But the state Gaming Control Board gave the license to Nemacolin Woodlands resort in Fayette County. It hasn't opened yet because Gettysburg casino proponents are challenging the license decision in court.
The first resort casino license was awarded to the Valley Forge Convention Center, just about a mile from the famous Valley Forge area west of Philadelphia, where George Washington encamped during the Revolutionary War. But that park hasn't been designated as a historic site by Congress, as the Gettysburg battlefield and the Flight 93 sites have been.
The Valley Forge casino license also was challenged in court but that case was thrown out, and the casino is due to open in June. A third resort casino license will be awarded in 2017.
Favoring the buffer-zone bill last week were Paul Bucha, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient speaking for the National Civil War Trust, and Mindy Crawford, executive director of Preservation Pennsylvania.
"As a combat veteran, Gettysburg matters a great deal to me," Mr. Bucha said. "All around Gettysburg is, I think, perhaps the most hallowed ground in the U.S. Visiting Gettysburg is like walking into a huge cathedral consecrated with the blood of our ancestors. ... It's not a place for games or a place for someone to try to make a buck."
Ms. Crawford said her group got "an overwhelmingly large outpouring of calls, emails and letters asking us to help keep a casino license from being awarded" near the two locations.
The three Adams County commissioners also have problems with the bill, which they said would "have a significant potential to adversely impact the county economy." They called the 10-mile buffer zone "irrational," adding it would stretch "well beyond the Mason-Dixon line, into Maryland."
The committee hasn't said when it will vote on whether to send the bill to the full House for action.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12044/1209853-454-0.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml#ixzz1mnJJZ5CH
By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG -- The odds are against a state-licensed slots casino being built near the Gettysburg National Military Park, but state Rep. Paul Clymer, Civil War historians and other casino opponents aren't taking any chances.
Mr. Clymer, R-Bucks, has introduced a bill that would forbid any future casinos from being built within a 10-mile "buffer zone" around the famous Civil War battlefield -- or within such a buffer zone around a new federally sanctioned memorial park in Somerset County that honors the passengers on Flight 93 who fought for control of their hijacked plane on Sept. 11, 2001. Flight 93, which the hijackers were flying toward a target in Washington, D.C., crashed near Shanksville. "We must prevent a casino from being built within 10 miles of these very important historical places," Mr. Clymer told a House committee last week during a hearing on his House Bill 2082.
"Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War," he said. "It lasted for three intense days, from July 1-3, 1863, and after it ended, the Confederate army was in retreat back to the South. The courage and bravery of those men, on both sides, is a legacy that should not be compromised by putting a gambling casino near the military park, or near the site of the Flight 93 memorial."
At the hearing was a group from No Casino Gettysburg, which helped defeat a developer's attempts to build a casino north of the battlefield in 2006 and then another plan for a casino south of the battlefield in 2010.
Casino developers, backed by many Adams County residents and business owners, had hoped to get state approval in 2010 for a Category 3, or resort hotel casino, inside an existing hotel/conference center five miles south of the center of the town of Gettysburg. But the state Gaming Control Board gave the license to Nemacolin Woodlands resort in Fayette County. It hasn't opened yet because Gettysburg casino proponents are challenging the license decision in court.
The first resort casino license was awarded to the Valley Forge Convention Center, just about a mile from the famous Valley Forge area west of Philadelphia, where George Washington encamped during the Revolutionary War. But that park hasn't been designated as a historic site by Congress, as the Gettysburg battlefield and the Flight 93 sites have been.
The Valley Forge casino license also was challenged in court but that case was thrown out, and the casino is due to open in June. A third resort casino license will be awarded in 2017.
Favoring the buffer-zone bill last week were Paul Bucha, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient speaking for the National Civil War Trust, and Mindy Crawford, executive director of Preservation Pennsylvania.
"As a combat veteran, Gettysburg matters a great deal to me," Mr. Bucha said. "All around Gettysburg is, I think, perhaps the most hallowed ground in the U.S. Visiting Gettysburg is like walking into a huge cathedral consecrated with the blood of our ancestors. ... It's not a place for games or a place for someone to try to make a buck."
Ms. Crawford said her group got "an overwhelmingly large outpouring of calls, emails and letters asking us to help keep a casino license from being awarded" near the two locations.
The three Adams County commissioners also have problems with the bill, which they said would "have a significant potential to adversely impact the county economy." They called the 10-mile buffer zone "irrational," adding it would stretch "well beyond the Mason-Dixon line, into Maryland."
The committee hasn't said when it will vote on whether to send the bill to the full House for action.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12044/1209853-454-0.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml#ixzz1mnJJZ5CH
New York State: Another Get Rich Quick Scheme
Never filled with qualms about community destruction caused by the Get Rich Quick Scheme of gambling with the accompanying crime, New York State seeks to solve their historic fiscal mismanagement with yet more gambling - this time to subsidize horse racing and the hook is a common one, EDUCATION FUNDING.
Race tracks that currently have slot machines are seeking expanded gambling to include table games, waving the added revenue before lawmakers.
Below is a partial list of full and part-time employees. Not what one would expect.
NY Tracks Trotting Out Benefits Of Racinos
By JOSEPH SPECTOR
Albany Bureau Chief
ALBANY -- In a bid to build support for getting full-scale casinos, the state's nine racetracks released a report Thursday touting the tracks' economic benefits.
The report said the tracks had 5,431 full- and part-time employees in 2011. After expenses, the tracks provided to the state $593 million, which is designated for public education, state records show.
....said James Featherstonhaugh, the group's president, a prominent Albany lobbyist and part owner of the Saratoga Race Track.
The study was conducted by Appleseed Inc., a Manhattan firm headed by Hugh O'Neill, a former aide to Govs. Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo.
9 TRACKS
5,431 EMPLOYEES
Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway had 1,109 employees
The number of jobs at the other tracks included:
-- Monticello Raceway in Sullivan County had 310 full and part-time workers.
-- Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols, Tioga County, had 249 jobs.
-- Finger Lakes Racetrack in Farmington, Ontario County, had 514 employees.
-- Hamburg Casino at Buffalo Raceway had 309 jobs.
-- Batavia Downs in Genesee County had 313 employees.
TOTAL 2804 at 6 tracks
2627 ? at the remaining 3 tracks?
Race tracks that currently have slot machines are seeking expanded gambling to include table games, waving the added revenue before lawmakers.
Below is a partial list of full and part-time employees. Not what one would expect.
NY Tracks Trotting Out Benefits Of Racinos
By JOSEPH SPECTOR
Albany Bureau Chief
ALBANY -- In a bid to build support for getting full-scale casinos, the state's nine racetracks released a report Thursday touting the tracks' economic benefits.
The report said the tracks had 5,431 full- and part-time employees in 2011. After expenses, the tracks provided to the state $593 million, which is designated for public education, state records show.
....said James Featherstonhaugh, the group's president, a prominent Albany lobbyist and part owner of the Saratoga Race Track.
The study was conducted by Appleseed Inc., a Manhattan firm headed by Hugh O'Neill, a former aide to Govs. Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo.
9 TRACKS
5,431 EMPLOYEES
Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway had 1,109 employees
The number of jobs at the other tracks included:
-- Monticello Raceway in Sullivan County had 310 full and part-time workers.
-- Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols, Tioga County, had 249 jobs.
-- Finger Lakes Racetrack in Farmington, Ontario County, had 514 employees.
-- Hamburg Casino at Buffalo Raceway had 309 jobs.
-- Batavia Downs in Genesee County had 313 employees.
TOTAL 2804 at 6 tracks
2627 ? at the remaining 3 tracks?
Big drop in Reno-Sparks casino property tax values....
Big drop in Reno-Sparks casino property tax values points to need for a new tax policy
Written by Susan Voyles
Fifteen resort properties in Washoe County together are valued at $710 million for property taxes -- a loss of about half their value over four years — as their profits have shrunk or turned into losses.
It’s a dramatic piece of evidence that Nevada needs to change its tax policies, said Elliott Parker, University of Nevada economics department chairman in Reno. In all, Nevada gaming revenues have fallen hard, shrinking by 15 percent over the last four fiscal years.
“You can’t get anybody to do anything,” said Parker, who favors broadening the tax base to include services, the biggest part of the economy.
“Voters keep re-electing people who don’t do anything to fix the problem. Now that it’s here, we’re all shocked.”
The drop accounts for $7.5 million in lost property tax revenues for the county and other local entities for the new tax year from three years ago, a small piece of the overall reduction in the county’s taxable values. With the drop, the 14 casinos and CommRow’s tax bills will total $16.5 million in July.
“Nevada cannot be as dependent on a single industry for tax revenues in the future as it has been in the past,” Bill Eadington, UNR’s gaming professor, wrote in a paper last year. “Economists in the state have been warning about this for 50 years. With the Great Recession, Nevada has finally got burned.”
Reno officials, meanwhile, are haggling with Washoe County officials over a larger share of property taxes so the city’s redevelopment agency can pay $3.7 million in debt in the new tax year. County officials have conceded the agency is owed more than the $832,000 in property tax revenues received last year.
A resolution is expected by June, at the latest, said Robert Chisel, Reno finance director.
Much of the taxable value of downtown Reno is tied to its casinos, and casinos are worth only what they can earn, Eadington said. The big drop in property values is “a reflection of how tough the Reno gaming economy has been.”
Eadington estimates Reno-Sparks as well as casinos at Stateline in south Lake Tahoe have lost two-thirds of their gaming revenues in the last two decades, with Reno hit with the biggest drop in the last decade.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/J7/20120217/NEWS/302170069/Big-drop-Reno-Sparks-casino-property-tax-values-points-need-new-tax-policy?odyssey=nav%7Chead
Written by Susan Voyles
Fifteen resort properties in Washoe County together are valued at $710 million for property taxes -- a loss of about half their value over four years — as their profits have shrunk or turned into losses.
It’s a dramatic piece of evidence that Nevada needs to change its tax policies, said Elliott Parker, University of Nevada economics department chairman in Reno. In all, Nevada gaming revenues have fallen hard, shrinking by 15 percent over the last four fiscal years.
“You can’t get anybody to do anything,” said Parker, who favors broadening the tax base to include services, the biggest part of the economy.
“Voters keep re-electing people who don’t do anything to fix the problem. Now that it’s here, we’re all shocked.”
The drop accounts for $7.5 million in lost property tax revenues for the county and other local entities for the new tax year from three years ago, a small piece of the overall reduction in the county’s taxable values. With the drop, the 14 casinos and CommRow’s tax bills will total $16.5 million in July.
“Nevada cannot be as dependent on a single industry for tax revenues in the future as it has been in the past,” Bill Eadington, UNR’s gaming professor, wrote in a paper last year. “Economists in the state have been warning about this for 50 years. With the Great Recession, Nevada has finally got burned.”
Reno officials, meanwhile, are haggling with Washoe County officials over a larger share of property taxes so the city’s redevelopment agency can pay $3.7 million in debt in the new tax year. County officials have conceded the agency is owed more than the $832,000 in property tax revenues received last year.
A resolution is expected by June, at the latest, said Robert Chisel, Reno finance director.
Much of the taxable value of downtown Reno is tied to its casinos, and casinos are worth only what they can earn, Eadington said. The big drop in property values is “a reflection of how tough the Reno gaming economy has been.”
Eadington estimates Reno-Sparks as well as casinos at Stateline in south Lake Tahoe have lost two-thirds of their gaming revenues in the last two decades, with Reno hit with the biggest drop in the last decade.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/J7/20120217/NEWS/302170069/Big-drop-Reno-Sparks-casino-property-tax-values-points-need-new-tax-policy?odyssey=nav%7Chead
Missing Carmichael Woman Last Seen At Casino
UPDATE: Missing Carmichael Woman Last Seen At Casino
CARMICHAEL (CBS13) – A Carmichael woman missing since Wednesday was spotted on surveillance tape leaving Red Hawk Casino in Shingle Springs, according to the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department.
