Casino Folk Pages

San Francisco Chronicle. By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer

A Republican-sponsored effort to clamp down on Internet gambling may turn out to be a bad bet for the GOP.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which President Bush signed into law Oct. 13, has infuriated many voters who enjoy betting on sports or playing poker online, analysts said.

Other observers, however, see little threat to Republicans from the law, calling it a relatively minor matter to most voters.

“I don’t believe a large volume of voters are motivated to go to the polls because of Internet gaming, either way,” said Brian Darling of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank.

But with Republicans already on the defensive over the Iraq war, budget deficits and the congressional page scandal, the gambling law is the latest issue that could steer voters away from the GOP.

“I’ve been a loyal Republican for over 30 years, and I’m quitting the party I once loved,” said Jim Henry, 55, who lives outside San Francisco. “Not because of the Mark Foley scandal or Middle East policy. But because the Republican Party wants to stop me from what I love to do: play poker over the Internet.”

Sponsored in the House by Reps. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, and Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and backed in the Senate by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the law pits social conservatives who disapprove of gambling against the 8.5 million Americans who spend about $6 billion annually to cast wagers online.

Some opponents of the law see a political component to its passage, believing it was intended to buoy support for Frist among religious conservatives if he decides to run for president in 2008.

The law is aimed at stopping the flow of money to gambling sites, where funds could potentially be laundered.

Leach has also cited moral dimensions to the law, calling it one of the most important pieces of family legislation ever considered by lawmakers.

“Internet gambling is not a subject touched upon in the Old or New Testament or the Quran,” Leach said earlier this year. “But the pastoral function is one of dealing with families in difficulty and religious leaders of all denominations and faiths are seeing gambling problems erode family values.”

Even so, a Gallup Poll taken earlier this year found that 60 percent of adults believe gambling is morally acceptable. That’s true for many religious conservatives who say they enjoy placing a bet.

“I’ve talked with Republicans all over the country, and they all understand that this is a theft of our liberty,” said lifelong Republican Alan Sheldon, 61, of Loveland, Ohio, whose grandmother taught him how to play poker at the age of 4.

Sheldon, who describes himself as a conservative Christian, said he would not vote Republican next week because of the new gambling law.

“I suspect that people who actually do a lot of Internet gambling … they’re going to be turned off by this,” said David Boaz of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington. “That’s going to hurt Republicans.”

Boaz said the law would likely alienate self-described libertarian voters, which he estimates constitute about 13 percent of the electorate. Boaz published an analysis last month suggesting libertarians have been slowly shifting their support to Democrats since 2004.

Others say it’s too much of a niche issue to swing the election.

“National security, the economy and such issues are likely to be the most pressing issues in voters’ minds next Tuesday,” said Carrie Meadows, a spokeswoman for Goodlatte.

The Poker Players Alliance, an advocacy group in Washington with more than 120,000 members, said it has been flooded with angry e-mails from libertarian organizations and Republicans disavowing the law. And the group is letting its members know how their representatives voted.

Alliance President Michael Bolcerek hopes they vote Tuesday and “share their outrage with Congress.”

By William Roberts Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON MGM Mirage, Harrah’s Entertainment and other U.S. casino operators are increasing pressure on Congress to consider legalizing online gambling - at the same time that lawmakers are seeking to tighten criminal penalties for it.

The companies are trying to take advantage of a congressional backlash against gambling set off by the Jack Abramoff scandal, involving his lobbying on behalf of Indian casinos. The casinos say the best way to control the $12 billion Internet betting business - which is based overseas while drawing more than half its revenue from America - is to legalize, regulate and tax it.

“The argument the industry is making is, if it is being done offshore, why not bring it in to the U.S. so it can be regulated?” said Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican who has discussed the issue with representatives of Harrah’s, which is based in Las Vegas and is the world’s largest casino owner. “It doesn’t look like you can ban it.”

The companies, which according to Federal Election Commission records have so far contributed more than $900,000 to congressional candidates in this fall’s elections, are pushing lawmakers to take a first step toward legalization by creating a commission to study it. Ensign and the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said the proposal has a chance of clearing the Senate this year.

Lawmakers have become wary of gambling issues since an investigation of Abramoff uncovered a web of connections between some of them and casinos. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to fraud and conspiring to corrupt public officials on behalf of clients, including Indian-tribe casino operators and eLottery, a Stamford, Connecticut-based online broker of state lottery tickets.

Following Abramoff’s guilty plea, two Virginia representatives, Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, and Rick Boucher, a Democrat, introduced legislation to force U.S. financial institutions to cooperate with law-enforcement authorities in shutting down the flow of cash to illegal gambling sites based outside the United States.

The Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives is scheduled to take up the measure, which has the backing of the Bush administration, on Wednesday, and the majority leader, John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, said he intended to bring it to a floor vote later this year. Abramoff in 2000 lobbied to defeat a similar measure.

Even if the measure passes the House, it would face long odds in the Senate, said Matthew Gerard, a gaming industry analyst at Investec Securities in London. “Ultimately, we think it will be very, very difficult to get any prohibitive legislation through the Senate,” he said.

U.S. casino companies are “neutral” on the House measure, said Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., chief executive of the American Gaming Association, which represents Harrah’s and MGM Mirage, the No.2 gambling company. Right now, the online gambling industry “is just the wild, wild West,” he said. “Why not take a hard look at it?”

That’s what the U.S casinos are seeking with their proposal for a U.S. study. Fahrenkopf, a former Republican Party chairman, said the study’s purpose would be to determine if legalization, regulation and taxation of online gambling would reduce the risk of fraud and abuse and increase government revenue.

Fahrenkopf said the “big boys” like MGM and Harrah’s wanted to get into the online gaming business if Congress eventually decided to legalize it. MGM and Harrah’s declined requests for comment and referred questions to him.

The gambling association projects that the global online betting business will double to about $24 billion a year in revenue by 2010. The association said a study it conducted showed that as many as 15 million American players logged on to more than 2,600 Web sites last year; it said it also found that 81 percent of Americans were unaware of the 1961 law making it illegal to use phone lines for wagers.

The U.S. Justice Department continues to investigate and prosecute online casinos that accept funds from U.S. customers. On May 17, prosecutors in Washington announced money-laundering charges against two people, including an American, who operated an Internet betting parlor in Antigua that received $250 million in bets on professional football, baseball, hockey and college basketball from U.S. gamblers. Antigua has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the U.S. ban on online gambling.

With U.S. companies shut out of the online market, the principal beneficiaries are European companies and investors and unregulated online casinos in the Caribbean.

Britain legalized online gambling a year ago. Since then, two companies based in the British territory of Gibraltar - PartyGaming and 888 Holdings - have sold shares to the public.

John Shepherd, a spokesman for PartyGaming in London, said the company “advocates regulation” of online gambling and backs the proposed U.S. study. British law recognizes “that the only difference between gambling in a casino and gambling online is the word ‘Internet,’” he said.

In addition to making campaign contributions, the U.S. casino operators have retained some of Washington’s top lobbying firms to promote their issues.

Gambling has long been a politically sensitive issue, and online betting draws opposition from evangelical Christians, an important Republican constituency. Focus on the Family and the Traditional Values Coalition, two religious-advocacy groups, have come out in favor of the House legislation stiffening penalties.

In the Senate, meanwhile, Reid - a former member of the Nevada Gaming Commission who said he opposes legalization - is willing to go along with the companies’ plan for a commission to look at the issue.

By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News

The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced a dozen money-laundering charges against the fugitive owners of an online gambling Web site who walked away with a quarter of a billion dollars.
“This indictment underscores the Justice Department’s commitment to attacking illegal Internet gambling concerns by using federal anti-money laundering laws,” the DoJ said in its statement.

William Scott and Jessica Davis laundered some $250 million raked in by their Internet betting site, which they sold in 2003 to an Australian company, Betcorp.

The pair, who have been on the lam since a separate 1998 criminal indictment in New York, walked off with their site’s $250 million in profits. The government has attempted to freeze numerous bank accounts, but has been only partially successful; according to the DoJ, in 2003 it seized some $7 million out of $10 million Scott had in an account in Guernsey, a small island off the coast of France.

Scott and Davis have been charged with 12 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, and failure to disclose foreign financial accounts. The IRS is involved in the investigation because of the latter charge.

Scott, 65, remains in Antigua and Barbuda, a two-island Caribbean country east of Puerto Rico. Scott previously served time in federal prison for convictions on extortion, conspiracy, and racketeering charges.

Although Congress has considered legislation to ban online gambling, it has failed to move a bill. Opponents have argued that laws cannot stop Internet betting, since it can easily jump national borders.

DAVID AMMONS ,AP Political Writer, source http://ap.org/

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Problem gambling activists, concerned about teen gambling and a television-promoted poker craze, are pushing legislation to lift the gambling age from 18 to 21, to match the legal drinking age.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, and Rep. Mary Helen Roberts, D-Edmonds, introduced legislation in both houses on Friday.

The measure is championed by Second Chance Washington, an advocacy group that secured financing last year for treatment and prevention of problem gambling.

“This is a sensible step that brings Washington’s gambling age in line with the drinking age, and the laws of most other states,” said Jennifer McCausland, the group’s director.

“Nobody wants to go to the bank with profits earned turning teens into gambling addicts, and that is why the bill has earned such broad bipartisan support in both houses,” she said.

