Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who supported an unsuccessful 2014 ballot question repealing the casino law, said she hoped the Gaming Commission would take the latest development as an opportunity to review the prudence of licensing another casino in southeastern Massachusetts.
Posted Jul. 23, 2015
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON - The decision by prospective developers to abandon plans for a resort casino on the New Bedford waterfront brings into "sharp focus" the threat of oversaturating the gambling market in Massachusetts with a third casino, Attorney General Maura Healey told the News Service on Thursday.
KG Urban wrote a letter to the Gaming Commission on Wednesday announcing that it would drop its bid to build a casino in New Bedford, despite voters in that city overwhelmingly approving the concept of a casino. The developers cited their inability to put together financing for the project, as well as the "possibility of competition from a nearby Indian casino which would pay no taxes or other compensation to the Commonwealth."
Healey, who supported an unsuccessful 2014 ballot question repealing the casino law, said she hoped the Gaming Commission would take the latest development as an opportunity to review the prudence of licensing another casino in southeastern Massachusetts.
"I think the Gaming Commission has to take a hard look at this. What we see in New Bedford is a reflection of some of the concerns that have been expressed already about market saturation and what's happening in that region and it's a really important issue and I hope the Gaming Commission take this opportunity to task a hard look at what is happening in the region," Healey said.
With the New Bedford developers out of the competition for a license, the Gaming Commission is left with one commercial proposal in the region - Mass Gaming & Entertainment's plan to build a casino in Brockton. Commissioners had expressed their desire to have at least two bids to create competition for the license, and planned to discuss KG Urban's withdrawal at a meeting Thursday.
The Mashpee Wampanoag has plans for a casino in Taunton, but that project has stalled as the tribe seeks federal approval for land to be taken into trust as native tribal lands. If it wins federal approval, the tribe could build a casino without a license from the commission.
"You don't want to have a situation where casinos operate and fail. That's not going to be good for taxpayers, it's not going to be good for the state and it's certainly not going to be good for the communities surrounding the places where the casinos are going to operate," Healey said.
Plainridge Park Casino, which won the state's sole slot parlor license, has begun operations in southeastern Massachusetts and out-of-state gaming venues in Rhode Island and Connecticut compete for customers from Massachusetts.
Some studies suggest Australians are the world's biggest gamblers
Laura began gambling on slot machines, or pokies as they are known in Australia, when she was 20 years old.
Within a few months she was hooked.
"I loved it but it didn't love me back," says Laura, not her real name, a wobble of emotion in her voice. She is now 25.
At her peak she was losing about A$5,000 ($3,650; £2,350) a month.
"It would be basically all the money I had until my last dollar was gone."
Laura had a decent job but she would pour all of her salary into the pokies and then borrow from friends and relatives to gamble more.
"I lost my relationship. I lost my job. I went to pretty desperate measures to fund my gambling."
'Gambling problem'
Laura is far from alone. Australians are officially the world's biggest gamblers, with each adult losing on average more than A$1,380 a year.
That is double the amount lost by Americans and almost three times as much as the British.
"Australians lose more per head than any other country in the world," says Dr Sally Gainsbury from the Centre for Gambling Research at Southern Cross University.
Half a million Australians are at risk from problem gambling
"Australia definitely has a gambling problem," she says.
"One percent of adults have a serious gambling problem which is actually a clinical disorder. Four percent of adults have moderate gambling problems and eight percent a low range of gambling problems."
That means it is estimated there are a staggering half a million Australians at risk from problem gambling.
'Hypnotised'
By far the biggest problem is slot machines, of which there are more than 200,000 across Australia.
"Pokies are the biggest revenue generator," says Dr Gainsbury. "Around two-thirds of all gambling losses are through the pokies and in Australia that amounts to around A$9.8bn a year."
It is incredibly easy to gamble in Australia. There are pokies in just about every pub or bar.
Many pubs contain betting shops, where punters are able to gamble and drink at the same time, and there's nearly always a handily placed cash machine near by, often even in the pub itself.
"My partner used to say it was like I was hypnotised," says Laura.
There are high social costs to people becoming problem gamblers
"I was chasing the adrenalin of having a big win. There was just something about the lights and the sounds of the pokie machines. I would just crave it."
Laura, now a university student who hasn't gambled for more than a year since joining Gamblers Anonymous, says she knew the odds were against her but she just couldn't stop herself.
'Lied to their faces'
Gambling addiction takes many forms.
