Monthly Archives: April 2017

As South Carolina lawmakers continue to float the idea of legalizing casinos to help raise state revenue, they are likely to be confronted with another issue: expanding and funding the state's existing gambling addiction treatment efforts.

All 46 counties in the Palmetto State already have programs available for people looking to break their gambling habits as part of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.

But administrators say the department's staffing would likely need to grow in order to conduct screenings and counseling for those seeking help if state lawmakers decide to tap casinos for their tax-generating capability.

I am sure we would need more because of an increased capacity of people coming through the door, said Virginia Ervin, the state's Gambling Services Coordinator.

Last year, the state's gambling addiction treatment efforts helped 315 people pass through counselling services, which is tailored to help people resist the addictive urge to bet away their income or life savings. Those efforts were funded through the state's unclaimed prize money from the state Lottery Commission, which runs public-service television ads promoting its gambling-addiction website and hotline.

The price tag for the program is $50,000 in the upcoming year.

Lee Dutton, the chief of staff for DAODAS, says they havenot yet analyzed how much of an increase they might expect to see if South Carolina approves the slot machines and table games at casinos. He said they would likely need to study how other states, like New Jersey or Mississippi, were impacted after approving casinos in the past.

The state's gambling addiction program has been in operation for more than a decade now, but there is no accurate tracking of how those services have expanded or contracted in recent years. The department also doesn't track the demographics of the people that are calling into the South Carolina Gambling Helpline because the staff are focused on conducting a screening over the phone to determine if the caller should seek further help.

Some of the callers, Ervin said, like to gamble but aren't necessarilyaddicted. They are just concerned they are buying a few too many scratch-off tickets every month.Others, however, have all of the signs of a psychological addiction to the games of chance no different than individuals that are hooked on alcohol or drugs.

Even without casinos currently in the state, Dutton said there are already South Carolinians being confronted with gambling addiction. In the age of online gaming, opportunities to gamble are ubiquitous and just a click away.

Some of the worst stories Ervin has heard include individuals that were prepared for retirement and instead found themselves gambling away their nest egg. She's seen people lose jobs, homes and even marriages over the incessant need to cast a bet.

We do get a lot of family members that call in, Ervin said. "Some have had their spouses lose their money for rent, a house payment, whatever.

Follow Andrew Brown on Twitter @andy_ed_brown.

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Gambling addiction treatment costs likely to rise if casinos are ... - Charleston Post Courier

New York Daily News

NFLers may have violated gambling policy at arm wrestling event New York Daily News The NFL is looking into the possibility that multiple players violated the league's gambling policy by participating in an arm wrestling event in a Las Vegas casino, a league spokesman confirmed. The Pro Football Arm Wrestling Championship's website ... Las Vegas arm wrestling event may lead to discipline for NFL playersSB Nation The NFL Is Investigating If Players In An Arm Wrestling Event Violated Its Gambling PolicyUPROXX Participants in arm wrestling event in Vegas could face NFL finesESPN Deadspin -CBSSports.com -Sporting News all 36 news articles »

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NFLers may have violated gambling policy at arm wrestling event - New York Daily News

Every year the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) releases a profile of people who visited Las Vegas the previous year. Its always interesting to see how the average person visiting Las Vegas spends their time and money.

This profile is the average of 3,600 randomly selected visitors throughout the year. The information isnt specific to one person or even an exact representation of the nearly 43 million people who visited Las Vegas in 2016.

It takes a special person who is willing to take time out of their Las Vegas vacation to answer a survey. However, the information gathered is good for building a broad picture of the average person visiting Las Vegas.

Translating this into sports betting terms, consider the respondents to be the most square visitors to Las Vegas. The LVCVA recently released the study of visitors in Las Vegas from 2016 and there are quite a few interesting figures for gamblers.

Fewer People Visiting Las Vegas Are Gambling

Fewer people gambled last year as 69% of all visitors said they gambled while in Las Vegas. Thats a decrease from 73% of visitors who gambled in 2015. There could be a lot of reasons for this result but changing preferences of younger visitors is a good place to start.