The legislation would raise the gambling age on all forms of legalized gambling, including racetracks, cardrooms and mini-casinos, the state Lottery, church bingo, punchboards and pulltabs, and Reno nights by charitable groups and high schools.

Second Chance spokesman David Goldstein said most tribal casinos and many cardrooms already have a minimum wage requirement of 21. Tribal compacts prohibit minors in casinos that serve alcohol.

Goldstein said the tribes and most cardroom operators aren’t expected to oppose the legislation. Racetracks, the state-run lottery and other forces probably will line up against the bills because they don’t want to lose revenue, he said.

Gambling is the nation’s fastest-growing teen addiction, in part caused by the poker craze that is promoted on television by celebrity players and big jackpot matches, Goldstein said in an interview.

The group cited a 1999 study that showed 70 percent of teens reported gambling, with an estimated 6 percent possibly addicted.

“Gambling can be just as addictive as drugs and alcohol,” McCausland said in a statement. “Teens and their parents need to know that they’re not just gambling with money, they’re gambling with their lives.”

Kohl-Welles said Internet gambling and poker have become the rage and that some youth get hooked, literally. She recalled seeing stores promoting poker sets as a family gift at Christmas.

“The apparent increase in gambling among youth is staggering,” she said. “All of the West Coast states and Idaho and Nevada have set the age at 21 and only two of our Indian casinos allow people under age 21 to gamble.”

Roberts said new brain research that shows some adolescents lack the development they need to comprehend the link between action and consequences, and get into addictive behavior.

“Since there is a potential for a (gambling) problem, just as we treat alcohol, let’s delay that experience to allow three more years of maturity that hopefully will bring them greater judgment and more discipline,” she said in an interview.

The Senate bill will be heard by Kohl-Welles’ Labor and Commerce Committee on Jan. 26. Marty Brown, Gov. Christine Gregoire’s legislative director, said the administration has no position on the legislation yet. The lottery and legislative staff are developing an estimate of the revenue loss if the bill passes.

—

The bills are Senate Bill 6523 and House Bill 2872.

Matthew Lynn , http://quote.bloomberg.com

Interested in owning a casino? Or cultivating yogurt? Or making some high-quality sparkling wines?

Well, stay out of France. Even if you think it’s the best country in which to do business in those fields, forget it. Unless you’re French, you’re banned.

When you look at the industries that France thinks are vital to its future, it’s helpful to remember that surrealism was originally a French movement.

On Dec. 31, the French government published a decree that allows the state to block foreign takeovers in 11 designated industries linked with national security. It will have the power to prevent anyone buying companies in areas such as defense equipment, private corporate security, cryptology and the production of vaccines against bio-terrorism.

And casinos.

Hold on, casinos are vital to the national interest?

It seems so. Perhaps French politicians have been watching too many James Bond films where the suave spy nails the villain at the roulette wheel while sharing a martini with a Russian temptress.

Not quite. According to French Finance Minister Thierry Breton, casinos were added to the list closed to foreigners because such establishments could be used for money laundering and financing terrorism.

Of course, once you use a brush that broad, just about any industry can be added to the list. How about pizza delivery or kebab shops? Couldn’t they be used to finance terrorism? And banks — aren’t they sometimes unwittingly involved in money laundering?

Champagne Takeover

There are some strange things regarded as vital to the security of the French state these days.

Rewind to last September. Champagne house Taittinger SA was facing a potential takeover from Belgian tycoon Albert Frere, after it had fallen into the hands of Starwood Capital Group LLC. According to Les Echos newspaper, a meeting was convened in the French president’s Elysee Palace in Paris to find a way of keeping the brand in domestic ownership. The quest was for a “French solution,'’ the newspaper said.

That’s champagne off-limits. And don’t even think about trying to buy a yogurt company.

Last July, market traders were excited by speculation that PepsiCo Inc. might make a takeover bid for Groupe Danone, the world’s largest yogurt producer. French President Jacques Chirac immediately swung into action.

`Vigilant and Mobilized’

“As regards a large French company like Danone, the government and I are particularly vigilant and mobilized,'’ Chirac said on television. “The priority for France is to protect its industrial competitiveness and the strength of its companies.'’

A takeover of Coca-Cola Co. would have been easier for Pepsi than a purchase of the French company. Even if Pepsi had been contemplating such a move, it was understandably frightened off.

The government continues to pour money into preserving in aspic the national identity of the French economy. In his New Year’s address to the nation, Chirac announced more tax breaks to encourage companies to keep factories in France. Relocating production to countries with lower costs or more flexible labor laws is always an option for French companies.

There are two charges to be leveled at the latest French outburst of hyperactive protectionism.

Double Standards

The first is hypocrisy. The second, and more serious, is that the state has misunderstood how to nurture the industries that are vital to its economic future.