Melodie Benton, 55, also know as Melodie Rowan, left her place of employment in Folsom on Wednesday at about 2 p.m. and was spotted leaving the casino at 8 p.m. that night, according to Deputy Jason Ramos. The sheriff’s department said she is considered to be at-risk because her disappearance is highly inconsistent with her normal behavior patterns.
Benton is described as Native-American female, 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds. She has long, straight black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black turtle neck with a bright green vest over it, and a black hoodie with white trim when she left Red Hawk Casino.
Benton drives a red and silver 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo (California license No. 4XOS962) with a black Tasmanian Devil sticker on the back left window. She is known to frequent Indian casinos.
CARMICHAEL (CBS13) – A Carmichael woman missing since Wednesday was spotted on surveillance tape leaving Red Hawk Casino in Shingle Springs, according to the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department.
Melodie Benton, 55, also know as Melodie Rowan, left her place of employment in Folsom on Wednesday at about 2 p.m. and was spotted leaving the casino at 8 p.m. that night, according to Deputy Jason Ramos. The sheriff’s department said she is considered to be at-risk because her disappearance is highly inconsistent with her normal behavior patterns.
Benton is described as Native-American female, 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds. She has long, straight black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black turtle neck with a bright green vest over it, and a black hoodie with white trim when she left Red Hawk Casino.
Benton drives a red and silver 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo (California license No. 4XOS962) with a black Tasmanian Devil sticker on the back left window. She is known to frequent Indian casinos.
Judge dismisses suit challenging Mass. casino law
Judge dismisses suit challenging Mass. casino law
February 17, 2012Associated Press
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that alleged the state’s casino law is unconstitutional because it gives an advantage to federally recognized Indian tribes.
Lawyers for KG Urban Enterprises, which wants to build a casino in southeastern Massachusetts, had argued the law prevents the company from competing “on an equal footing.’’
The law authorizes up to three casinos in Massachusetts and gives tribes like the Mashpee Wampanoags until July 31 to negotiate a gaming compact with the state in the southeast. Only if they fail would other applicants be allowed to seek a license for the area.
February 17, 2012Associated Press
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that alleged the state’s casino law is unconstitutional because it gives an advantage to federally recognized Indian tribes.
Lawyers for KG Urban Enterprises, which wants to build a casino in southeastern Massachusetts, had argued the law prevents the company from competing “on an equal footing.’’
The law authorizes up to three casinos in Massachusetts and gives tribes like the Mashpee Wampanoags until July 31 to negotiate a gaming compact with the state in the southeast. Only if they fail would other applicants be allowed to seek a license for the area.
Alabama: Prosecutor plays 'aborigine' tape
Gambling corruption trial: Prosecutor plays 'aborigine' tape
Written by Sebastian Kitchen
Controversial state Sen. Scott Beason, in a recording played in a federal corruption case Friday, referred to supporters of a casino in a predominantly black county as "aborigines" and talked about voting for a black woman as House speaker because her appointment would make it difficult for Democrats to raise money.
Also on Friday in the high-profile political case, former Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley described being tens of millions in debt, bringing down alleged coconspirators, and bribing his lobbyist not to cooperate with federal authorities.
Prosecutors, just days after objecting to having secretly recorded conversations of GOP lawmakers discussing race and gambling issues played in court, played what one prosecutor had referred to as "explosive, explosive" tapes.
In one conversation with then-state Rep. Ben Lewis, a Dothan Republican who is now a judge, Lewis refers to those in Greene County as "y'all's Indians."
"They're aborigines, but they're not Indians," said Beason, a Gardendale Republican who is running for Congress.
In the first corruption trial of VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor and others charged with conspiracy and other crimes, the defense challenged Beason's credibility using those comments and others he made in discussions with fellow Republicans.
The prosecutor also played a conversation in which Beason said he tried to talk fellow Republicans, when he was in the House of Representatives, into voting for black Democratic Rep. Yvonne Kennedy of Mobile as House speaker. Beason explained it as a strategy that would have made it difficult, if Kennedy was elected speaker, for Democrats to organize and raise money.
"Strategically, that is what we should have done," Beason said. "They wouldn't do it."
Beason recorded the conversations with a recording device he used as he cooperated with the FBI in the corruption investigation.
Lead federal prosecutor Kendall Day played the recordings with Gilley on the witness stand. Gilley, McGregor and Gilley lobbyist Jarrod Massey met with Beason in 2010, in a meeting the senator recorded, to discuss his support of the gambling legislation.
(Page 2 of 3)
Gilley, who has already pleaded guilty in the case, said they were willing to offer Beason $500,000 in exchange for his vote.
Gilley referred to Beason as a "6-foot 4, 250-pound gutless wonder," and said he never liked him, but would have probably still offered Beason the bribe in exchange for his vote if he was the key vote in favor of the gambling legislation in 2010.
"Unfortunately, our greed would have led us to purchase his vote," Gilley said.
Gilley and McGregor were pushing legislation in 2010 to try to ensure their casinos could stay open as state authorities cracked down on electronic gambling. McGregor and five other defendants in this case are accused of bribing lawmakers with cash and campaign contributions in exchange for their vote on gambling legislation.
Bringing McGregor down
Gilley, when asked by McGregor attorney Walter McGowan, told his wife he had to bring "Milton McGregor down" to get a reduced sentence. Gilley made the comment to her while in the Montgomery city jail, where his conversations were recorded.
Gilley also told his wife that the government told him what to say when he addressed the court after changing his plea to guilty in April 2011. He told her that he met with the government for an hour and a half and they gave him a script of what to say.
McGowan accused Gilley of saying what he needed, even if he did not agree with it, to please the government.
Upside down
Gilley said he was "upside down" about $115 million or $116 million.
"I'm broke," he said.
Gilley and his companies, as far back as 2008, had millions in debts and received millions in loans, including
$33 million from a group of athletes;
$4 million from boxer Floyd Mayweather;
more than $13 million from McGregor;
$21 million from a Georgia optometrist and his son;
$21 million from Lord Abbett and Co.;
and $17.6 million from gambling machines manufacturers IGT and Multimedia.
Gilley also owed $19 million for land he purchased from an attorney.
Gilley said he loaned the project about $15 million of his money and put about $46 million from his other companies into the project.
(Page 3 of 3)
Gilley said he, his companies and the Country Crossing project are about $185 million in debt.
Interested party
Gilley said, after the FBI approached Massey following a vote in the Senate on the gambling legislation, that Massey drove to his Enterprise office, where he said he offered him 1 percent interest in Country Crossing to keep him from cooperating with the investigation.
Gilley also admitted to later bribing Massey at the federal courthouse.
Other bribes
Gilley, when being questioned by McGowan, admitted he bribed former state Rep. Terry Spicer, D-Elba, and Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro. He said he gave Spicer a cellphone box with $20,000 in it.
"He never complained," Gilley said of Spicer receiving $20,000 in cash after requesting $50,000. He said Massey had told him Spicer wanted cash -- not a campaign contribution.
Spicer pleaded guilty for corruption unrelated to the heart of this trial, but the trial did reveal years of bribes from Gilley and Massey to Spicer. Massey said he gave, and Spicer admitted taking, monthly payments, a ski trip, tickets to entertainment events, and help paying for a boat.
"I had no earthly idea that Jarrod Massey was doing any of that at the time," Gilley said of the longtime bribes to Spicer.
McGowan pointed that out after Gilley said repeatedly on the witness stand that he kept McGregor abreast of all of his bribes.
Gilley has testified to having money wired to a lobbyist in 2008 with it intended to get to Singleton in hopes that he would kill legislation by Sen. Harri Anne Smith that Gilley said would kill his project. Smith, an independent senator from Slocomb, is a defendant in the case.
Singleton has denied any wrongdoing.
Written by Sebastian Kitchen
Controversial state Sen. Scott Beason, in a recording played in a federal corruption case Friday, referred to supporters of a casino in a predominantly black county as "aborigines" and talked about voting for a black woman as House speaker because her appointment would make it difficult for Democrats to raise money.
Also on Friday in the high-profile political case, former Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley described being tens of millions in debt, bringing down alleged coconspirators, and bribing his lobbyist not to cooperate with federal authorities.
Prosecutors, just days after objecting to having secretly recorded conversations of GOP lawmakers discussing race and gambling issues played in court, played what one prosecutor had referred to as "explosive, explosive" tapes.
In one conversation with then-state Rep. Ben Lewis, a Dothan Republican who is now a judge, Lewis refers to those in Greene County as "y'all's Indians."
"They're aborigines, but they're not Indians," said Beason, a Gardendale Republican who is running for Congress.
In the first corruption trial of VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor and others charged with conspiracy and other crimes, the defense challenged Beason's credibility using those comments and others he made in discussions with fellow Republicans.
The prosecutor also played a conversation in which Beason said he tried to talk fellow Republicans, when he was in the House of Representatives, into voting for black Democratic Rep. Yvonne Kennedy of Mobile as House speaker. Beason explained it as a strategy that would have made it difficult, if Kennedy was elected speaker, for Democrats to organize and raise money.
"Strategically, that is what we should have done," Beason said. "They wouldn't do it."
Beason recorded the conversations with a recording device he used as he cooperated with the FBI in the corruption investigation.
Lead federal prosecutor Kendall Day played the recordings with Gilley on the witness stand. Gilley, McGregor and Gilley lobbyist Jarrod Massey met with Beason in 2010, in a meeting the senator recorded, to discuss his support of the gambling legislation.
(Page 2 of 3)
Gilley, who has already pleaded guilty in the case, said they were willing to offer Beason $500,000 in exchange for his vote.
Gilley referred to Beason as a "6-foot 4, 250-pound gutless wonder," and said he never liked him, but would have probably still offered Beason the bribe in exchange for his vote if he was the key vote in favor of the gambling legislation in 2010.
"Unfortunately, our greed would have led us to purchase his vote," Gilley said.
Gilley and McGregor were pushing legislation in 2010 to try to ensure their casinos could stay open as state authorities cracked down on electronic gambling. McGregor and five other defendants in this case are accused of bribing lawmakers with cash and campaign contributions in exchange for their vote on gambling legislation.
Bringing McGregor down
Gilley, when asked by McGregor attorney Walter McGowan, told his wife he had to bring "Milton McGregor down" to get a reduced sentence. Gilley made the comment to her while in the Montgomery city jail, where his conversations were recorded.
Gilley also told his wife that the government told him what to say when he addressed the court after changing his plea to guilty in April 2011. He told her that he met with the government for an hour and a half and they gave him a script of what to say.
McGowan accused Gilley of saying what he needed, even if he did not agree with it, to please the government.
Upside down
Gilley said he was "upside down" about $115 million or $116 million.
"I'm broke," he said.
Gilley and his companies, as far back as 2008, had millions in debts and received millions in loans, including
$33 million from a group of athletes;
$4 million from boxer Floyd Mayweather;
more than $13 million from McGregor;
$21 million from a Georgia optometrist and his son;
$21 million from Lord Abbett and Co.;
and $17.6 million from gambling machines manufacturers IGT and Multimedia.
Gilley also owed $19 million for land he purchased from an attorney.
Gilley said he loaned the project about $15 million of his money and put about $46 million from his other companies into the project.
(Page 3 of 3)
Gilley said he, his companies and the Country Crossing project are about $185 million in debt.
Interested party
Gilley said, after the FBI approached Massey following a vote in the Senate on the gambling legislation, that Massey drove to his Enterprise office, where he said he offered him 1 percent interest in Country Crossing to keep him from cooperating with the investigation.
Gilley also admitted to later bribing Massey at the federal courthouse.
Other bribes
Gilley, when being questioned by McGowan, admitted he bribed former state Rep. Terry Spicer, D-Elba, and Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro. He said he gave Spicer a cellphone box with $20,000 in it.