"I knew exactly what time I got paid and I lost all that money before I even left the office," says Matthew, again not his real name, a 35-year-old IT worker.
Matthew became hooked on amateur online trading sites, speculating on shares and currencies.
He first noticed he had a problem not because of the losses but because of the amount of time he was wasting at work researching the markets.
But soon he says he was losing more money than many people make in a year; tens of thousands of dollars.
"I lost a relationship, my fiancee. The relationship I had with my mum went down the drain," Matthew says.
"The thing that got most people was that I lied to their faces about where I was and about my money situation."
Social cost
Most compulsive gamblers have similar stories to tell.
"In terms of social costs, it is estimated that problem gambling costs A$4.7bn each year," says Dr Gainsbury.
"Gambling is something that affects not just the individual but the people around them. We're talking family breakdown, unemployment, work disruption and then things you can't even put a price on like suicide."
With such a heavy social cost you would think the government would be keen to do something about it. You would be wrong.
Gambling is a source of tax revenue for governments
"Gambling taxes are one of the single largest sources of income for the state and territory governments," says Dr Gainsbury.
"It's estimated that in 2014-15 they'll get almost A$5.9bn dollars from gambling [in taxes]. This is over 10% of total tax revenue for some of the states."
And if anything, gambling is growing in Australia.
Chinese lure
On Sydney Harbour, a huge new supercasino is being built by the Australian businessman James Packer.
The A$2bn project is being aimed primarily at the Chinese market, hoping to lure a growing number of high rollers from Asia.
"Chinese gamblers are being highly targeted," says Dr Gainsbury.
"They're the ones who are expected to be staying at the five-star hotel and playing at the high roller tables."
Despite the estimated 500,000 people here at risk from problem gambling, Australia looks set to solidify its title as the capital of big betting.
LOS ANGELES, Ca. (KTLA) -- A 70-year-old retired Los Angeles Police Department detective was identified Thursday as the "Snowbird Bandit," who robbed five Orange County banks between March and July, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Randolph Bruce Adair, of Rancho Santa Margarita, was arrested Wednesday after several family members saw media reports about the "Snowbird Bandit" and contacted investigators, according to OCSD.
Details regarding what information family members were able to provide was not given, and a booking photo was not released due to the ongoing investigation.
Adair is suspected of robbing five banks:
First Citizens Bank in Rancho Santa Margarita on July 21 U.S. Bank in Ladera Ranch on July 6 Wells Fargo Bank in Mission Viejo on June 11 First Citizens Bank in Rancho Santa Margarita on May 22 California Bank & Trust in Dana Point on March 20
The former detective worked with the LAPD some 30 years ago, according to OCSD Lt. Jeff Hallock.
"It's shocking and it's unfortunate," Hallock said.
Neighbors were surprised by Adair's arrest and told KTLA he seemed like a normal man.
"He would just be on his porch smoking cigars and just watching the neighborhood," neighbor Chris Zeif said. "Just talking to people when they walked by – 'How are you doing? How is everything?'"
Hallock said Adair's motive was not known, but "generally speaking" robbers have issues with addiction.
"(Robbers) will indicate that a lot of time the bank robberies are as a result of some type of addiction, whether it's a drug addiction or a gambling addiction or something like that," Hallock said.
Adair was arrested on suspicion of robbery and an outstanding warrant and held in lieu of $205,000 bail at an Orange County jail.
Investigators planned to pursue federal charges, the OCSD news release stated.
It used to be that if you wanted to play slot machines, you’d have to go to Las Vegas or Atlantic City.
Now, they’re everywhere.
And not everyone is happy about it.
A grassroots movement is emerging to reverse the nationwide penetration of predatory gambling.
Grassroots organizers want to get rid of it. And by it they mean almost all forms of government sponsored gambling — slot machines, casinos, lotteries.
And they are starting to make a splash in the media.
Last year, comedian John Oliver did a 15 minute piece ripping apart lotteries.
CBS News’ 60 Minutes featured Schull on a 2011 piece titled Slot Machines: The Big Gamble.
And now, the grassroots movement has taken a page from the anti-tobacco warriors.
They’ve started a Predatory Gambling Liability Project.
And it’s headed by a former Assistant U.S. Attorney — Michael Fagan, with support from legendary tobacco litigator Richard Daynard and the Public Health Advocacy Institute.