Nobody could dispute that France is guilty of double standards. After all, plenty of French companies have been busily acquiring international competitors.

Last year, France’s Pernod Ricard SA completed the takeover of the U.K.’s Allied Domecq Plc, the owner of beverages such as Beefeater gin and Ballantine’s whiskey.

Aren’t those brands intrinsically British properties?

Indeed, when you pause to look at the holdings that Pernod has built up, it includes Jacob’s Creek wines and Wild Turkey bourbon. Both of them are brands that are undeniably Australian and American, respectively. Likewise, how is it that Accor SA operates the Motel 6 chain in the U.S., a trademark that is about as American as Elvis Presley and hamburgers.

French companies have done well establishing themselves in global markets. Shouldn’t firms from other countries have the same rights?

Wrong Approach

The French government has got it wrong. There is something comical about protecting industries such as casinos, champagne and yogurt, no matter how good Chirac’s intentions are.

In a world of fast globalizing manufacturing, it is hard to see how a high-cost, regulated economy such as France can prosper, particularly now that euro membership has ruled out the option of devaluing its currency.

In time, French car manufacturers such as Renault SA may be forced to move all of its production out of France. Even the world- beating Airbus SAS may struggle to carry on assembling its planes in Toulouse.

In a post-industrial economy, the French will still be world leaders in tourism, luxury goods and food. You can’t take a casino from the Cote d’Azur to New Delhi and preserve its magic. You can’t make a sparkling wine in Argentina and expect it to be champagne.

That will be true whoever owns French companies. The industries in which the French lead the world will do fine, whether they are protected by the government or not. Indeed, they will do better if they are exposed to competition, instead of being shielded by the walls of Fortress France.

The Boston Globe,By Connie Paige, Globe Correspondent

Michael Corfman believes he knows when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.

Corfman’s website and assorted directories and almanacs make his business something of a Dun & Bradstreet of the gambling industry. Casinocity.com provides gaming-related statistics, news, and links of interest to gaming operators and their customers. It also features ads for online gambling sites — something that may be of interest to the federal government, which has declared that such advertising is illegal.

Corfman has taken a high-stakes gamble: He decided to sue the government before it prosecuted him.

‘’This is an important First Amendment case,” Corfman said last week. ‘’The government can say, ‘We might prosecute you,’ and it chills free speech.”

Corfman’s business is based in Newton, where he and his wife and business partner, Sylvia, also live.

‘’We always joke about Newton being the center of the gaming industry,” said Corfman, who has made casinocity.com an industry leader, with annual revenues of almost $5 million.

A 1975 graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in computer science, Corfman worked as a software engineer at several companies, including Digital Equipment Corp. In 1990, he started a traditional consulting business, Information Technology Systems. He then turned to building websites.

He created casinocity.com primarily as a demonstration site to show off his computer skills at Internet World ‘95, a trade show in Boston.

‘’That was a fabulous show for us,” Corfman said. ‘’People loved what we’d done. In those days, the Web was just getting started. It was all static pages. There was nothing like that around.”

Within five years, Corfman’s consulting firm had 45 employees, but then business ‘’vanished,” he said.

He rode out the economic downturn by investing more heavily in casinocity.com. Today, the business has recovered, has 30 employees, and is advertising for six more.

Corfman does not gamble for fun. He jokes that the only time he tried his hand at it was when he was awarded a dollar’s worth of nickels at a casino in Colorado, played the slots with them, and won $6 or $7. ‘’I ended up deciding I could never ever again in my life be up 600 to 700 percent on money I got for free,” he said.

Still, he enjoys his business immensely, he said.

‘’For me, it’s an issue of gathering information and finding all sorts of ways to use it,” he said.

Corfman hedges his bets, working to curb gambling as well as to encourage it. He said he was developing programs for online gaming sites that would enable gamblers to set limits for themselves. And until recently, he hosted a website for the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling.

Kathleen Scanlan, the group’s executive director, said the arrangement was discontinued only because the group had technical needs that Corfman’s office could not accommodate. ‘’It wasn’t him; it was us,” she said.

Corfman sees gambling as ingrained in American life. He pointed out that Angier Elementary School in Waban, which his daughter attends, is planning a casino night this winter to raise money.

The casinocity.com site is gaudy, and blinks with offers for sweepstakes and invitations to play online games ‘’NOW!!!” Through the site, he sells directories and almanacs bristling with statistics about casinos worldwide, online betting, Indian gaming, sports betting, horse tracks, dog tracks, cruise ships, and lotteries — just about everything except finding a bookie.