"He never complained," Gilley said of Spicer receiving $20,000 in cash after requesting $50,000. He said Massey had told him Spicer wanted cash -- not a campaign contribution.
Spicer pleaded guilty for corruption unrelated to the heart of this trial, but the trial did reveal years of bribes from Gilley and Massey to Spicer. Massey said he gave, and Spicer admitted taking, monthly payments, a ski trip, tickets to entertainment events, and help paying for a boat.
"I had no earthly idea that Jarrod Massey was doing any of that at the time," Gilley said of the longtime bribes to Spicer.
McGowan pointed that out after Gilley said repeatedly on the witness stand that he kept McGregor abreast of all of his bribes.
Gilley has testified to having money wired to a lobbyist in 2008 with it intended to get to Singleton in hopes that he would kill legislation by Sen. Harri Anne Smith that Gilley said would kill his project. Smith, an independent senator from Slocomb, is a defendant in the case.
Singleton has denied any wrongdoing.
Alabama: ....angry Milton McGregor....
On tape, angry Milton McGregor lashes out at Bob Riley
By: Lance Griffin Dothan Eagle
2:48 p.m. – Hours before the vote-buying investigation in the Alabama Statehouse was made public, an angry Milton McGregor blamed then-Gov. Bob Riley for the investigation, calling him a “sick runaway thug.”
“This is unbelievable Riley would go to these extremes. Riley would do everything above the law, against the law,” McGregor said.
“Yeah, I mean are we in America?” Gilley replied in a phone conversation recorded by the FBI April 1, 2010. The recording was made when Gilley had been informed that investigators were in the Alabama Statehouse meeting with legislators. Gilley then called McGregor to inform him.
The call came two days after the pro-gambling bill SB380 was passed by the Senate. McGregor said the timing of the investigation was designed to kill the bill in the House.
“Riley is destroying this state. He has already destroyed our industry and now he is destroying our state. He is a sick runaway thug,” McGregor said.
Also Friday, McGregor attorney Walter McGowan tried to distance McGregor’s money from Ronnie Gilley Friday afternoon during testimony in the gambling corruption retrial.
During direct testimony Thursday, Gilley testified that McGregor loaned him about $14 million in 2009 in exchange for a percentage of the gross profits from Country Crossing. Gilley said the understanding between he and McGregor would be that about $5 million of the money would be used to “further legislative efforts” to pass pro-gambling legislation.
Under cross examination from McGregor attorney Walter McGowan, Gilley acknowledged that most of that money was gone by December of 2009 when Gilley hosted a fundraiser for Sen. Harri Anne Smith. During the first trial in the summer of 2011, Gilley testified that McGregor’s money was not used to pay for the fundraiser because “that money was gone.”
Gilley testified Thursday that some of McGregor’s money was in play when bribes were being offered to legislators in 2010.
McGowan also pointed out through questioning that McGregor’s money was only a portion of the money available to Gilley.
Gilley acknowledged the following amounts were invested in either Country Crossing or other Gilley projects:
» $33 million: The Miami Pro Group (professional athletes)
» $21 million: Lord Abbet Municipal Income Fund
» $17 million: IGT and Multimedia (Game manufacturers)
» $15 million: Dr. Bob Wright and Russ Wright of Columbus, Ga.
» $15 million: Ronnie Gilley
» $14 million: Milton McGregor
» $4 million: Boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
In other testimony Friday, Gilley acknowledged that he instructed workers at BamaJam to scan tickets not used. Gilley testified similarly in the first trial. He said the sole purpose of instructing the workers was not to artificially inflate attendance numbers, but also to reflect the attendance of people who came to the event, but did not pass through the turnstiles.
12:08 p.m. – Walter McGowan, attorney for Milton McGregor, spent the first 75 minutes of his cross examination of Ronnie Gilley going over Gilley’s plea agreement with the government, as well as past instances in which Gilley said he offered bribes to legislators.
McGowan asked Gilley if he believed he had to “bring defendants down” in order to get a reduced sentence.
“I do not,” Gilley said. “I have to be truthful.”
Read Gilley’s plea agreement here. Read the factual basis for Gilley’s plea here.
McGowan also quizzed Gilley about a recorded conversation involving he and his wife in which he told her that in order to receive a reduced sentence, he had to “bring other people down.”
“I did say that at that time,” Gilley said.
10:56 a.m. – Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley said Friday he placed $20,000 in cash in a cell phone box and gave it to former Rep. Terry Spicer in 2008 after Spicer requested money from Gilley through his lobbyist, Jarrod Massey.
Gilley outlined the bribe during testimony Friday in the gambling corruption retrial Friday morning under direct questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendall Day.
Gilley said his lobbyist, Massey, told him in 2008 that Spicer was feeling “left out” because Gilley had made a sizeable contribution to an Alabama senator. Gilley said Massey told him that Spicer felt he deserved $50,000 because of the work he did in helping pass legislation to create a special “enterprise zone” for the BamaJam property.
“I told Jarrod that Spicer wasn’t even running for re-election and that I couldn’t even write a check to his campaign if I wanted to,” Gilley said during testimony.
“Jarrod told me that he didn’t want it in a check. He wants it in cash,” Gilley said.
Gilley said Massey went on to tell him that he should pay the money because Spicer was a powerful member of the House and that pro-gambling legislation would never passed the House without Spicer’s support.
Gilley said Spicer later came to his office and Gilley gave him a cell phone box with $20,000 in it.
“He said ‘I was needing a new cell phone anyway. Thank you very much,’” Gilley said, adding that Spicer never asked for an additional $30,000.
Spicer has pleaded guilty to a single count of bribery.
In other testimony, Gilley said his ownership in Country Crossing is currently less than 1 percent and that he remained about $116 million in debt.
“I’m broke,” he said.
Prosecutors began Friday morning’s session by playing additional recordings made by Scott Beason, including one in which he referred to patrons of the gambling facility Greenetrack as ‘aborigines’. Day asked Gilley if he would still try to bribe Beason if he had known about those comments.
“Unfortunately, to be perfectly honest, our greed would have led us to purchase his vote,” Gilley said.
Walter McGowan, attorney for Milton McGregor, read from a transcript of a phone conversation Gilley had with his wife after Gilley’s plea hearing in which Gilley said he was drawn into a web of corruption in Alabama politics. During the conversation, Gilley tells his wife that the words he used at the plea hearing were not his, and were the words the government wanted him to use.
Gilley acknowledged the accuracy of the conversation he had with his wife and asked for an opportunity to explain his comments, but has not been given the opportunity yet.
Cross examination of Gilley by McGowan is expected to continue for much of the day.
9:01 a.m. -- Testimony has begun Friday in the gambling corruption retrial. Ronnie Gilley remains under direct questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendall Day.
At the end of testimony Thursday, Day played a recording from a meeting of Republican caucus members. The recording was played by the defense in the initial trial and apparently picked up a member of the caucus discussing the gambling bill being debated in the Alabama Legislature in 2010. One of the members can be heard saying that if the gambling issue makes the general ballot in November, blacks would be bused to the polls on HUD-financed buses.
Sen. Scott Beason wore a wire as part of the vote-buying investigation, was present at the meeting and testified that his recording of the meeting was accidental. It appears that Beason can be heard concurring with the sentiments.
Gilley testified Thursday that he found the comments “nauseating”, but added that it would not have kept him from offering a bribe to Beason if he believed Beason was the deciding vote to pass the gambling bill out of the Senate.
By: Lance Griffin Dothan Eagle
2:48 p.m. – Hours before the vote-buying investigation in the Alabama Statehouse was made public, an angry Milton McGregor blamed then-Gov. Bob Riley for the investigation, calling him a “sick runaway thug.”
“This is unbelievable Riley would go to these extremes. Riley would do everything above the law, against the law,” McGregor said.
“Yeah, I mean are we in America?” Gilley replied in a phone conversation recorded by the FBI April 1, 2010. The recording was made when Gilley had been informed that investigators were in the Alabama Statehouse meeting with legislators. Gilley then called McGregor to inform him.
The call came two days after the pro-gambling bill SB380 was passed by the Senate. McGregor said the timing of the investigation was designed to kill the bill in the House.
“Riley is destroying this state. He has already destroyed our industry and now he is destroying our state. He is a sick runaway thug,” McGregor said.
Also Friday, McGregor attorney Walter McGowan tried to distance McGregor’s money from Ronnie Gilley Friday afternoon during testimony in the gambling corruption retrial.
During direct testimony Thursday, Gilley testified that McGregor loaned him about $14 million in 2009 in exchange for a percentage of the gross profits from Country Crossing. Gilley said the understanding between he and McGregor would be that about $5 million of the money would be used to “further legislative efforts” to pass pro-gambling legislation.
Under cross examination from McGregor attorney Walter McGowan, Gilley acknowledged that most of that money was gone by December of 2009 when Gilley hosted a fundraiser for Sen. Harri Anne Smith. During the first trial in the summer of 2011, Gilley testified that McGregor’s money was not used to pay for the fundraiser because “that money was gone.”
Gilley testified Thursday that some of McGregor’s money was in play when bribes were being offered to legislators in 2010.
McGowan also pointed out through questioning that McGregor’s money was only a portion of the money available to Gilley.
Gilley acknowledged the following amounts were invested in either Country Crossing or other Gilley projects:
» $33 million: The Miami Pro Group (professional athletes)
» $21 million: Lord Abbet Municipal Income Fund
» $17 million: IGT and Multimedia (Game manufacturers)
» $15 million: Dr. Bob Wright and Russ Wright of Columbus, Ga.
» $15 million: Ronnie Gilley
» $14 million: Milton McGregor
» $4 million: Boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
In other testimony Friday, Gilley acknowledged that he instructed workers at BamaJam to scan tickets not used. Gilley testified similarly in the first trial. He said the sole purpose of instructing the workers was not to artificially inflate attendance numbers, but also to reflect the attendance of people who came to the event, but did not pass through the turnstiles.
12:08 p.m. – Walter McGowan, attorney for Milton McGregor, spent the first 75 minutes of his cross examination of Ronnie Gilley going over Gilley’s plea agreement with the government, as well as past instances in which Gilley said he offered bribes to legislators.
McGowan asked Gilley if he believed he had to “bring defendants down” in order to get a reduced sentence.
“I do not,” Gilley said. “I have to be truthful.”
Read Gilley’s plea agreement here. Read the factual basis for Gilley’s plea here.
McGowan also quizzed Gilley about a recorded conversation involving he and his wife in which he told her that in order to receive a reduced sentence, he had to “bring other people down.”
“I did say that at that time,” Gilley said.
10:56 a.m. – Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley said Friday he placed $20,000 in cash in a cell phone box and gave it to former Rep. Terry Spicer in 2008 after Spicer requested money from Gilley through his lobbyist, Jarrod Massey.
Gilley outlined the bribe during testimony Friday in the gambling corruption retrial Friday morning under direct questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendall Day.
Gilley said his lobbyist, Massey, told him in 2008 that Spicer was feeling “left out” because Gilley had made a sizeable contribution to an Alabama senator. Gilley said Massey told him that Spicer felt he deserved $50,000 because of the work he did in helping pass legislation to create a special “enterprise zone” for the BamaJam property.
“I told Jarrod that Spicer wasn’t even running for re-election and that I couldn’t even write a check to his campaign if I wanted to,” Gilley said during testimony.
“Jarrod told me that he didn’t want it in a check. He wants it in cash,” Gilley said.
Gilley said Massey went on to tell him that he should pay the money because Spicer was a powerful member of the House and that pro-gambling legislation would never passed the House without Spicer’s support.
Gilley said Spicer later came to his office and Gilley gave him a cell phone box with $20,000 in it.
“He said ‘I was needing a new cell phone anyway. Thank you very much,’” Gilley said, adding that Spicer never asked for an additional $30,000.