Nearly one-third of visitors to Las Vegas in 2016 were considered millennials. Thats an increase from 24% in 2015. Word on the street is that millennials dont like to gamble.

This may also be the result of poor gambling experiences. I can attest to this notion. The increase in poor odds and rules, limited complimentary cocktails and machine games holding a higher percentage of money wagered are just a few examples of why some people may gamble less than before. Ive written numerous times about this over the past couple of years. I'm already prepared for an update to this story in a few months.

Visitors in Las Vegas explored more than just the Vegas Strip. Expect this continue and for gamblers looking for a better experience to play more in the downtown Las Vegas casinos. Not only are the limits often lower but the rules and payouts are more player friendly.

More People Are Spending Less Time Gambling

Among those who gambled while in Las Vegas, 71% gambled for two hours or less in 2016. Thats a significant increase from 50% of visitors gambling for the same period in 2015. If the games return less money, that will decrease how long people will spend at the tables or machines on a similar budget.

This is an average of all gamblers. Sports bettors aren't immune to shorter gambling either, however, there may be different reasons. The introduction of in-game wagering, quarters, props and 1 or 5 inning bets give ample opportunities to have wagers resolved quickly. As I mentioned on a recent baseball betting live stream, I like to make 5 inning wagers for baseball in hopes that the casino is theoretically paying for dinner that evening.

People Who Gamble Are Budgeting More Money. Kinda.

Among those who gambled in 2016, the average gambling budget was $619.01. Thats up from $484.70 in 2012, $529.57 in 2013 and $530.11 in 2014. The average visit to Las Vegas is just over two days so on average visitors have a budget of about $300 per day.

The most striking news in gambling budgets are the high and low roller decreases and increases last year, respectively. In 2016, 23% of gamblers said they budgeted $600 or more per visit to Las Vegas. Thats down from 2015 where 30% of gamblers budgeted that much money.

On the other side of the spectrum, low rollers are on the rise! In 2014 and 2015 only 15% of visitors budgeted $99 or less for gambling. That nearly doubled in 2016 when 25% of visitors budgeted less than $100 for their entire visit to Las Vegas.

Gambling in Las Vegas has been changing a lot over the years and it continues to change. In the next few weeks, I'll explore new ways of gambling in Las Vegas that are just hitting casinos. It's an exciting time if you're the kind of person that likes shiny new things. Likewise, it's probably a tough time if you don't like change.

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Survey results show visitors to Las Vegas are gambling less than ever - Covers.com

Crain's Detroit Business

Bill would legalize internet gambling in Michigan, but only inside ... Crain's Detroit Business Backers of a plan to allow gamblers at Detroit's three commercial casinos and casinos owned by American Indian tribes to legally play online poker and card ... and more »

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Bill would legalize internet gambling in Michigan, but only inside ... - Crain's Detroit Business

Alexandra Glorioso, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida Published 9:14 p.m. ET April 8, 2017 | Updated 15 hours ago

Greyhounds break from the starting box at Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track. Teh facility says a state requirement that it run 3,200 races per year to keep poker room and simulcast wagering licenses costs $2 million per year in losses(Photo: NEWS-PRESS STAFF PHOTO/JACK HARDMAN)Buy Photo

TALLAHASSEE - Floridas high-stakes fight over gambling features powerful forces clashing, including the Seminole tribe, Disney World and 12 owners of race tracks.

And then theres GREY2K, a national advocacy group with less muscle but no less fight championing the cause of greyhounds. This years battle over gambling offers the greyhound group a rare opportunity to accomplish its goal: eliminate dog racing now held to justify card games in Florida.

Florida began its foray into a complicated gaming system in 1931 when it legalized betting among ourselves, or pari-mutuels, in the form of live events such as jai alai matches, and horse and greyhound racing. Since then, every step to expand gambling across the state has been legislatively linked to these live events.

In an attempt to renegotiate a 2010 agreement with the Seminole tribe and bring in $3 billion to state coffers, House and Senate leaders are pushing gambling bills that represent wildly different ideas about gaming in Florida.