Did you know, for example, that in 2004, gambling operators in the United states — after paying off winnings — cleared $78 billion? That 228 Indian tribes operated 405 gaming facilities in 30 states? That Massachusetts ranked 18th of the 50 states in its revenue from gaming (mostly lottery-related)? You can find these and other facts by buying an annual subscription for $700 or a directory for $150 from Corfman’s company. A subscription buys you the current and next hardcopy edition of the semi-annual Gaming Business Directory and CD with online updates as they happen.

Corfman also publishes an online news service called Casino City Times. The latest issue features gaming gurus who offer advice about such matters as ‘’Can you beat the slots?” (Answer: No.) Casino City Times is third on the list of Yahoo! links for gambling information.

While Corfman’s business is booming, he could be in legal jeopardy. In June 2003, the Justice Department sent letters to such media organizations as the Magazine Publishers of America, National Newspaper Association, and National Association of Broadcasters stating that online gambling is illegal and, according to spokeswoman Jaclyn Lesch, that advertising online gambling ‘’may be aiding and abetting illegal activity.”

Although Corfman has never been directly threatened, he was drawn into the fray about a year and a half ago, when he lost a bid to partner with A&E Television Networks on a spinoff show from the book ‘’Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Las Vegas for Millions,” by Ben Mezrich. The network had second thoughts because of the Justice Department notice, Corfman said.

Corfman decided to call the government’s bluff. He hired Barry Richard, one of the attorneys who represented President Bush after the disputed 2000 election. In August 2004, the company sued the government, seeking a declaratory judgment that advertising online casinos and sports books is constitutionally protected commercial free speech. A federal district court ruled against him, but Corfman said he hoped for success in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, now based in Houston.

Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for a hearing on Dec. 7.

And thumbing his nose once again at the feds, Corfman said he now has a deal with CBS-TV in New York City to run ads for casinocity.com in Times Square through New Year’s day.

This is not exactly gambling news, but anyway ….

dailymail.co.uk

When a girl died after a marathon session playing her favourite computer game, fellow devotees paid her the ultimate tribute.

Hundreds went online and staged a virtual funeral for her.

They directed their characters to a cathedral in the World Of Warcraft fantasy game and spoke in memory of her. The digital characters could be seen kneeling in rows, heads bowed.

The player, known only as Snowly, died last month after playing the game for three days with barely a break during a week-long national holiday in China.

Her online friends said she had one of the highest attendance rates in the online game. But days before she died, Snowly complained of feeling exhausted as she prepared for a particularly difficult stage of the challenge.

Weeks later, a second gamer, who nicknamed himself Thereafter, died in similar circumstances.

Gaming deaths

The deaths are the latest in a growing number of tragedies related to excessive games-playing in Asia.

They have sparked a flood of Inter-net postings from concerned fellow gamers. One player, calling himself Charlie, said: “Some players really do play the game for three or four days without rest and they barely eat.”

Another, Trevor Hill, revealed: “I’ve stayed up and only got three hours a night for the first year of law school.

“What the heck does someone have to do to die from fatigue? She must have had no sleep at all for over a week.”

Chinese authorities now want to impose restrictions on how long gamers can play online.

A three-hour limit is to be introduced next year. Several games makers have agreed also to install “anti-obsession” systems to prevent more deaths.

World Of Warcraft is the latest phenomenon in the sphere of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games and came to Britain a year ago.

Players form communities with other users from around the world to complete quests and carry out tasks.

The fantasy universe is inhabited by about four million online players.

UK NEWS, 07/11/2005

The combination of new-style casinos and extended drinking hours will create a “lethal cocktail” of super bars in town centres catering for thousands of drinkers at a time, the Conservatives said last night.

New casinos and drink laws ‘are lethal mix’
By Marco Giannangeli
(Filed: 07/11/2005)

The combination of new-style casinos and extended drinking hours will create a “lethal cocktail” of super bars in town centres catering for thousands of drinkers at a time, the Conservatives said last night.

An investigation by the party claims that moves by the Government to set up a series of “smaller” casinos around the country could “threaten public welfare”.

Already, up to eight “super” casinos may be built following the introduction of the Gambling Act 2005.

But the Conservatives’ report focuses on the proposed breed of what they describe as “large” and “small” casinos which, it claimed, could hold as many as 3,000 customers.

New rules under the act would force these casinos to set aside space for non-gambling purposes, resulting in storey upon storey of bars, open until 6am.

Theresa May, the Tory spokesman on culture, media and sport, said: “Even so-called smaller casinos will dwarf anything seen before in Britain.

“I fear the new casinos will combine with super-bars; behind the superficial glamour of poker or black-jack, the real money will be made from slot machines and plying alcohol into the early hours.

“The combination of weaker gambling and licensing laws threatens a lethal cocktail that will threaten public welfare.”

Mrs May also warned that a plethora of jackpot-style machines would encourage drinkers to gamble more.

She said: “Casinos will also operate as super betting offices. Apart from the slot machines and gaming tales, the will be able to offer an unlimited number of smaller prize slot machines.”