Spicer has pleaded guilty to a single count of bribery.
In other testimony, Gilley said his ownership in Country Crossing is currently less than 1 percent and that he remained about $116 million in debt.
“I’m broke,” he said.
Prosecutors began Friday morning’s session by playing additional recordings made by Scott Beason, including one in which he referred to patrons of the gambling facility Greenetrack as ‘aborigines’. Day asked Gilley if he would still try to bribe Beason if he had known about those comments.
“Unfortunately, to be perfectly honest, our greed would have led us to purchase his vote,” Gilley said.
Walter McGowan, attorney for Milton McGregor, read from a transcript of a phone conversation Gilley had with his wife after Gilley’s plea hearing in which Gilley said he was drawn into a web of corruption in Alabama politics. During the conversation, Gilley tells his wife that the words he used at the plea hearing were not his, and were the words the government wanted him to use.
Gilley acknowledged the accuracy of the conversation he had with his wife and asked for an opportunity to explain his comments, but has not been given the opportunity yet.
Cross examination of Gilley by McGowan is expected to continue for much of the day.
9:01 a.m. -- Testimony has begun Friday in the gambling corruption retrial. Ronnie Gilley remains under direct questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendall Day.
At the end of testimony Thursday, Day played a recording from a meeting of Republican caucus members. The recording was played by the defense in the initial trial and apparently picked up a member of the caucus discussing the gambling bill being debated in the Alabama Legislature in 2010. One of the members can be heard saying that if the gambling issue makes the general ballot in November, blacks would be bused to the polls on HUD-financed buses.
Sen. Scott Beason wore a wire as part of the vote-buying investigation, was present at the meeting and testified that his recording of the meeting was accidental. It appears that Beason can be heard concurring with the sentiments.
Gilley testified Thursday that he found the comments “nauseating”, but added that it would not have kept him from offering a bribe to Beason if he believed Beason was the deciding vote to pass the gambling bill out of the Senate.
Alabama: Gilley discusses bribes
Gilley discusses bribes, McGregor money on witness stand
By: Lance Griffin Dothan Eagle
MONTGOMERY – Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley said during testimony Friday in the gambling corruption retrial that Milton McGregor was intertwined in the bribe offers Gilley said he made to multiple legislators.
The McGregor defense, however, insinuated through cross examination that McGregor was detached.
Gilley said Friday McGregor gave him more than $13 million in 2009 to be used for several areas related to Country Crossing, including those areas related to the passage of pro-gambling legislation.
McGregor attorney Walter McGowan attempted to distance McGregor’s money from any bribe offers, claiming Gilley had millions of dollars from other sources that could have been used as well.
Under questioning from McGowan, Gilley acknowledged several groups and individuals invested in Country Crossing and other Gilley-related projects. Among the amounts and investors were:
» $33 million: The Miami Pro Group (professional athletes)
» $21 million: Lord Abbett Municipal Income Fund
» $17 million: IGT and Multimedia (Game manufacturers)
» $15 million: Dr. Bob Wright and Russ Wright of Columbus, Ga.
» $15 million: Ronnie Gilley
» $14 million: Milton McGregor
» $4 million: Boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Gilley also acknowledged that most of that money was gone by December of 2009 when Gilley hosted a fundraiser for Sen. Harri Anne Smith. During the first trial in the summer of 2011, Gilley testified that McGregor’s money was not used to pay for the fundraiser because “that money was gone.”
Gilley testified that his current ownership in Country Crossing is less than one percent.
Also Friday, a recorded conversation between Gilley and McGregor on April 1, 2010, revealed an angry McGregor reacting to word that an investigation into vote-buying at the Statehouse was underway. McGregor blamed then-Gov. Bob Riley, an outspoken opponent of electronic bingo in Alabama.
“This is unbelievable Riley would go to these extremes. Riley would do everything above the law, against the law,” McGregor said.
“Yeah, I mean are we in America?” Gilley replied
“Riley is destroying this state. He has already destroyed our industry and now he is destroying our state. He is a sick runaway thug,” McGregor said.
Gilley also said Friday he placed $20,000 in cash in a cell phone box and gave it to former Rep. Terry Spicer in 2008 after Spicer requested money from Gilley through his lobbyist, Jarrod Massey.
Gilley outlined the bribe under direct questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendall Day.
Gilley said his lobbyist, Massey, told him in 2008 that Spicer was feeling “left out” because Gilley had made a sizeable contribution to an Alabama senator. Gilley said Massey told him that Spicer felt he deserved $50,000 because of the work he did in helping pass legislation to create a special “enterprise zone” for the BamaJam property in Coffee County.
“I told Jarrod that Spicer wasn’t even running for re-election and that I couldn’t even write a check to his campaign if I wanted to,” Gilley said.
“Jarrod told me that he didn’t want it in a check. He wants it in cash,” Gilley said.
Gilley said Massey went on to tell him that he should pay the money because Spicer was a powerful member of the House and that pro-gambling legislation would never pass the House without Spicer’s support.
Gilley said Spicer later came to his office and Gilley gave him a cell phone box with $20,000 in it.
“He said ‘I was needing a new cell phone anyway. Thank you very much,’” Gilley said, adding that Spicer never asked for an additional $30,000.
Spicer pleaded guilty last year to a single count of bribery.
McGowan also played a recording of a phone conversation Gilley had with his wife while Gilley was incarcerated in April of 2011. On the recording, Gilley said the government instructed him what to say during his plea hearing and that his “entire sentence” rested on his testimony bringing others down.
During testimony Friday, Gilley acknowledged saying that and expressed an interest to explain the comments, but was not able to during cross examination.
By: Lance Griffin Dothan Eagle
MONTGOMERY – Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley said during testimony Friday in the gambling corruption retrial that Milton McGregor was intertwined in the bribe offers Gilley said he made to multiple legislators.
The McGregor defense, however, insinuated through cross examination that McGregor was detached.
Gilley said Friday McGregor gave him more than $13 million in 2009 to be used for several areas related to Country Crossing, including those areas related to the passage of pro-gambling legislation.
McGregor attorney Walter McGowan attempted to distance McGregor’s money from any bribe offers, claiming Gilley had millions of dollars from other sources that could have been used as well.
Under questioning from McGowan, Gilley acknowledged several groups and individuals invested in Country Crossing and other Gilley-related projects. Among the amounts and investors were:
» $33 million: The Miami Pro Group (professional athletes)
» $21 million: Lord Abbett Municipal Income Fund
» $17 million: IGT and Multimedia (Game manufacturers)
» $15 million: Dr. Bob Wright and Russ Wright of Columbus, Ga.
» $15 million: Ronnie Gilley
» $14 million: Milton McGregor
» $4 million: Boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Gilley also acknowledged that most of that money was gone by December of 2009 when Gilley hosted a fundraiser for Sen. Harri Anne Smith. During the first trial in the summer of 2011, Gilley testified that McGregor’s money was not used to pay for the fundraiser because “that money was gone.”
Gilley testified that his current ownership in Country Crossing is less than one percent.
Also Friday, a recorded conversation between Gilley and McGregor on April 1, 2010, revealed an angry McGregor reacting to word that an investigation into vote-buying at the Statehouse was underway. McGregor blamed then-Gov. Bob Riley, an outspoken opponent of electronic bingo in Alabama.
“This is unbelievable Riley would go to these extremes. Riley would do everything above the law, against the law,” McGregor said.
“Yeah, I mean are we in America?” Gilley replied
“Riley is destroying this state. He has already destroyed our industry and now he is destroying our state. He is a sick runaway thug,” McGregor said.
Gilley also said Friday he placed $20,000 in cash in a cell phone box and gave it to former Rep. Terry Spicer in 2008 after Spicer requested money from Gilley through his lobbyist, Jarrod Massey.
Gilley outlined the bribe under direct questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kendall Day.
Gilley said his lobbyist, Massey, told him in 2008 that Spicer was feeling “left out” because Gilley had made a sizeable contribution to an Alabama senator. Gilley said Massey told him that Spicer felt he deserved $50,000 because of the work he did in helping pass legislation to create a special “enterprise zone” for the BamaJam property in Coffee County.
“I told Jarrod that Spicer wasn’t even running for re-election and that I couldn’t even write a check to his campaign if I wanted to,” Gilley said.
“Jarrod told me that he didn’t want it in a check. He wants it in cash,” Gilley said.
Gilley said Massey went on to tell him that he should pay the money because Spicer was a powerful member of the House and that pro-gambling legislation would never pass the House without Spicer’s support.
Gilley said Spicer later came to his office and Gilley gave him a cell phone box with $20,000 in it.
“He said ‘I was needing a new cell phone anyway. Thank you very much,’” Gilley said, adding that Spicer never asked for an additional $30,000.
Spicer pleaded guilty last year to a single count of bribery.
McGowan also played a recording of a phone conversation Gilley had with his wife while Gilley was incarcerated in April of 2011. On the recording, Gilley said the government instructed him what to say during his plea hearing and that his “entire sentence” rested on his testimony bringing others down.
During testimony Friday, Gilley acknowledged saying that and expressed an interest to explain the comments, but was not able to during cross examination.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Track Replacemenet in Walpole
Track Replacement in Walpole MA (6/1/11)
Last week i stopped by Walpole Station to see if i could catch CSX B735. When i drove into the parking lot i realized that the mbta was in the process of replacing the abandoned tracks that run through the parking lot. I took some videos and pics while i was there.
My guess is that they are replacing the tracks in order to provide an easier route for the Patriots train to access the CSX Fram-Sub line later this year. I also think the MBTA is thinking of expanding the Franklin line and adding a branchline to Foxboro MA in the future.
Though my prediction may be wrong... CSX owns trackage rights on that line and even if the MBTA wanted to run trains to Foxboro daily they would have to get permission from CSX and have a schedule that doesn't interfere with CSX locals. I believe there are 4-5 local freights to light power moves a day making it quite complicated for extra traffic especially from MBTA Commuter trains.
Why are those new tracks so rusty?
blood117
I saw in the bulletin that the Lewis Wye (which is what this is) was out of service, but they didn't say why - I'm glad it's a replacement and not a dismantling. FWIW, commuter trains (used to) run on CSX tracks all day long, on the Worcester line, so CSX knows how to deal with MBCR trains and freight trains (though traffic is of course an issue). CSX sold the Worcester tracks to the T, but CSX still dispatches them and they run on CSX rules - that will change sooner or later.
NE pats stadium train with 2 engines must see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Same Beacon Hill Corruption, Different Faces
On Friday morning (10/21/11) I woke up real early and got to Walpole Station at 6:30am to get a decent parking spot. About five hours later the CSX OCS went through. You will notice that i wasn't the only one taking photos! I chased the CSX OCS from Walpole, to Foxboro. Enjoy the video, and thanks for watching!
A commuter rail line that would cost Massachusetts taxpayers ~ $100 MILLION and have an estimated annual operating loss of ~ $4 MILLION would be required for a Foxborough Slot Barn to be feasible.
Kudos to Rep. John H. Rogers!
And kudos as well to the Walpole paper that publishes anti-gambling information, unlike far too many others in the state that censor.
For the sake of full disclosure, Rep. John H. Rogers voted consistently AGAINST Governor Slot Barn's FOLLY known as Predatory Gambling.
The votes are listed below:
HOUSE
Although Governor Slot Barns made numerous promises, including supporting an INDEPENDENT COST ANALYSIS, once re-elected, amnesia developed and the Governor plowed forward with his back room agenda.
The costs Rep. Roger's included are merely a beginning and fail to consider increased police, fire, ambulance and DPW, as well as numerous other municipal expenses, for all surrounding towns.
Where will those low wage workers live? In substandard housing? Where will their children attend school? What tax base will be lost through CANNIBALIZATION of jobs removed from the local economy?