“Most every successful social movement has had four pieces to win,” Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling told Corporate Crime Reporter in an interview last week. “Legislation, education, direct action and litigation. As a movement over the last eight years, we have tried to build momentum in all four of those areas.”
“On the litigation side, for the first time in modern American history, there is a major case against casino interests that was filed in West Virginia, in Wheeling, in August 2014. It is currently pending in West Virginia federal court. The lead attorneys are Terry Noffsinger and James Bordas. The plaintiff is Stacy Stevens. She’s the widow of Scott Stevens. He was a successful CFO. He worked for a multimillion dollar family owned business in western Pennsylvania. He was very successful.”
“Then he went to Las Vegas to a conference, was introduced to slot machines. He started playing the slot machines locally at the casino in Wheeling. He started losing. He embezzled millions from his employer to feed his slot machine addiction. This isn’t like some Joe on the street. He was an incredibly successful family man, businessman — everything you would want in a person.”
“He got hooked on these slot machines. In August 2012, he drove to a soccer field in his hometown — a soccer field he helped raise money for — called the EMTs so they could pick up his body, and he shot himself in the park.”
“His wife is suing the casino owner and the slot machine maker — IGT. They are putting the slot machines on trial. It’s the best case that has been brought.”
“The litigation piece is happening,” Bernal said. “And we’ve launched the Predatory Gambling Liability Project. It’s chaired by a former Assistant U.S. Attorney out of St. Louis — Michael Fagan. We have more than 30 attorneys from across the U.S. including Richard Daynard, the legendary tobacco litigator. He heads the Public Health Advocacy Institute.”
What about direct action?
“People went into casinos, put money into the slot machines and the people just sat in the chairs,” Bernal relates. “We were technically playing the machines, but we weren’t playing them the way the casinos want us to play them. It was a protest that got some press.” Bernal says that predatory gambling “extracts enormous amounts of wealth from everyday people.”
“And it’s not just the poor — middle class, low income families,” Bernal says. “It’s probably one of the biggest wealth extractors in our society. It destroys families. Unlike alcohol or drugs, you don’t know what is happening to this person until they are done with everything.
You don’t see it. People who are alcoholics will tell you — with alcohol, after ten beers, you stop. Your body cuts you off. But with gambling, you chase. People stand up six or seven days straight at these casinos — losing everything they have. Chasing means you go to the casino with $100. You go through that. Do you hit the casino ATM or go home? People who chase their losses go to the ATM. Mathematically, the machines are rigged against you. But if you show your propensity to chase, the casinos will come after you like no other business in America with exploitive tactics. And they get away with it because government is a part of it.”
Bernal says that people who have been victimized by predatory gambling are fighting back.
“In Illinois, Melynda Litchfield is our national victims advocate there,” Bernal says. “She was a talented, successful nursing supervisory for an intensive care unit for a major hospital outside of Chicago. She had been there for 27 years, happily married with three children. The state of Illinois located a casino near her house — about a twenty minute drive from where she lived. Over time, she became addicted to slot machines. She became so addicted to these machines that she embezzled hospital supplies from where she worked and sold them on eBay just to feed her gambling addiction. About three years ago, she got divorced. She was caught by the hospital. She almost took her own life twice. She lost her nursing license for a year. She has now made this issue her calling. She’s going out and standing up for the millions of Americans who are being exploited everyday. We refer to them as the expendable Americans.”
Bernal says that both the Republican and Democratic parties are bought off by the predatory gambling industry.
“A lot of establishment politicians say things like — I don’t like gambling, but it’s here,” Bernal says. “We have to do it. They will try to distance themselves from it. Yet they will take all of the campaign money. They will allow it to come into their state.”
“Deval Patrick in Massachusetts quarterbacked it in,” Bernal says. “Martin O’Malley in Maryland quarterbacked it in. Andrew Cuomo in New York. A lot of Democrats are pushing it.”
“This will be the first time we have big gambling candidates in the Presidential field. Chris Christie in New Jersey. Hillary Clinton had Jan Jones on her finance committee. Jan Jones is one of the key government affairs people for Caesars Casino.”
There are exceptions.
“Marco Rubio was a strong opponent of state run gambling in Florida,” Bernal says. “I would expect Bernie Sanders to speak out against it.”
“The new Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey, won her 2014 primary largely on this issue,” Bernal says. “She was opposed to casinos. She has been publically strong against casinos.”
What about the labor unions?