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, said: “British casinos will be the most tightly regulated in the world. Binge drinking will not be tolerated.

“The Gambling Commission will have the power to revoke licences and there will be heavy fines imposed on casinos acting irresponsibly.”

Source: abcnews.go.com

If you’re not a gambler or a fan of extravagant stage shows and exotic cocktails, the Mohegan Sun Casino may have found another offering to reel you in: flu shots.

Mohegan Sun — located on Mohegan tribal land in Uncasville, Conn. — is offering anyone who visits the hotel and casino access to a flu and pneumonia clinic where shots for both are administered on designated days. There’s a reasonable fee, but if you’re a member of the casino’s Player’s Club, and have enough points, you can get the shots on the house.

I know there’s concern out there to get flu shots,” said Connie Dinerman, health director for the tribe. “So we started planning this very early on in the year.”

So is it simply a thoughtful public service, or one of the most unusual and original marketing ploys ever conceived?

A Noble Effort?

In the past, the Mohegan Tribal Health Department, which hosts the clinic, has limited the event to just one day or so. But this year it’s open to all those who want to take a break from pulling one-armed bandits to take a shot in the arm themselves.

Dinerman says community flu clinics at Mohegan Sun are nothing new, but does admit this year is a little different. Still, she insists it was not conceived as a marketing tactic.

“My goal is to get them in here for the flu shots,” she said. “So many people die every year from influenza, that if our department can do it, it’s all for the better.”

According to the Connecticut Department of Public Health, about 20 percent of flu vaccines administered there are provided by groups other than private physicians, so it’s not unusual for a public facility — in this case Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den music venue — to be used like this.

In fact, Dinerman says that she and her team administered 250 shots in a two-hour period during the most recent clinic alone.

Targeting the Elderly

With chips constantly changing hands and slot and video poker machines with arms and buttons continuously mashed by a parade of eager digits full of germs, a casino may be a smart place to fight the flu.

But rather than targeting germophobes or health conscious gamblers, Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, suspects the casino is reeling in another portion of its clientele: the elderly.

“Whether it is or not, I don’t know, but this sounds like the latest in a long trend of very specific marketing to seniors,” he said.

Whyte says his group is not for or against legalized gambling, but he believes casinos market heavily to seniors.

A study done by the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn State College of Medicine found that nearly 70 percent of seniors said they gambled at least once in the last year.

“There’re places in the Midwest that offer discounts on medication,and some have ‘Over 55′ clubs,” he said. “These are people with disposable time and incomes.”

Whyte says some casinos offer table games on hydraulic lifts so they’re more accessible to seniors, while others have installed defibrillators.

Betting on Your Health

On Thursdays through Dec. 8, 2005, Mohegan Sun will continue to offer the shots to anyone 65 or older, as well as pregnant women, adults with chronic health conditions, health care workers and caregivers engaged in direct patient care,or for children 6 months or younger.

Flu shots are $30 and pneumonia shots will run you $46, but if you have a good day shooting craps, the cards turn in your favor or you hit it big on a one-armed bandit, it’s a mere pittance.

Mohegan Sun is gambling that even though you may not walk out of its casino richer, you may at least be a bit healthier.

Source : www.newsday.com

Gary Gelman was outside the Majesty - a gambling ship docked on Nautical Mile in Freeport - when four gun-wielding men in ski masks ran by him about 7:30 p.m. last night.

Gelman, the owner of the Majestic Casino Cruise boat, yelled for them to stop, thinking they were late customers, he said, when one pointed a shotgun at his back and ordered him onto the ship.

“I was walking, telling him to stop, don’t do this,” Gelman said late last night. “He was telling me that he was going to shoot me because I was walking very slow.”

The four men boarded the boat and robbed it of more than a $100,000, Gelman said.

As Nassau police investigated the robbery last night, Gelman’s voice was still shaky as he spoke in a phone interview.

He said that while one man held a gun to his back - taking a $6,000 watch off his wrist - three others forced about 100 customers to lie on the floor while they robbed a teller of the boat’s cash on hand.

“The guy was holding the silver gun and telling everybody stay down and don’t move,” Gelman said.

The four men left as quickly as they came. “It was five to ten minutes,” said another worker, who didn’t give his name.

Gelman said the four men left in the grey Oldsmobile they arrived in. None of the at least 350 passengers, on board were injured, Gelman said.

The Majesty was built in 1998 and holds a maximum of 515 persons, according to the ship’s Web site. The 165-foot long boat has enough room for 23 table games and more than 200 slot machines.

It sails from the Woodcleft Canal in Freeport twice a day.