When the small town of Palmer, MA appointed a citizen's Casino Impact Study Group, they determined that the annual municipal costs would be $18 MILLION to $39 MILLION. [The Town Council refused to make the report public because they didn't want an 'honest' report.]
Being blinded by the Wynn/Kraft fairy dust of Fools' Gold, condemns Foxborough to an impoverished future. Does anyone even know what the Patriots' presence costs the town?
Rep. Rogers' open letter to the state gaming commission chairman
February 13, 2012
Dear Commissioner Crosby:
The citizens of the Commonwealth most directly affected by the proposed Foxborough casino are the citizens of Walpole. The proposed site, distantly situated within the border of Foxborough, directly abuts more than 500 residential homes…all of which are Walpole families. For the following reasons, this unique locus gives Walpole the legal status of a “Host Community”, as defined under Chapter 23K of the General Laws and, therefore, grants the voters of Walpole the power to vote up or down on any such project in addition to the voters of Foxborough.
Section 15 (13) of the new casino law states that “if a proposed gaming establishment is situated in 2 or more cities or towns, the applicant shall execute an agreement with each host community, or a joint agreement with both communities, and receive a certified and binding vote on a ballot question at an election held in each host community in favor of such a license.” The term “gaming establishment” includes nongaming structures “related to the gaming area and may include, but shall not be limited to hotels, restaurants or other amenities”. Such amenities will necessarily include parking, water and sewer access, emergency egress roads, and interbasin transfers in order to make the proposed casino possible. Without Walpole, the casino cannot work.
These Walpole neighborhoods are situated on land that belonged to the town of Foxborough from Colonial times until 1931. Chapter 307 of the Acts of 1931 reset the boundaries between these two towns, effective only after a majority vote of the voters of each town of the towns of Walpole and Foxborough. Any casino complex must be similarly accepted by a majority vote of the voters of each of these towns. Since Walpole has always had a unique relationship to this site, any casino development in this part of Foxborough must also receive the approval of Walpole.
In 1999, the legislature enacted Chapter 16, the so-called “Foxboro Stadium” bill. The economic development area created by the statute is made viable by the mandated infrastructure improvements on adjacent Walpole land, a cost borne by state taxpayers. Walpole is specifically cited in the law as a town whose infrastructure enhancements are necessary to promote the public safety and convenience of the Foxborough economic area. Further, the Parking and Traffic Management Zone created by the law defines the zone to include satellite parking spaces in Walpole necessary for stadium events. If so much as one parking space is altered under the current configuration, any casino developed in this economic area necessarily incorporates Walpole by statutory reference, an amenity which further renders Walpole a host community.
Section 12 of the 1999 Act authorizes sewer connections to the town of Walpole. Such a casino, with hotel, restaurants, and all-day, all-night, 365-day operations will need to hook up to Walpole’s sewer system downstream, and thereby making it a nongaming structure “related to the gaming area”, a status that even further renders Walpole a host community.
State taxpayers paid $70 million in 1999 for improvements that did not anticipate a casino since the legislature defeated a casino measure that same year. Any such newly authorized industry approved and sited here must therefore require the proponents to reimburse the taxpayers their $70 million investment, with interest. Close to $100 million, this money would be better reinvested as school aid, which would mean another $230,000 for Walpole school children, a far better investment for the future of our Commonwealth.
The casino complex must also provide alternative egress for emergency vehicles in the rear of the establishment. With thousands of consumers eating, sleeping, gambling every hour of every day throughout the year, police, fire and ambulance must have backup access on and off the premises should Route 1 become inaccessible. Since the front of the casino complex is accessed completely by Route 1 only, the alternate road connection can only come from a connection to Summer Street…in Walpole… a necessary amenity that also renders the town of Walpole, in addition to the town of Foxborough, a “host community”.
Although Foxborough land may be transferred to Walpole through the application of law (see above), the waters indigenous to this area continue to follow their natural course regardless of how or where boundary lines are drawn. The casino complex entails significant new water use and wastewater discharge seated upon the confluence of four watershed areas: the Charles River basin, the Neponset River basin, the Taunton River basin, and the Ten Mile River basin. Any such significant alteration in the natural flow patterns of Walpole’s water will trigger approval under the state’s Interbasin Transfer Act. Although this Act exempts transfers between river basins within the same municipality, transfers between Foxborough and Walpole are not exempt. Walpole’s water, whether withdrawn at an accelerated rate to accommodate the casino or recharged at lower levels because of the casino, will necessarily be a part of the casino development for the proposal to be viable.
In the unlikely chance that the voters of Foxborough vote affirmatively in the ballot box for this casino, the voters of Walpole, the People of Walpole, must also be heard.
Very Truly Yours,
John H. Rogers
State Representative
Walpole/Norwood
WalpoleNews.com . P.O. Box 144 . Walpole, MA 02081
For the sake of full disclosure, Rep. John H. Rogers voted consistently AGAINST Governor Slot Barn's FOLLY known as Predatory Gambling.
The votes are listed below:
HOUSE
Although Governor Slot Barns made numerous promises, including supporting an INDEPENDENT COST ANALYSIS, once re-elected, amnesia developed and the Governor plowed forward with his back room agenda.
The costs Rep. Roger's included are merely a beginning and fail to consider increased police, fire, ambulance and DPW, as well as numerous other municipal expenses, for all surrounding towns.
Where will those low wage workers live? In substandard housing? Where will their children attend school? What tax base will be lost through CANNIBALIZATION of jobs removed from the local economy?
When the small town of Palmer, MA appointed a citizen's Casino Impact Study Group, they determined that the annual municipal costs would be $18 MILLION to $39 MILLION. [The Town Council refused to make the report public because they didn't want an 'honest' report.]
Being blinded by the Wynn/Kraft fairy dust of Fools' Gold, condemns Foxborough to an impoverished future. Does anyone even know what the Patriots' presence costs the town?
Rep. Rogers' open letter to the state gaming commission chairman
February 13, 2012
Dear Commissioner Crosby:
The citizens of the Commonwealth most directly affected by the proposed Foxborough casino are the citizens of Walpole. The proposed site, distantly situated within the border of Foxborough, directly abuts more than 500 residential homes…all of which are Walpole families. For the following reasons, this unique locus gives Walpole the legal status of a “Host Community”, as defined under Chapter 23K of the General Laws and, therefore, grants the voters of Walpole the power to vote up or down on any such project in addition to the voters of Foxborough.
Section 15 (13) of the new casino law states that “if a proposed gaming establishment is situated in 2 or more cities or towns, the applicant shall execute an agreement with each host community, or a joint agreement with both communities, and receive a certified and binding vote on a ballot question at an election held in each host community in favor of such a license.” The term “gaming establishment” includes nongaming structures “related to the gaming area and may include, but shall not be limited to hotels, restaurants or other amenities”. Such amenities will necessarily include parking, water and sewer access, emergency egress roads, and interbasin transfers in order to make the proposed casino possible. Without Walpole, the casino cannot work.
These Walpole neighborhoods are situated on land that belonged to the town of Foxborough from Colonial times until 1931. Chapter 307 of the Acts of 1931 reset the boundaries between these two towns, effective only after a majority vote of the voters of each town of the towns of Walpole and Foxborough. Any casino complex must be similarly accepted by a majority vote of the voters of each of these towns. Since Walpole has always had a unique relationship to this site, any casino development in this part of Foxborough must also receive the approval of Walpole.
In 1999, the legislature enacted Chapter 16, the so-called “Foxboro Stadium” bill. The economic development area created by the statute is made viable by the mandated infrastructure improvements on adjacent Walpole land, a cost borne by state taxpayers. Walpole is specifically cited in the law as a town whose infrastructure enhancements are necessary to promote the public safety and convenience of the Foxborough economic area. Further, the Parking and Traffic Management Zone created by the law defines the zone to include satellite parking spaces in Walpole necessary for stadium events. If so much as one parking space is altered under the current configuration, any casino developed in this economic area necessarily incorporates Walpole by statutory reference, an amenity which further renders Walpole a host community.
Section 12 of the 1999 Act authorizes sewer connections to the town of Walpole. Such a casino, with hotel, restaurants, and all-day, all-night, 365-day operations will need to hook up to Walpole’s sewer system downstream, and thereby making it a nongaming structure “related to the gaming area”, a status that even further renders Walpole a host community.
State taxpayers paid $70 million in 1999 for improvements that did not anticipate a casino since the legislature defeated a casino measure that same year. Any such newly authorized industry approved and sited here must therefore require the proponents to reimburse the taxpayers their $70 million investment, with interest. Close to $100 million, this money would be better reinvested as school aid, which would mean another $230,000 for Walpole school children, a far better investment for the future of our Commonwealth.
The casino complex must also provide alternative egress for emergency vehicles in the rear of the establishment. With thousands of consumers eating, sleeping, gambling every hour of every day throughout the year, police, fire and ambulance must have backup access on and off the premises should Route 1 become inaccessible. Since the front of the casino complex is accessed completely by Route 1 only, the alternate road connection can only come from a connection to Summer Street…in Walpole… a necessary amenity that also renders the town of Walpole, in addition to the town of Foxborough, a “host community”.
Although Foxborough land may be transferred to Walpole through the application of law (see above), the waters indigenous to this area continue to follow their natural course regardless of how or where boundary lines are drawn. The casino complex entails significant new water use and wastewater discharge seated upon the confluence of four watershed areas: the Charles River basin, the Neponset River basin, the Taunton River basin, and the Ten Mile River basin. Any such significant alteration in the natural flow patterns of Walpole’s water will trigger approval under the state’s Interbasin Transfer Act. Although this Act exempts transfers between river basins within the same municipality, transfers between Foxborough and Walpole are not exempt. Walpole’s water, whether withdrawn at an accelerated rate to accommodate the casino or recharged at lower levels because of the casino, will necessarily be a part of the casino development for the proposal to be viable.
In the unlikely chance that the voters of Foxborough vote affirmatively in the ballot box for this casino, the voters of Walpole, the People of Walpole, must also be heard.
Very Truly Yours,
John H. Rogers
State Representative
Walpole/Norwood
WalpoleNews.com . P.O. Box 144 . Walpole, MA 02081
The incestuous yuckiness of it all
Gambling czar flub #2
By Boston Herald Editorial Staff
Is there a three-strikes law for public officials?
If so, the state’s gambling czar is on borrowed time.
Stephen Crosby was named by the governor back in December to head the just created Gaming Commission, which will be in charge of issuing licenses for the state’s soon-to-be casinos.
The ink was hardly dry on the appointment when Crosby decided to appear on a panel at a gambling forum co-sponsored by ML Strategies. The lobbying firm had already been hired by Las Vegas casino honcho Steve Wynn in connection with his bid to build a $1 billion casino in Foxboro.
Several hundred people attended the forum and Crosby insisted his appearance had the blessing of the State Ethics Commission. Part of the deal was that he would speak before the other participants and then leave before a vice president for Ameristar Casinos — a contender for a western Massachusetts location — spoke.
So having survived that brouhaha, the apparently tone deaf Crosby got himself into more hot water yesterday — by agreeing to attend a reception at the offices of Holland & Knight. Last week the law firm won a contract from the Patrick administration to explore the possibility of negotiating a casino deal with a local Native American tribe. The tribe would get first dibs on a casino in southeast Massachusetts. The fee for the firm’s work could go as high as $500,000.
The event at Holland & Knight last night was “honoring” Crosby on his appointment to the Gaming Commission and was organized by the Commonwealth Compact, which Crosby founded. Leaving aside the self-congratulatory nature of the event, we are still faced with the incestuous yuckiness of it all.
As Crosby told the earlier forum, “If we can void terrible negatives, then I will feel good.”
That ought to be his guide to future engagements too.
By Boston Herald Editorial Staff
Is there a three-strikes law for public officials?
If so, the state’s gambling czar is on borrowed time.
Stephen Crosby was named by the governor back in December to head the just created Gaming Commission, which will be in charge of issuing licenses for the state’s soon-to-be casinos.