The House bill, H 7037, run by Rep. Mike La Rosa, a chair of the tourism and gaming subcommittee from St. Cloud, cracks down on gambling laws entangled in a series of federal and state lawsuits by forbidding slot machines in eight counties including Brevard, Lee and St. Lucie that have approved them. It also ties greyhounds to gambling until the contract expires in 2036.

The Senate bill, SB8, sponsored by Sen. Bill Galvano, a chair of the education subcommittee from Bradenton, broadly expands gambling by allowing any county that has approved slot machines to have them and unbinding live events from card rooms, including greyhound racing.

The tribe argues both plans dont go far enough.

Some Republicans say GREY2K could benefit this year from the intricate chess game of ideology, lawsuits and special interests, and successfully disconnect greyhound racing from card games.

It would completely depend on the details, said La Rosa. But he acknowledged, its something that could be discussed.

Galvano said he was not interested in taking La Rosa up on a slot machine-live-events trade but did call greyhound racing a dying industry.

About GREY2K, he said, They are effective, but its an easy sell.

GREY2K is a national nonprofit co-founded by Carey Theil that works towards outlawing greyhound racing. Theil said he started working in Florida during its legislative sessions in 2012.

His political argument is simple: Tracks shouldnt be forced to race dogs up to 16 times a day so that gambling facilities can have card rooms. The races no longer attract crowds and the tracks are losing money.

As evidence, he referenced financial reports from the state that show race tracks operating at a combined $31.2 million loss in 2015. In addition, the number of days for live racing, which includes greyhounds, has declined by nearly 39 percent since fiscal year 2007, according to the last annual report released by the states Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Theil said his organization does contribute to political campaigns but in the tens of thousands of dollars compared to other groups battling in the gambling fight that give in the six figures every cycle.

His tactics have frequently aligned him with Senate moderates who want to expand gaming and pitted him against House conservatives who link live events to card rooms as a political strategy to limit gambling in the state.

Theils biggest political adversary is Jack Cory, a lobbyist who said he represents all of the dog people. Cory considers Theil a political opportunist who has very little real involvement with animals.

Cory argues the greyhound racing industry provides a stable, profitable income with less up-front investment than horses for blue-collar dog breeders, farmers and trainers. He sees himself as a natural enemy to race track owners, whose buildings he refers to as ugly, whose tracks he frequently criticizes as unsafe and who he says are too greedy. Track owners keep 19 to 30 percent of prize money for races while Corys clients split about 4 percent, he said.

From Corys perspective, Theil is really just giving race track owners who already have a monopoly on one industry the political edge to become even more profitable.

Cory said the state monitors racing statistics and financials from live betting but does not do the same for betting from computers or telephones, which are reaping huge profits for track owners but arent reported and are currently illegal under state law.

The financial reports to the department are self reporting and are fake reports because they are reporting by millionaires that want to become billionaires by having casinos, Cory said.

Ron Book, the lobbyist for the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track in Bonita owned by the Havernick family, said greyhound racing isnt profitable period, and the racetracks he represents arent engaged with track betting by phones or computers.

I will not dignify made up ignorant commentary by Mr. Cory who makes things up to suit his interests, Book said.

Book supports the Senate bill and said the Havernick family wants slots, cards and would love to continue limited racing for Naples-Fort Myers.

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Greyhound activists join Florida's gambling fight - The News-Press

Forbes

The Future Of Online Gambling Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions Forbes Luminescent signboards flashed across the streets and alleyways as colossal skyscrapers soared upwards to speak with the heavens. The jingle of coins and the rumbling of roulette wheels approached the ear from all directions. Inside, you could hear the ... and more »

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The Future Of Online Gambling Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions - Forbes

Concerns about Sin Citys temptations have kept the NFL out of Las Vegas for years, but the relocation of the Oakland Raiders represents a shift in approach that some gaming industry experts say could beckon a new era in sports gambling.