Global Gaming Expo attendees warned of hepatitis-A exposure

By KEN RITTER
Associated Press Writer
newsday.com

LAS VEGAS — Health officials in Nevada warned Friday that as many as 25,000 people who attended a Las Vegas gambling industry convention this month might have been exposed to a a virus that causes a serious, though rarely fatal, liver disease.

A sales representative at a booth where free ice cream was handed out became sick with hepatitis A after returning home from the Global Gaming Expo, officials with the Clark County Health District and Minnesota-based Schwan Food Company said.

Gambling executives, casino representatives and product manufacturers from 50 states and 20 countries attended the expo Sept. 13-15 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, according to conference sponsor, the American Gaming Association.

Schwan and Clark County health officials said Friday that there was no evidence the free ice cream handed out at the expo was tainted.

“It’s important to make clear the individual was the exposure, not the product,” said Lawrence Sands, community health director for the Las Vegas-based health district.

However, Sands said the man, who was not identified, was at the most infectious stage of the illness at the convention.

Schwan spokesman Mike Gunderson in Marshall, Minn., said the employee, a sales representative from Colorado, did not handle the ice cream.

“The assumption is that he did shake hands with a number of people there,” said Gunderson, who added that the unidentified employee followed food booth and product advisories and used a hand sanitizer.

Sands said Clark County health officials were notified of the case late Thursday by their counterparts at the Tri-County Health Department near Denver.

Dr. Richard Vogt, director of the health department that serves Colorado’s Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, said the man in his early 40s was recovering at home in Douglas County. He said he could not further identify the man for health care privacy reasons.

Vogt said health investigators did not believe the man had contact with many people in his community after becoming ill. But a family member was given immune globulin and vaccine as a precaution.

Hepatitis A is a viral infection of the liver that can cause jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever. The virus most often is spread through fecal-oral contact, such as touching hand to mouth after using the bathroom or shaking the hands of infected people who did not wash properly.

Those infected usually develop symptoms 15 to 50 days after exposure to the virus.

“Most people feel very sick,” Sands said, adding that the virus can be fatal to some people with immune system disorders or liver disease.

The virus is not passed through the air, and not everyone exposed to the virus becomes infected.

Although there is no treatment for hepatitis A, symptoms can be prevented if a person exposed to the virus receives gamma globulin within 14 days.

Sands advised people who got free ice cream to at the Schwan’s booth to contact their local health department or physician.

The Clark County Health Division planned to provide free gamma globulin and hepatitis A vaccine clinics Saturday and Sunday in Las Vegas.

The American Gaming Association was issuing a health warning by e-mail to registered conference attendees, said Holly Thomsen, spokeswoman for the association in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON — The Senate today turned aside an attempt to restrict Internet gambling in a procedural move, but Sen. Jon Kyl vowed he would try again and said he expected the legislation would become law eventually.

The Arizona Republican tried to attach language restricting Internet gambling to an annual spending bill that must be passed this year, but an unnamed Democrat objected to attaching an unrelated matter to the spending measure under consideration.

Kyl said his legislation would require banks and credit card companies to block payments to online Internet gambling sites. He said some firms were already voluntarily blocking money transfers.

“We will proceed with this, it will become law at some point at some time,” the Arizona Republican said on the Senate floor. “There should be no reason why we can’t move forward on this.”

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, said that a member of her party had objected to attaching Kyl’s language to the spending bill but she was not sure who. Kyl urged the lawmaker to come forward so the concerns could be addressed.

The U.S. Justice Department has said the laws that prohibit interstate gambling apply to the Internet. But Americans have turned to offshore gambling Internet sites as an alternative.

The Senate and House of Representatives have passed similar legislation in the past but have been unable to reach agreement on a single, identical bill, Kyl said.

Shares of online gambling sites in Britain moved higher today in anticipation of the Senate action. Partygaming Plc moved up 5 percent to 105 pence while Sportingbet.com Plc moved up 11.3 percent to 321 pence on London trading.

Reuters News Service

LAS VEGAS – The Aladdin hotel and casino has unveiled some new drawings for its upcoming transformation into a Planet Hollywood-themed resort by the end of next year.

The remodeling process is expected to begin in October and be executed in phases so that it will remain open throughout the renovation process.

The property was bought out of bankruptcy in 2003 and has long been criticized for its inaccessible design.

The casino will be completely redesigned with an ultramodern look and no distinct theme, the sketches show. The remodeling team includes Dougall Design Associates, Klai Juba Architects and M.J. Dean Construction Inc.

Dougall Design crafted the look for the Borgata resort in Atlantic City and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, while Klai Juba designed the new hotel tower at Mandalay Bay and the Hard Rock.

“We have the preeminent location on the Strip and … are prepared to deliver to Las Vegas the ultimate desination for entertainment, shopping and gaming,” resort co-Chairman Douglas Teitelbaum said in a statement.