The ink was hardly dry on the appointment when Crosby decided to appear on a panel at a gambling forum co-sponsored by ML Strategies. The lobbying firm had already been hired by Las Vegas casino honcho Steve Wynn in connection with his bid to build a $1 billion casino in Foxboro.
Several hundred people attended the forum and Crosby insisted his appearance had the blessing of the State Ethics Commission. Part of the deal was that he would speak before the other participants and then leave before a vice president for Ameristar Casinos — a contender for a western Massachusetts location — spoke.
So having survived that brouhaha, the apparently tone deaf Crosby got himself into more hot water yesterday — by agreeing to attend a reception at the offices of Holland & Knight. Last week the law firm won a contract from the Patrick administration to explore the possibility of negotiating a casino deal with a local Native American tribe. The tribe would get first dibs on a casino in southeast Massachusetts. The fee for the firm’s work could go as high as $500,000.
The event at Holland & Knight last night was “honoring” Crosby on his appointment to the Gaming Commission and was organized by the Commonwealth Compact, which Crosby founded. Leaving aside the self-congratulatory nature of the event, we are still faced with the incestuous yuckiness of it all.
As Crosby told the earlier forum, “If we can void terrible negatives, then I will feel good.”
That ought to be his guide to future engagements too.
Reisman: Nick Spano's career takes big hit
Reisman: Nick Spano's career takes big hit
Written by Phil Reisman
Nick Spano won’t be sentenced until June, but he’s already paying a heavy price for his $53,000 tax-evasion transgression.
In the last few days, Spano’s Albany lobbying firm, Empire Strategic Planning, has lost at least three major clients with contracts worth an approximate total of $540,000. They include the Westchester Medical Center, Yonkers Raceway and Genting Group, the Malaysian resort and casino company.
The Genting contract alone amounted to about $300,000.
In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed that the state form a partnership with Genting to build a $4 billion convention center — the largest in the country — at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens where Genting already operates a 4,500-machine racino.
I was originally tipped off to the clients’ defection by a person closely connected with Spano’s interests who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The tip was later confirmed by The Journal News. My source said if more shoes drop, Spano is “probably done” as a lobbyist.
That may or may not be true in the long run. Nonetheless, the fact remains that a severe blow has been served on Spano in the short term. And it could get worse.
He agreed to plead guilty to the single tax charge in exchange for 12 to 18 months in prison, but the federal judge is not bound by that deal. Spano has fallen mightily, but it is something to wonder that he could be put behind bars for what the feds pinned on him — not much.
Legally speaking, it pretty much boils down to this: Spano was a crafty state legislator who knew how to work the system to his maximum benefit. His work as a “consultant” for an insurance broker doing business with the state doesn’t look good ethically, but that wasn’t a provable crime. Not according to the feds anyway.
Spano failed to report all of his income — including a $45,000 commission on a real estate transaction — and that is a crime.
But half the waitresses and moonlighting cops in America don’t declare what they make in cash tips and wages, and they don’t go to jail. Neither do the white-collar sharpies who pay high-priced tax accountants to figure out all sorts of creative ways of hiding income from the IRS.
(Page 2 of 2)
It is undisputed that Spano did some good things for Yonkers. Over a long career in the state Legislature, he brought home the proverbial bacon for any number of programs and organizations and annually played a key role in securing sorely need state education aid to the city’s public schools. His most ardent supporters point to his tireless advocacy of those with mental and developmental disabilities.
They hope all of this will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced — and they expect that scores of people will write letters to the judge, asking for leniency. Nevertheless, the aforementioned source believes there is a 70 percent chance that Spano will get jail time.
Some other things came up in the conversation with this person, among them the issue of Spano’s younger brother, John Spano, who was a deputy commissioner with the state Office of General Services.
The U.S. Attorney Office’s complaint noted that while serving in the Senate, Nick Spano was a paid consultant for Professional Risk Managers, a White Plains insurance firm. Spano’s fee was increased significantly in 1996 after PRM got a contract with the Office of General Services, eventually rising to $100,000 a year.
The complaint did not mention the brother, but I pointed out in a column that it was curious that John Spano had a big job with the OGS at the time the PRM contract was inked.
But the inside source said he had nothing to do with the deal.
Furthermore, he said, John Spano actually disliked PRM because his wife, who worked at the firm as a secretary, was let go.
There were no charges connected with this, but investigators threw it in the complaint as red meat for public consumption.
In the end, they only got Spano on the tax dodge. To get that far, they evidently spent years scanning every financial document he had in his possession, short of dry cleaning bills.
According to the source, they subpoenaed one of Spano’s nephews who is in the home-heating business because he received a check for $2,500 from Zehy Jereis, a former Spano protege who is on trial in the Ridge Hill bribery case. It turned out to be payment for an oil delivery to an apartment building owned by the Jereis family.
The feds also tried to connect Spano’s two-family rental property at 221 Ridge St.
in Yonkers to the Ridge Hill scandal simply because of the common word, “Ridge.”I’m told that Spano will not be called to testify at the Ridge Hill trial. He is not being questioned further about anything.
He made his deal with the government.
He’s done with all of it. Time will tell if that’s true.
But one thing is certain: the chore of picking up the pieces of his life is just beginning.
Gambling Addict Steals From Daughter For Slots
Inverness gambling addict mum blew daughter's £7,000 on slot machines
By Laurence Ford
A 71-year-old widow stole £7,000 from her daughter and blew it on slot machines at a city bingo club.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told how Celeste Stewart, who lived with her soldier husband in Kenya, regularly sent her mother cash to cover any repair and other bills for two properties she owned in Inverness.
But her mum, Margaret Davies, of Rowan Road, Inverness, developed a gambling addiction and used the money to feed her habit at the bingo hall slot machines.
Davies admitted that between August 1, 2009 and May 30, 2011, having received £7,000 from her daughter while she was outwith the country, she stole the money.
Depute fiscal David Bernard said the daughter became suspicious when payments were not made to a joiner who was installing a new bathroom in one of her flats.
He said on May 30, Mrs Stewart asked a friend to get the money from her mother to pay for the work, and she arranged to pick it up but this did not happen despite her calling at the house on several occasions.
"On this date the complainer accused her mother of stealing the money," said Mr Bernard.
"The accused reacted angrily to this and said the money would be in her account within a week. The matter was raised with the police and inquiries carried out, and the accused attended on a voluntary basis at Burnet Road Police Station.
"During interview she confirmed that she had control of her daughter’s finances and made a full confession that she had used the money to gamble on the slot machines at the bingo in Inverness."
Solicitor Duncan Henderson told Sheriff Ian Abercrombie: "This is a truly tragic case. My client knows she has let not only her family and society, but herself down.
"She is, frankly, mortified to be in court. She accepts entirely that it is her own fault, that she lost money on these gambling machines, and a breach of trust on top of that.
"She gave up work to look after her mother who was in poor health and died shortly thereafter. Her children had left home and it is in that vacuum, for want of a better word, that she has fallen into this gambling addiction."
Sheriff Abercrombie deferred sentence for six months for good behaviour and to give Davies a chance to repay some of the money. He also imposed a home curfew from 6pm to 6am.
He told her: "Were it not for your age, and the fact that you are totally contrite and have already made steps to repay part of this money which you filched from your daughter in a breach of family trust, I would not be persuaded to defer sentence."
By Laurence Ford
A 71-year-old widow stole £7,000 from her daughter and blew it on slot machines at a city bingo club.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told how Celeste Stewart, who lived with her soldier husband in Kenya, regularly sent her mother cash to cover any repair and other bills for two properties she owned in Inverness.
But her mum, Margaret Davies, of Rowan Road, Inverness, developed a gambling addiction and used the money to feed her habit at the bingo hall slot machines.
Davies admitted that between August 1, 2009 and May 30, 2011, having received £7,000 from her daughter while she was outwith the country, she stole the money.
Depute fiscal David Bernard said the daughter became suspicious when payments were not made to a joiner who was installing a new bathroom in one of her flats.
He said on May 30, Mrs Stewart asked a friend to get the money from her mother to pay for the work, and she arranged to pick it up but this did not happen despite her calling at the house on several occasions.
"On this date the complainer accused her mother of stealing the money," said Mr Bernard.
"The accused reacted angrily to this and said the money would be in her account within a week. The matter was raised with the police and inquiries carried out, and the accused attended on a voluntary basis at Burnet Road Police Station.
"During interview she confirmed that she had control of her daughter’s finances and made a full confession that she had used the money to gamble on the slot machines at the bingo in Inverness."
Solicitor Duncan Henderson told Sheriff Ian Abercrombie: "This is a truly tragic case. My client knows she has let not only her family and society, but herself down.
"She is, frankly, mortified to be in court. She accepts entirely that it is her own fault, that she lost money on these gambling machines, and a breach of trust on top of that.
"She gave up work to look after her mother who was in poor health and died shortly thereafter. Her children had left home and it is in that vacuum, for want of a better word, that she has fallen into this gambling addiction."
Sheriff Abercrombie deferred sentence for six months for good behaviour and to give Davies a chance to repay some of the money. He also imposed a home curfew from 6pm to 6am.
He told her: "Were it not for your age, and the fact that you are totally contrite and have already made steps to repay part of this money which you filched from your daughter in a breach of family trust, I would not be persuaded to defer sentence."
Gambling has boosted PA's economy, but also increased addicts
Ever notice how no one asks how much government sponsored Gambling Addiction costs?
Gambling has boosted PA's economy, but also increased addicts
Reported by: Kirk Wilson
Contributor: Nate Wardle
While proceeds benefit the casinos, state and local governments and some patrons, other players can become big-time losers. CBS 21 explored the pain of gambling addiction.
Current estimates suggest that three percent of the adult population will experience a serious problem with gambling. That can result in significant debt, family disruption, job losses and criminal activity.
Debra Thompson is a state-certified gambling addiction counselor. She says the first step to recovery is accepting the fact you're addicted.
She introduced us to a young man who is a recovering gambling addict and wishes to remain anonymous. He says after first talking to a counselor he realized the seriousness of his problem and how ne needed to change.
“Financially it really was affecting everything, bills and all and its was making the home very unhappy,” stated the recovering addict.
He says realizing the consequences of his condition have kept him on the straight and narrow.
Gambling has boosted PA's economy, but also increased addicts
Reported by: Kirk Wilson
Contributor: Nate Wardle
While proceeds benefit the casinos, state and local governments and some patrons, other players can become big-time losers. CBS 21 explored the pain of gambling addiction.
Current estimates suggest that three percent of the adult population will experience a serious problem with gambling. That can result in significant debt, family disruption, job losses and criminal activity.
Debra Thompson is a state-certified gambling addiction counselor. She says the first step to recovery is accepting the fact you're addicted.
She introduced us to a young man who is a recovering gambling addict and wishes to remain anonymous. He says after first talking to a counselor he realized the seriousness of his problem and how ne needed to change.
“Financially it really was affecting everything, bills and all and its was making the home very unhappy,” stated the recovering addict.
He says realizing the consequences of his condition have kept him on the straight and narrow.
WLKY Investigates: Battling Embezzlement
WLKY Investigates: Battling Embezzlement
Steve Burgin/WLKY
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Several white-collar cases have recently cropped up in Louisville involving embezzling from area businesses. The cases range from the theft of a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million.
Some of those who lost money believed they were victimized twice.
Those victims aren't happy with a court system that allows those who steal hundreds of thousands dollars to be in and out of prison in a few months and go back to their old ways.
Linda Ireland ripped off Kentech for more than $340,000 during the recession, nearly putting the small father- and son-run company out of business.
“She was able to juggle the numbers, juggle the invoices, ghost checks, things like that, all the while making out checks to herself and cashing them,” Louisville Metro Police Detective Matthew Glass said.
Ireland blamed gambling on her thefts at Kentech.