“The labor unions have been advocates for predatory gambling in the United States,” Bernal says. “They see it as an organizing tool to get labor union members. The building trades want the casinos because they want to build them. Some of the unions, like SEIU, want to organize the workers. Never mind how the casinos make their money — they just want to add to their ranks.”
- See more at: http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/predatory-gambling-in-the-crosshairs/#sthash.vZS0TMIJ.dpuf
A gambling addiction may have driven former Green Valley High School banker Melissa Traylor to embezzle nearly $150,000 in student-generated funds from the Henderson campus. Las Vegas Review-Journal file photo
A gambling addiction may have driven a former Green Valley High School banker to embezzle nearly $150,000 in student-generated funds from the Henderson campus.
Melissa Traylor, who received little training in financial management before her promotion to school banker in 2012, bet more than $3.7 million at area convenience stores and casinos over a span of just three years, according to court records. Circle K managers told investigators Traylor would visit their stores three to four days a week, sometimes gambling longer than their entire work shifts.
At the same time, court records show, Traylor began using forged checks, delayed and fraudulent bank deposits, and hidden cash and coins to pilfer thousands of dollars at a time from Green Valley High School.
In total, Clark County School District police investigators discovered more than $143,000 missing from the accounts Traylor managed from July 2013 to February 2015.
On Monday in Clark County District Court, Traylor entered a guilty plea in connection with the theft and agreed to pay the total amount in restitution to the district. She faces up to four years in prison when a district judge sentences her in November.
"There's always the potential for there to be more (stolen) when you're working with cash," said Sgt. Mitch Maciszak, who oversees the school police department's investigations bureau. "There is a lot of cash that goes through that school."
Before taking the job as banker of Green Valley High School, Traylor participated in only four days of training on how the program worked, according to an affidavit from school police.
It's unclear how Traylor will make the restitution, especially considering the state cannot garnishee her benefits from the Nevada Public Employees' Retirement System. A new law prohibits state employees from collecting those benefits if they're convicted of certain crimes, including embezzlement of public funds, but the law only applies to workers hired after July 1.
In February, district auditors began combing Green Valley High School financial records following the departure of its principal, a standard trigger for internal audits at the district.
The audit, however, seemed to panic Traylor, who unexpectedly told investigators that $70,000 was taken from her car when she left it unlocked in a Walmart parking lot.
Traylor explained that she began paying back some of the money, though Maciszak said he couldn't find any proof of that.
"We were probably within a day of discovering (the missing funds) ourselves," he added. "I think she knew it as well. The auditors were asking her questions about what was going on."
Subsequent interviews with several Green Valley High School administrators, staff and teachers revealed a nearly two-year history of Traylor's connection to missing money and questionable checks and receipts.
Still, none of those employees reported the banker's curious behavior to central administration.
"That's a message we've been preaching from the school police for years now," Maciszak said. "You need to report suspicious behavior by employees (and) interactions between students and staff.
"This may have been caught earlier if people brought something forward."
The House Education and the Workforce Committee marked up legislation Wednesday that would strip the federal government of jurisdiction of labor issues on tribal reservations.
The action was the latest effort by the Republican-led Congress to rein in the National Labor Relations Board, the main federal agency that enforces labor laws.
The committee marked up the Tribal Sovereignty Act, legislation that would amend the National Labor Relations Act to say that the board has no authority over "any enterprise or institution owned and operated by an Indian tribe and located on its Indian lands." The legislation now goes to House floor.
"This bill is based on a simple premise: Tribal leaders should be free to set labor policies they determine are best for their workplaces," said Chairman John Kline, R-Minn.
The act, which passed in 1935, does not specifically address the issue. Last year, the board asserted that it had authority over businesses on Indian reservations. Native American groups have lobbied for the exception, saying that the board's action undermined their legal authority to set their own laws.
Some tribes, such as the Navajos, have allowed unions on their lands. But others have expressed concern that being forced to abide by the NLRA will undermine the profitability of their casinos, the main source of revenue for tribes.
"The Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act will put an end to the board's overreach and give authority over labor relations back to tribal leaders," said Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., chief sponsor of the bill.
A spokeswoman for the board declined to comment, noting it has a policy of not making any statements on congressional legislation.
Labor groups have long wanted to organize the casinos on Indian lands, having had major success securing collective bargaining contracts in Las Vegas and at new casinos in states such as Maryland.
Unions point out that many casino workers on Indian reservations are not tribe members and argue that those workers deserve the protection of federal law.