A 1992 federal law banned sports betting in all states except Nevada. In recent years, however, gaming advocates and some states have argued in federal court that the law should be revised to allow legal sports betting elsewhere. The impending arrival of an NFL franchise in Las Vegas gives gaming advocates a chance to use the city as an incubator an opportunity to test whether a professional football team can operate in proximity to sports books.

The multimillion-dollar question: Will the Raiders relocation validate or alleviate concerns about match fixing, game throwing and other forms of cheating?

The question is whether the presence of a franchise in a place where gambling has been legal makes it more likely there will be match fixing, said Jennifer Rodgers, a Columbia University law professor who teaches a class on corruption in sports and serves as the executive director of the universitys Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity. That, I think, has been the NFLs reason for staying away they didnt want to be associated with that, and they didnt want to open their players up for contamination.

Regulation as risk reduction

Rodgers said sports betting concerns lessen, rather than increase, when gambling is regulated.

Match fixing is really a problem when its tied to illegal black market gambling, Rodgers said. They have regular sports betting highly regulated and highly scrutinized. Those casinos have very sophisticated fraud and gambling detection tools.

The chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board said the states decadeslong history of regulating gambling would ease the NFLs transition into the Las Vegas Valley. The reason is simple: The systems already are in place.

With respect to the NFL, I think our interests collectively are the same, Chairman A.G. Burnett said. We want to ensure integrity with the sport. We want to ensure that theres no black eye on the state or the gaming industry in any way.

Burnett said sports book operators know their gaming license is on the line, and theyre all equally good in ascertaining when somethings amiss.

When sports betting is legal, Burnett said, regulators can monitor the line, spot problems and respond accordingly. The Gaming Control Boards enforcement division works regularly with the FBI, the Justice Department, and other state, local and federal law enforcement agencies to stop any suspicious activity.

A cultural destigmatization of gambling in recent years already has resulted in some changes in Nevada. For example, the Gaming Control Board signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Olympic Committee a few years ago that allows them to share information, and Burnett said he envisioned a similar relationship with professional sports leagues. He said the enforcement division has been engaged in general discussions with the NFL as it prepares for the move.

The Gaming Control Board has experience regulating sports betting on local teams, with UNLVs campus so close to the sports books. Meanwhile, the NBA Summer League has been in Las Vegas for more than a decade, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has in recent years become an outspoken advocate for legal sports betting.

The first test of how the system works with a professional, major league franchise will come when the NHL expands to Las Vegas in October.

Shift to sports betting

If the Raiders and the gaming industry together can execute a smooth transition to Las Vegas, some industry professionals say that could represent the first step toward legal sports betting in other states.

People from all corners are recognizing sports betting is a big popular pastime, Burnett said.

While NFL owners last week embraced a move to Las Vegas, the league has, as recently as 2012, fought other states that launched challenges against the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the 1992 law known as PASPA.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year upheld PASPA in response to a legal challenge filed by New Jersey. State officials had sought to legalize sports betting amid declining gaming revenue in Atlantic City.

One of New Jerseys staunchest legal opponents in its push to operate sports books at its casinos was the NFL, among other major sports leagues. But the leagues embrace of a move to Las Vegas could change the national landscape on that issue.

What I think it will do for sports gambling is highlight that a professional sports organization can operate in a regulated sports wagering environment, just like many sports do in the United Kingdom, said Jennifer Roberts, associate director of the International Center for Gaming Regulation at UNLVs Boyd School of Law.

The time could be ripe for a shift, as the NFL has been inching toward the sorts of activity it eschewed for decades.

I think the fact that you have so much gambling in other places makes the stigma less, said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV. Most NFL cities have a casino within driving distance.

Schwartz also said the leagues embrace of fantasy sports undercuts its opposition to sports betting.

They say that theyre still opposed to it, but a lot of teams have sponsorship deals with daily fantasy sports sites, he said.

Contact Jenny Wilson at jenwilson@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Follow @jennydwilson on Twitter.

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For gambling advocates, Raiders' relocation offers opportunity - Las Vegas Review-Journal