“She doesn't have flat-screen TVs. She doesn't have cars. She didn't pay her rent. Every dime she ever took went into a slot machine,” said Ireland’s attorney, James Moore.
“I think the main thing for me is just the betrayal. Betrayal by her and betrayal by the justice system,” said Kentech’s Charles Blincoe.
Ireland, who was sentenced to 15 years, spent only 120 days in Metro Corrections.
“The courts, in handing down such light sentences, is saying to the public, especially the criminal public, ‘Hey, here's an easy way to make a lot of money and we won't do anything to you,’” Blincoe said.
When it comes to embezzlement associated with pathological gambling, Bud Newman with the Kentucky Council for Problem Gambling contends prison is a waste of time.
“Most of the gamblers I've worked with throughout the years have been ethical, moral, until the disease kicks in,” Newman said.
Gregory Woods got away with $1.2 million from Toyota of Louisville.
“His whole life, until this gambling addiction took a hold of him, there's nothing in his life that he violated any laws accept traffic tickets,” Woods’ attorney, James Moore, said.
Woods was given 15 years, but was freed on shock probation.
When Ireland was sentenced in June 2010, supporters filled the courtroom.
“Those are the faces of 20 compulsive gamblers who were in the room with Linda last week to celebrate her one year anniversary from gambling,” Moore said.
Ireland, 50, was ordered to pay back the $340,000 with interest at $250 a month.
Blincoe said she’ll never pay off her debt at that rate.
What bothers the Blincoes the most is that she started gambling again.
“At the bingo hall, couldn't believe it when she walked in the first time after she got out in 120 days,” Cam Blincoe said.
WLKY’s cameras found Blincoe sitting in front of bingo terminals at the beginning of February. At sentencing, there was no stipulation that she had to stop gambling, so Ireland was not breaking the law or violating her five year probation by gambling.
Ireland refused an on-camera interview with WLKY.
“The relapse rate is extremely high as it is with all addictions,” Newman said.
Newman said there should be stipulations for those sentenced on gambling charges.
“If I were the sentencing judge that would be the criteria, no more gambling, restitution,” Newman said. The Blincoes said they couldn’t agree more.
“It's sickening. It's absolutely sickening,” Charles Blincoe said.
Mistakes Made
Before mistakes tripped up Jennifer Carmichael, she had embezzled $1 million from her employer, Mercer Trucking.
“She'd been doing it for a long time, but as most white-collar criminals do, they make mistakes,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Balenovich said.
Last month, Carmichael, a once-trusted employee at Mercer Trucking, was sentenced to 13 years. She remains in prison.
“Best we could tell, she was a spender. We don't know if she has any left or not. If she does, we don't know about it,” said Mercer Trucking General Manager Rick Reed.
Over 10 years at Mercer Trucking, Carmichael wrote herself 390 checks. In her case, $2,990 was a magic figure. Anything over $3,000 would have brought additional scrutiny. Reed said Carmichael did more than steal money from a family-run business.
“Employees felt very much like they were part of the development of the company and pretty much trusted. Doesn't get any more clear than that. There was a trust factor,” Reed said.
Reed said when Carmichael showed up to work in a new vehicle, she told a co-worker someone died and left her money.
At sentencing, Carmichael asked Circuit Judge Irv Maze for probation.
“Your honor, I beg you to have compassion and mercy on me. I can assure you that I will do everything I can to be a productive member of society,” Carmichael said.
“You can't steal a million dollars from your employer and not go to jail. This is one of the most egregious embezzlement cases in Jefferson County history,” Balenovich said.
Fortunately for Mercer Trucking, insurance made good on all but $25,000 of the $1 million Carmichael embezzled.
“We don't like the fact she's going to serve time and spend time away from her family, but we are glad Judge Maze found it appropriate. It's a lot of money,” Reed said.
Read more: http://www.wlky.com/news/30476291/detail.html#ixzz1me8zPu3r
Steve Burgin/WLKY
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Several white-collar cases have recently cropped up in Louisville involving embezzling from area businesses. The cases range from the theft of a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million.
Some of those who lost money believed they were victimized twice.
Those victims aren't happy with a court system that allows those who steal hundreds of thousands dollars to be in and out of prison in a few months and go back to their old ways.
Linda Ireland ripped off Kentech for more than $340,000 during the recession, nearly putting the small father- and son-run company out of business.
“She was able to juggle the numbers, juggle the invoices, ghost checks, things like that, all the while making out checks to herself and cashing them,” Louisville Metro Police Detective Matthew Glass said.
Ireland blamed gambling on her thefts at Kentech.
“She doesn't have flat-screen TVs. She doesn't have cars. She didn't pay her rent. Every dime she ever took went into a slot machine,” said Ireland’s attorney, James Moore.
“I think the main thing for me is just the betrayal. Betrayal by her and betrayal by the justice system,” said Kentech’s Charles Blincoe.
Ireland, who was sentenced to 15 years, spent only 120 days in Metro Corrections.
“The courts, in handing down such light sentences, is saying to the public, especially the criminal public, ‘Hey, here's an easy way to make a lot of money and we won't do anything to you,’” Blincoe said.
When it comes to embezzlement associated with pathological gambling, Bud Newman with the Kentucky Council for Problem Gambling contends prison is a waste of time.
“Most of the gamblers I've worked with throughout the years have been ethical, moral, until the disease kicks in,” Newman said.
Gregory Woods got away with $1.2 million from Toyota of Louisville.
“His whole life, until this gambling addiction took a hold of him, there's nothing in his life that he violated any laws accept traffic tickets,” Woods’ attorney, James Moore, said.
Woods was given 15 years, but was freed on shock probation.
When Ireland was sentenced in June 2010, supporters filled the courtroom.
“Those are the faces of 20 compulsive gamblers who were in the room with Linda last week to celebrate her one year anniversary from gambling,” Moore said.
Ireland, 50, was ordered to pay back the $340,000 with interest at $250 a month.
Blincoe said she’ll never pay off her debt at that rate.
What bothers the Blincoes the most is that she started gambling again.
“At the bingo hall, couldn't believe it when she walked in the first time after she got out in 120 days,” Cam Blincoe said.
WLKY’s cameras found Blincoe sitting in front of bingo terminals at the beginning of February. At sentencing, there was no stipulation that she had to stop gambling, so Ireland was not breaking the law or violating her five year probation by gambling.
Ireland refused an on-camera interview with WLKY.
“The relapse rate is extremely high as it is with all addictions,” Newman said.
Newman said there should be stipulations for those sentenced on gambling charges.
“If I were the sentencing judge that would be the criteria, no more gambling, restitution,” Newman said. The Blincoes said they couldn’t agree more.
“It's sickening. It's absolutely sickening,” Charles Blincoe said.
Mistakes Made
Before mistakes tripped up Jennifer Carmichael, she had embezzled $1 million from her employer, Mercer Trucking.
“She'd been doing it for a long time, but as most white-collar criminals do, they make mistakes,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Balenovich said.
Last month, Carmichael, a once-trusted employee at Mercer Trucking, was sentenced to 13 years. She remains in prison.
“Best we could tell, she was a spender. We don't know if she has any left or not. If she does, we don't know about it,” said Mercer Trucking General Manager Rick Reed.
Over 10 years at Mercer Trucking, Carmichael wrote herself 390 checks. In her case, $2,990 was a magic figure. Anything over $3,000 would have brought additional scrutiny. Reed said Carmichael did more than steal money from a family-run business.
“Employees felt very much like they were part of the development of the company and pretty much trusted. Doesn't get any more clear than that. There was a trust factor,” Reed said.
Reed said when Carmichael showed up to work in a new vehicle, she told a co-worker someone died and left her money.
At sentencing, Carmichael asked Circuit Judge Irv Maze for probation.
“Your honor, I beg you to have compassion and mercy on me. I can assure you that I will do everything I can to be a productive member of society,” Carmichael said.
“You can't steal a million dollars from your employer and not go to jail. This is one of the most egregious embezzlement cases in Jefferson County history,” Balenovich said.
Fortunately for Mercer Trucking, insurance made good on all but $25,000 of the $1 million Carmichael embezzled.
“We don't like the fact she's going to serve time and spend time away from her family, but we are glad Judge Maze found it appropriate. It's a lot of money,” Reed said.
Read more: http://www.wlky.com/news/30476291/detail.html#ixzz1me8zPu3r
Subsidizing a Dead Industry
For inexplicable reasons, taxpayer subsidies of the Dead Horse Racing Industry are repeated globally as justification for government sponsored addiction.
A way of life on the final home stretch?
THE DRUMMOND REPORT: Horse racing
By CHIP MARTIN, The London Free Press
Wall, winner of more than 7,200 races whose purses helped him develop an operation that has about 50 horses and once employed as many as 32 people, has been in the business since the 1970s.
His take of purses that support the industry and to which the slots contribute has been in the hundreds of thousands over the years.
"It would cramp our style," he said of killing off slots revenue. "We've been survivors all these years. I wouldn't say it would put us out of business, but it's sure going to hinder it a lot."
Like other horse people, he angrily dismisses Duncan's assertion the $345 million that goes to racetracks and the horse community is a "subsidy." The money, he said, is needed in an industry whose costs have risen significantly.
A way of life on the final home stretch?
THE DRUMMOND REPORT: Horse racing
By CHIP MARTIN, The London Free Press
Wall, winner of more than 7,200 races whose purses helped him develop an operation that has about 50 horses and once employed as many as 32 people, has been in the business since the 1970s.
His take of purses that support the industry and to which the slots contribute has been in the hundreds of thousands over the years.
"It would cramp our style," he said of killing off slots revenue. "We've been survivors all these years. I wouldn't say it would put us out of business, but it's sure going to hinder it a lot."
Like other horse people, he angrily dismisses Duncan's assertion the $345 million that goes to racetracks and the horse community is a "subsidy." The money, he said, is needed in an industry whose costs have risen significantly.
The younger a person starts gambling the greater the risk
Gambling Addiction--The younger a person starts gambling the greater the risk of becoming addicted.
Lake Worth, FL
Why are we not teaching about gambling addiction in high school and colleges and the pros?
The National Gambling Study Commission said that there are "5 million compulsive gamblers and 15 million at risk in the U.S" Forty-eight percent of the people who gamble bet on sports.
Arnie Wexler CCGC runs a help line for gambling addicts
888 LAST-BET and 1/3 of all the calls came from young people between the ages of 15 and 30.
If you read the Sports Illustrated 3 part Story, written by Tim Layden in April of 1995 about gambling on the college campus, (and that was 17 years ago) you now know what every youth in high school and on every college campus knows; gambling is running rampid .And playing poker is king today with a lot youth. And many are getting addicted. Odds and point spreads have become a normal topic of conversation amongst these students. Gambling is as available as a can of beer or a pack of cigarettes and the student bookmakers get the lines they use straight out of their local newspapers.
At a press conference in Virginia 1996. Part of the panel was Arnie Wexler a recovering compulsive gambler ( last bet 4/10/680 ) and Michael Franzese, who served 7 1/2 years in federal prison for racketeering, said games on all levels are fixed by the mob, including high schools.
``You have no idea how easy it is to influence these kids to shave points,'' said the New York native, who was a captain in the notorious Colombo family.
``I talked to the NBA rookies earlier this season . . . and it's amazing how many confided to me that they have gambling habits. I'm not going to mention their names, but if I did, you would know them.
``I personally got involved in compromising games with players, and it all came through their gambling habits.''
He recalls taking over a New York City auto dealership when the dealer went into gambling debt. The dealer was providing cars to professional and college athletes and helping them to place bets, all at Franzese's urging.
Some of those players went deep into debt and Franzese forced them to fix games.
``In a tight game, we would tell them, `Don't hit the ball in the bottom of the ninth,' or, `Don't catch a pass in the end zone in the fourth quarter,' '' said Franzese, who was involved in the Boston College game-fixing ring of the 1970s.