The legislation must be voted on by the full House before it can move onto the Senate. With both chambers under GOP control, supporters are optimistic.
It may even get administration support. In late 2011, the Interior Department's Indian Affairs agency told the board in a letter that it did not believe the labor law should cover tribes.
"Tribal governments should be given at least the same exception as provided to state governments in the NLRA," wrote Patrice Kunesh, the department's deputy solicitor for Indian affairs.
The proposal to build a $650 million casino on the New Bedford waterfront is dead, falling victim to a lack of financing amid concerns about the viability of large gaming resort in Southeastern Massachusetts.
The abrupt withdrawal of KG Urban, the New York-based developer that had proposed a glass-walled complex with panoramic views of the historic harbor, is the latest setback in the state’s long-term strategy to lure gamblers back from casinos in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
In its letter to the state Gaming Commission, KG Urban said investors were not convinced that the venture would work in an increasingly competitive environment.
“As you can well imagine, we deeply regret reaching this conclusion,” KG Urban, which spent more than $10 million in an eight-year quest for the casino, wrote in a four-paragraph letter to the commission dated Wednesday.
Among its concerns, the company cited a plan being developed by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to open a casino in Taunton, within 25 miles of the site in New Bedford. A state-licensed New Bedford casino would be at a huge disadvantage, because as a federally recognized tribe, the Mashpee would pay no taxes, while the New Bedford facility would face a 25 percent tax.
KG Urban’s abrupt withdrawal comes at a time of growing uncertainty over plans for the two other resort casinos authorized under the state’s 2011 casino law. Under current forecasts, those casinos, originally expected to open in 2016, won’t go on line until at least 2018, meaning the state already faces about two years of delay in realizing forecasts of thousands of new jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue.
The state officially entered the casino era last month with the opening of Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, but that facility is much smaller than the resort casinos, which are to include hotels, planned for Springfield and Everett.
MGM Resorts, which is developing the casino in Springfield, recently announced a one-year delay caused by nearby highway construction, while Wynn Resorts’ plans for a casino in Everett are hung up in court, facing an aggressive legal challenge from Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
Even before KG Urban’s withdrawal, some Gaming Commission members had expressed skepticism over a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts because of the well-established competition in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
“It’s the most challenging region because it is less populated and has less market potential,” Commissioner Enrique Zuniga said during a commission meeting in March.
Now the only bidder for a Southeastern Massachusetts casino is a partnership of Rush Street Gaming, which operates four casinos in the Midwest, and George Carney, the longtime owner of Raynham Park race track. The group wants to build a $650 million casino on the site of the Brockton Fairgrounds, which Carney owns.
Commission chairman Stephen P. Crosby has often stated his intention to award the license only after competition between at least two bidders.
A spokeswoman for the commission declined to comment on Wednesday, but said members will discuss KG Urban’s decision at a meeting already scheduled for Thursday.
The withdrawal came as a bitter blow to New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, who had hoped a casino would spur economic development in a city long plagued by high unemployment. In March, Mitchell delivered an impassioned appeal to the commission, pledging full support for a casino to be located on a former power plant site on Cannon Street.
“KG Urban’s decision to abandon the Cannon Street project is an extreme disappointment and a great shock,” Mitchell said in a statement Wednesday.
Mitchell said he and city residents had been led to believe by the developers that financing had been secured. In a June 23 referendum, New Bedford voters approved hosting the casino by a whopping 73 percent to 27 percent margin.
“City leadership and the people of New Bedford relied on these assurances in casting their enthusiastic support for the project,” Mitchell said. “We have been united as a community and have done everything possible to support” the KG casino proposal, “so city residents and its leadership are all understandably upset.”
When — and whether — the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe will get approval from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs for a casino is a matter of intense speculation. The tribe’s application is subject to a complex body of federal law.
“We’ve always seen our project as an economic boon for Southeastern Massachusetts,” Cedric Cromwell, the Tribal Council chairman, said in a statement after learning of KG Urban’s withdrawal. “As our plans in Taunton move ahead, the economic benefits will become more apparent to everyone in the region, including the people of New Bedford.”
Mass Gaming & Entertainment, the developers proposing a Brockton casino, also released a statement pledging to remain in the hunt for a license.
“Our project will provide the Commonwealth with over $100 million a year in tax revenue once a resort casino is built in Brockton as well as $10 [million] to $12 million” to the city annually, the group said.
Posts