Source: www.casinocitytimes.com

Mississippi’s floating casinos were left in ruins after Hurricane Katrina’s rampage.

The assessment was incomplete Tuesday, but Webster Franklin, CEO of the Tunica, Miss., Convention and Visitors Bureau, said all are likely to be heavily damaged or destroyed.

“It’s devastating. It’ll take months, if not years, to rebuild,” he said.

On Sunday, The Mississippi Gaming Commission shut down all 12 casinos operating on the Gulf Coast before Katrina hit.

Harrah’s Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman told Bloomberg News that its riverboat Grand Casino in Biloxi, Miss., is likely “a complete loss” after it separated from its moorings. The casino was “literally taken across the street and plopped down about a block or so away from where it normally sits,” he said.

Harrah’s Grand Casino in Gulfport was also “severely” damaged, he said.

In a statement, MGM Mirage said its Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi sustained “significant damage.”

Video footage has shown a number of riverboat casinos sitting on roadways and Interstate highways. State law prohibits developing land-based casinos.

Marc Falcone, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, estimates six casinos in the three cities that sit on the Gulf Coast - Gulfport, Biloxi and Bay St. Louis - likely are destroyed.

The state’s 30 casinos generated about $2.8 billion in revenue and accounted for $330 million of the state and local governments’ tax revenues, according to the American Gaming Association.

The region is the nation’s third-largest casino market, after Las Vegas and Atlantic City. The industry employs about 29,000 in the state. Casinos on the Gulf Coast employ about 14,000 people, according to the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

Casinos in Louisiana suffered less damage. But five casinos in the New Orleans area, including Harrah’s New Orleans, remain closed, says Wade Duty, executive director of Casino Association of Louisiana.

Since communications channels on the Gulf Coast have collapsed, companies are finding it difficult to properly assess the extent of the damage, says Holly Thomson, a spokeswoman for the American Gaming Association.

Deutsche Bank’s Falcone expects Harrah’s to lose $1.8 million to $2.5million in revenue for each day its casinos remain closed. MGM Mirage could lose $700,000 to $1.1 million. He made the estimates based on the assumption that more than half the casinos on the Gulf Coast are damaged beyond repair.

Tunica’s Franklin says the rebuilding process will include legislative debate on whether to allow casinos on land, where they’re less vulnerable.

USA TODAY

A sophisticated gang of roulette cheats fleeced tens of thousands of pounds from gaming venues in a swindle that could have come straight from the film Casino.

Three men and at least one woman practised a trick commonly called “top hatting”.

Despite being banned from casinos across the country, they evaded detection for years by using fake identities.

The men were finally brought to justice by Scotland Yard’s gaming unit after officers spent months identifying the group. They were convicted under the 1845 Gaming Act of “cheating at play” - the first time on record that the term has been used in an English court.

Scotland Yard graphic artists created an animated film of exactly how the gang carried out the swindle. The film, which played a part in all three men pleading guilty, showed “top hatting” - dropping chips on to a gaming table a split second after the roulette ball has dropped - in slow motion.

The deception relies on the dealer, casino inspector, security staff and other players all being distracted at the vital point when the ball drops.

The trick, which requires months of practice, involved one of the men acting as a distracter and another as the claimant. Just as the roulette ball drops, the distracter would lean forward with a cash note to put off the dealer while hiding gaming chips in his hand.

As he distracted the dealer, he would spot the winning number and place the chips belonging to his colleague on the same figure on the table.

Detective Constable John Wedger said: “The trick relies on incredible timing and sleight of hand, and the ability to see the roulette ball in a split second.

“The actual offence takes less than a tenth of a second. That’s around £2,000 profit for less than a second’s work. This was a well-thought-through, skilful scam.”

Hong Kong-born Kwong Lee, 42, of Mitcham, Surrey; Martin Fitz, 45, of Hendon, London; and Shuhal Miah, 36, of Bethnal Green, London, all admitted to cheating at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court.

Lee was given a 180-hour community punishment order and fined £170, Fitz was given a community rehabilitation order, and Miah received a 12-month conditional discharge and was ordered to forfeit £880.

The men, all unemployed and with gambling addictions, mainly targeted the high-turnover casinos in the West End of London. They were convicted of offences at the Barracuda in Baker Street and the Gala in Russell Square in 2003 and last year.

Police know the group used at least one woman accomplice, but have been unable to identify her. The gang used aliases and, in some cases, disguises to trick their way into casinos from which they had been banned.

Police say the deception is evidence of the growing sophistication of criminals.

Inspector Ben Bhangoo, head of the gaming unit, said: “We are coming across more and more international criminals operating in casinos in London. We have been successful in driving many cheats abroad. We can make it very difficult for them to operate here, but it is equally difficult to prosecute them for some of these offences.”

Source: news.scotsman.com