``And they did it. They had no choice.
``We were able to fix (horse) races. Not the big ones, like the Kentucky Derby. But some races are fixed.''
And Arnie Wexler said
``You think high school games aren't fixed? A New York City kid confided to me he had shaved points. The day he was being scouted by some Division I scouts, he shaved points. He ended up at a Division III school.
Over the years i have gotten many calls from high school and College Athletes for advice on how to break their gambling habits. One athlete with an $800,000 salary was in debt to a casino. Wexler set up a payment schedule and is trying to ween the athlete from his addiction. Not every gambler you try to help ends up in recovery i have been trying to help X N.F.L.quarterback Art Schlichter from 1982 and even testified for him in Las Vegas in 1994.
In 1982 I was involved with trying to help a compulsive gambler who was an ex college star athlete. He owed $350,000 in gambling debts. It all started five years before when he played a football ticket for $5. No doubt the person providing the football ticket got the lines from their local newspaper.
There are ads in newspapers for 800 and 900 numbers that sell information to gamblers. Some of these ads read : "Get the game of the month free", "We pick 75% winners", "Last week we went 11 for 12", and " Get our lock of the week".
I still can't believe that newspapers carry ads from these so called handicappers, who are really scandicappers. It's also interesting to note how often the information is incorrect.
I remember going to speak at Northwestern University a few years ago. That day I read in USA Today that Danny Sheridan wrote: "Northwestern was a million to one to win the Big 10". Well, they did win the Big 10 and went to the Rose bowl. I also remember when the Dallas Morning News had a gorilla in the Dallas Zoo make football picks for them. The gorillas' picks were doing better than the sports writers.
Those publishing the point spread should include a help number for problem gamblers.
If you're going to list a betting line, list a help linelike 888 LAST BET
The NCAA understands this issue as a few years back they discussed taking away press credentials at the Final Four, from newspapers that carry the lines.
One NCAA study a few years ago reported: "There is a disturbing trend of gambling among athletes in college" You can't think that these people will get into the pros and then just stop gambling?
Recently someone told me that they heard a commentator on a national college TV football game say: "They covered the spread."
Years ago I was on a TV show with Howard Cossell (ABC Sports Beat). The topic was: Does the media encourage the public to gamble? Bobby Knight, Indiana basketball coach, said: "A newspaper who published point spreads should also publish names and addresses of services that render to prostitutes. They practically have the same legality in every one of our states, and I can't see why one is any better than the other." On the same show former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn said: "Anything that encourages gambling on team sports bothers me. We all look hypocritical but than why are we putting up the odds unless we are trying to encourage it." David Stern, NBA commissioner said: "We don't want the weeks' grocery money to be bet on the outcome of a particular sporting event."
Its time for high schools colleges and professional sports to outline and execute a real program to help players who might have a gambling problem or gambling addiction problem. Yet college and professional sports still do not want to deal with this. They do not want the media and public to think there is a problem.
If high schools colleges and professional leagues wanted to help the players, they would run real programs that seriously address the issue of gambling and compulsive gambling. Education and early detection can make a difference between life and death for some people who have or will end up with a gambling addiction.
ARNIE WEXLER CCGC
LAST BET 4/10/68
LAKE WORTH FLORIDA
Lake Worth, FL
Why are we not teaching about gambling addiction in high school and colleges and the pros?
The National Gambling Study Commission said that there are "5 million compulsive gamblers and 15 million at risk in the U.S" Forty-eight percent of the people who gamble bet on sports.
Arnie Wexler CCGC runs a help line for gambling addicts
888 LAST-BET and 1/3 of all the calls came from young people between the ages of 15 and 30.
If you read the Sports Illustrated 3 part Story, written by Tim Layden in April of 1995 about gambling on the college campus, (and that was 17 years ago) you now know what every youth in high school and on every college campus knows; gambling is running rampid .And playing poker is king today with a lot youth. And many are getting addicted. Odds and point spreads have become a normal topic of conversation amongst these students. Gambling is as available as a can of beer or a pack of cigarettes and the student bookmakers get the lines they use straight out of their local newspapers.
At a press conference in Virginia 1996. Part of the panel was Arnie Wexler a recovering compulsive gambler ( last bet 4/10/680 ) and Michael Franzese, who served 7 1/2 years in federal prison for racketeering, said games on all levels are fixed by the mob, including high schools.
``You have no idea how easy it is to influence these kids to shave points,'' said the New York native, who was a captain in the notorious Colombo family.
``I talked to the NBA rookies earlier this season . . . and it's amazing how many confided to me that they have gambling habits. I'm not going to mention their names, but if I did, you would know them.
``I personally got involved in compromising games with players, and it all came through their gambling habits.''
He recalls taking over a New York City auto dealership when the dealer went into gambling debt. The dealer was providing cars to professional and college athletes and helping them to place bets, all at Franzese's urging.
Some of those players went deep into debt and Franzese forced them to fix games.
``In a tight game, we would tell them, `Don't hit the ball in the bottom of the ninth,' or, `Don't catch a pass in the end zone in the fourth quarter,' '' said Franzese, who was involved in the Boston College game-fixing ring of the 1970s.
``And they did it. They had no choice.
``We were able to fix (horse) races. Not the big ones, like the Kentucky Derby. But some races are fixed.''
And Arnie Wexler said
``You think high school games aren't fixed? A New York City kid confided to me he had shaved points. The day he was being scouted by some Division I scouts, he shaved points. He ended up at a Division III school.
Over the years i have gotten many calls from high school and College Athletes for advice on how to break their gambling habits. One athlete with an $800,000 salary was in debt to a casino. Wexler set up a payment schedule and is trying to ween the athlete from his addiction. Not every gambler you try to help ends up in recovery i have been trying to help X N.F.L.quarterback Art Schlichter from 1982 and even testified for him in Las Vegas in 1994.
In 1982 I was involved with trying to help a compulsive gambler who was an ex college star athlete. He owed $350,000 in gambling debts. It all started five years before when he played a football ticket for $5. No doubt the person providing the football ticket got the lines from their local newspaper.
There are ads in newspapers for 800 and 900 numbers that sell information to gamblers. Some of these ads read : "Get the game of the month free", "We pick 75% winners", "Last week we went 11 for 12", and " Get our lock of the week".
I still can't believe that newspapers carry ads from these so called handicappers, who are really scandicappers. It's also interesting to note how often the information is incorrect.
I remember going to speak at Northwestern University a few years ago. That day I read in USA Today that Danny Sheridan wrote: "Northwestern was a million to one to win the Big 10". Well, they did win the Big 10 and went to the Rose bowl. I also remember when the Dallas Morning News had a gorilla in the Dallas Zoo make football picks for them. The gorillas' picks were doing better than the sports writers.
Those publishing the point spread should include a help number for problem gamblers.
If you're going to list a betting line, list a help linelike 888 LAST BET
The NCAA understands this issue as a few years back they discussed taking away press credentials at the Final Four, from newspapers that carry the lines.
One NCAA study a few years ago reported: "There is a disturbing trend of gambling among athletes in college" You can't think that these people will get into the pros and then just stop gambling?
Recently someone told me that they heard a commentator on a national college TV football game say: "They covered the spread."
Years ago I was on a TV show with Howard Cossell (ABC Sports Beat). The topic was: Does the media encourage the public to gamble? Bobby Knight, Indiana basketball coach, said: "A newspaper who published point spreads should also publish names and addresses of services that render to prostitutes. They practically have the same legality in every one of our states, and I can't see why one is any better than the other." On the same show former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn said: "Anything that encourages gambling on team sports bothers me. We all look hypocritical but than why are we putting up the odds unless we are trying to encourage it." David Stern, NBA commissioner said: "We don't want the weeks' grocery money to be bet on the outcome of a particular sporting event."
Its time for high schools colleges and professional sports to outline and execute a real program to help players who might have a gambling problem or gambling addiction problem. Yet college and professional sports still do not want to deal with this. They do not want the media and public to think there is a problem.
If high schools colleges and professional leagues wanted to help the players, they would run real programs that seriously address the issue of gambling and compulsive gambling. Education and early detection can make a difference between life and death for some people who have or will end up with a gambling addiction.
ARNIE WEXLER CCGC
LAST BET 4/10/68
LAKE WORTH FLORIDA
'We're in financial ruin....'
'We're in financial ruin, I stole £53,000': What headmaster told wife after pilfering funds from his primary school to fund online gambling addiction
Andrew Wilkie was caught out after anonymous tip-off
On day of urgent audit by county council, he told his wife: 'We're in financial ruin'
He then confessed to the chair of school governors
By Nick Enoch
A headmaster stole more than £53,000 from his school to fund his gambling addiction.
Andrew Wilkie, principal at Southdown Primary School in Buckley, north Wales, had already lost his life savings on online poker sites and had remortgaged his family home.
So he started helping himself to school funds to further fuel his addiction.
Wilkie, 41, of Buckley, admitted to the theft when the school was threatened with an emergency audit after an anonymous tip-off, Wrexham Magistrates' Court heard yesterday.
The money was taken by credit transfer between March 31 and October 19 last year.
Matthew Ellis, prosecuting, said Flintshire Council had received two anonymous letters urging it to investigate the misuse of funds at the school.
On October 18, Flintshire's education department notified the school it was going to carry out an urgent audit of school funds.
By the end of that day, Mr Ellis said Wilkie was described as 'clearing his desk'.
He went home and told his wife: 'We're in financial ruin, I've stolen £53,000 from the school.'
Wilkie then contacted the school governors and said: 'Come round and see me now, it's urgent.'
He told the chairman of governors: 'I've done something very wrong and it's going to have big implications for the school.'
Mr Ellis said Wilkie went on to explain he had a gambling problem and had spent all his family savings on online poker websites, had had to remortgage his home, and was now using the school's money.
Wilkie, who was immediately suspended from his post when the discovery was made, pleaded guilty to stealing a total of £53,438 from Southdown Primary.
Wrexham Magistrates said their powers were not sufficient to sentence Wilkie because of the large amount of money involved.
The case was committed for sentencing to Chester Crown Court on March 15 and Wilkie was granted unconditional bail.
Andrew Wilkie was caught out after anonymous tip-off
On day of urgent audit by county council, he told his wife: 'We're in financial ruin'
He then confessed to the chair of school governors
By Nick Enoch
A headmaster stole more than £53,000 from his school to fund his gambling addiction.
Andrew Wilkie, principal at Southdown Primary School in Buckley, north Wales, had already lost his life savings on online poker sites and had remortgaged his family home.
So he started helping himself to school funds to further fuel his addiction.
Wilkie, 41, of Buckley, admitted to the theft when the school was threatened with an emergency audit after an anonymous tip-off, Wrexham Magistrates' Court heard yesterday.
The money was taken by credit transfer between March 31 and October 19 last year.
Matthew Ellis, prosecuting, said Flintshire Council had received two anonymous letters urging it to investigate the misuse of funds at the school.
On October 18, Flintshire's education department notified the school it was going to carry out an urgent audit of school funds.
By the end of that day, Mr Ellis said Wilkie was described as 'clearing his desk'.
He went home and told his wife: 'We're in financial ruin, I've stolen £53,000 from the school.'
Wilkie then contacted the school governors and said: 'Come round and see me now, it's urgent.'
He told the chairman of governors: 'I've done something very wrong and it's going to have big implications for the school.'
Mr Ellis said Wilkie went on to explain he had a gambling problem and had spent all his family savings on online poker websites, had had to remortgage his home, and was now using the school's money.
Wilkie, who was immediately suspended from his post when the discovery was made, pleaded guilty to stealing a total of £53,438 from Southdown Primary.
Wrexham Magistrates said their powers were not sufficient to sentence Wilkie because of the large amount of money involved.
The case was committed for sentencing to Chester Crown Court on March 15 and Wilkie was granted unconditional bail.
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