Daily Archives: June 7, 2017

June 7, 2017 3:40 PM

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) A 64-year-old Fridley man is accused of stealing money from an American Legion to help fund his gambling addiction, according to charges filed in Anoka County Court.

Steven Ronald Linder was charged with theft in connection with the incident, which took place from Oct. 1-Dec. 31 last year.

According to the charges, the current gambling manager at the Fridley American Legion contacted authorities in January. He suspected that Linder, the former gambling manager there, had stolen about $20,000 in gambling money.

Officials with the American Legion investigated, and discovered $21,546 in deposits were missing from Oct. 15, 2016 through December. There was also a missing $15 deposit from Nov. 10, 2015, and a missing $6 deposit from June 16, 2016. Linder was responsible for bringing the deposits to the bank.

The complaint states an investigation showed Linder has a gambling problem and had been spending large amounts of money on pull tabs at a nearby business. Linder admitted to authorities on Feb. 14 that he had a problem and took the deposits without permission.

He faces up to 10 years in jail and a $20,000 fine.

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Charges: Gambling Manager At Fridley Legion Stole $20K For Gambling Addiction - CBS Minnesota / WCCO

Seventy-six entertainment venues have been shut down across China while 26 others had their operations suspended as the Beijing government intensified its crackdown on gambling, Chinese media outlets reported.

China, as we all know, likes to keep a tight leash on the fun stuff. Gambling is banned in the country, and the government is making good on its promise to severely punish both land-based and online gambling operators who target Chinese gamblers.

This year, law enforcement officers have investigated more than 38,000 entertainment venues nationwide, according to the China Youth Daily. Of this number, 355 cases have been busted.

The Ministry of Culture (MOC) was quoted by the news outlet saying that any entertainment venues that allow their customers to gamble or contain video machines on which people can gamble will be shut down and have their business licenses revoked.

In Shanghai, authorities discovered 83 entertainment venues that fit MOCs description, while 11 venues in Hainan province were shuttered in April for allowing their customers to gamble.

Meanwhile, China has stepped up its crackdown on cross-border gambling. Beijing authorities have joined forces with their counterparts in the Philippines to hunt down transnational cyber gambling operations that had mushroomed in the Southeast Asian country.

The two countries had already flexed their law enforcement muscle by shuttering four illegal websites, rounding up 99 people, and freezing more than 1,000 bank accounts in April, according to Chinas Public Security Bureau.

The MPS hailed the April cross-border bust as the first such coordinated anti-gambling action involving the two countries law enforcement agencies. The MPS said it would continue to strengthen international cooperation in targeting illegal gambling, be it online or land-based, to ensure greater fugitive repatriation of gambling operators who target bettors on the Chinese mainland.

The MPS has teamed with police in other jurisdictions, like in Taiwan, where it cooperated with Taiwanese officials in Taiwan in multiple actions against cross-border online gambling operations, although Beijing continues to insist that Taiwan is a renegade province of China rather than a truly independent nation, so this doesnt actually qualify as international cooperation under Beijings semantic rules.

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China's crackdown on gambling zeroes in on 'entertainment' venues - CalvinAyre.com

The state House and Senate are waging another high-stakes battle over how to expand gambling options to generate desperately needed state tax revenue and fix a constitutionally flawed casino law municipalities rely on for extra cash.

And, if the battle turns out like last year, everyone could go home broke.

Last June and into this year, the two chambers have failed to compromise on additional ways to gamble even though the current budget anticipated $100 million in new revenue from those options. Lawmakers also have missed court-ordered deadlines to fix a part of the state's 2005 casino law the state Supreme Court justices deemed unconstitutional because it did not set "uniform" taxes for each casino as it relates to $142 million in "host" fees they pay nearby communities.

That history could be repeating.

Tonight the Republican-controlled House, with Democratic support, is expected to alter a Senate bill that not only addressed the host fee court problem, but also welcomed new gambling options wagering online, buying lottery tickets over the Internet, and playing fantasy sports from home or while waiting in an airport.

In a 23-6 Rules Committee vote, the House Wednesday afternoon amended the Senate bill so it also would legalize 40,000 video betting machines in bars, VFWs, volunteer fire halls, restaurants, bowling alleys, truck stops, hotels and other places licensed to sell alcohol. The machines, known generically as video-gaming machines, or VGTs, are strongly opposed by all but one of the state's casinos.

Adding the VGT component will deliver even more tax money to the budget and help shore up the state Lottery, which supports programs for senior citizens, said House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana. The bill also fixes the host fee problem caused by the court decision, he said.

"We think this is a good start to final budget negotiations," Reed said after the committee vote.

Full House debate on the bill starts about 8 p.m. tonight. Approval would send it to the Senate, where approval is far from certain. The Senate previously has rejected VGT bills because of concerns they will over-saturate the gaming market and cut profits and tax revenues generated by the state's dozen casinos.

"We are still working with the Senate, Reed said Wednesday afternoon.

If the bill dies, either in the House or Senate, it could leave a $150 million hole in next year's budget. That's how much Gov. Tom Wolf's administration has projected in estimated tax revenue from expanding gambling in the fiscal year starting July 1. It could also jeopardize the local host fee fix, leaving municipalities like Bethlehem and Allentown in a financial lurch.

Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, the chamber's Appropriations Committee chairman and a VGT opponent, declined comment ahead of the full House vote.

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem this weeklaunched a $1 million advertising campaign to stop VGTs. The campaign, by a Sands-funded lobbying group called Pennsylvanians For Responsible Government, includes an online landing page, radio ads and 30-second television spots telling people state lawmakers want to "create over 12,000 casinos" across Pennsylvania. The ad also warns that slot machines can be placed in the 35 nursing homes with liquor licenses, including three in the Lehigh Valley.

Sands Casino, perhaps more than any other in the state, has much to lose if VGTs are legalized and according to sources, it already has. Parent company Las Vegas Sands Corp. had a tentative deal to sell its Bethlehem Casino complex to MGM Resorts International for $1.3 billion. However, sources said, MGM pulled out of the deal in part because of the threat of VGTs.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. spokesman Ron Reese had no further comment and referred to the company's previous comment that the approval of VGTs would cause Sands to re-evaluate its future investment in the Bethlehem property.

Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton, a VGT proponent, has said adding VGTs will not hurt casinos and the ads will not affect her vote in the Senate.

Sands is not alone in its opposition to VGTs. Ten other casinos oppose it. The only licensed casino that wants VGTs is Penn National Gaming, owner of Hollywood Casino in central Pennsylvania. Penn National has a video gaming wing already operating in Illinois and hopes to expand that business to Pennsylvania.

"That many machines added to the market would definitely have an impact on casinos," said John Cunnane, a Wall Street gaming and leisure analyst for Stifel Investment Services.

The House amendment would charge licensing fees of $50,000 to VGT manufacturers and suppliers; $25,000 to companies that operate the machines $100 to any place that hosts them. The tax rate then would be 37.5% on revenue generated from the machines, with most of the money going to the state and smaller percentages going to counties and municipalities. The amendment did not list a corresponding revenue estimate from the tax rate.

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House push for statewide betting machines again threatens lucrative gambling expansion effort - Allentown Morning Call

Forbes

Legalized Gambling Would Fuel Another Rise For ESPN Forbes ESPN has a problem. It's shedding subscribers fast. The ongoing trend soured an otherwise positive first quarter for parent Disney, whose theme parks and movie division performed exceedingly well. Of course, this is hardly news. The network's problems ...

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Legalized Gambling Would Fuel Another Rise For ESPN - Forbes

A childhood New Years holiday spent playing cards with his family planted the seeds of a gambling compulsion that ravaged decades of one mans life. Now 67, the former salesman from western Japan fell into debt time and time again as his addiction drew him to pachinko parlors, then illegal mahjong and dice games.

Gambling permeated my life, said the man, who asked not to be identified for fear of embarrassing loved ones. My fingers just dont do as theyre told. I cant count the number of times my family have had to clear up the mess by paying off my debts.

The man is among thousands in Japan whose gambling compulsion had gone largely unnoticed until a plan to introduce casino resorts forced policy makers to address the problem of addiction. Speaking to Bloomberg News at an event hosted by lawyers who oppose the governments casino plan,he said he only kicked his habit after joining Gamblers Anonymous about a decade ago.

A customer smokes a cigarette inside thepachinkoparlor in Tokyo.

Photographer: Shiho Fukada/Bloomberg

Lawmakers are putting together an anti-addiction bill that must be passed before the first casinos can open their doors. In doing so, they must balance between safeguarding economic benefits from gambling establishments -- including the $200 billion pachinko industry -- while addressing the concerns of casino opponents who fear they will spawn a new generation of addicts.

The bill doesnt specify rules that businesses must follow and penalties for non-compliance, according to a draft distributed to reporters. It broadly mandates the government to form a plan to stop gambling addiction, and says businesses must cooperate.

When it passes, officials will start drafting regulations that could outline specific duties of gambling businesses, including restricting access to venues and providing funds to boost counselling. Thats raising concerns in Japans 11,000 pachinko parlors, which have operated their pinball-like games in a legal gray area for decades.

Read more on how Japans bet on casinos may play out

People in the pachinko industry are involved with the causes of addiction, saidTakeshi Shina, a lawmaker with the opposition Democratic Party, which drafted its own bill. So we will have them cooperate to eliminate it. They cant stay out of it completely.

The bill could passbefore the current parliamentary session ends on June 18. While Prime Minister Shinzo Abes ruling coalition holds a majority in both houses of parliament, the opposition could still delay a vote.

Gambling in Japan turns over more than 27 trillion yen ($244 billion) annually, replenishes local government coffers and employs about 300,000 people -- many of them in regions where jobs are relatively scarce. Its legal to bet on publicly run horse, boat, motorbike and bicycle races, plus lotteries and football pools. Horse racing alone generated 283 billion yen ($2.6 billion) for the central government in fiscal 2015.

Photographer: Shiho Fukada/Bloomberg

Pachinko operators, which rake in more than five times the revenue of the publicly-managed gambling industry, have skirted a ban on private-sector gambling byhaving winners swap their loot, in the form of ball-bearings, for a token prize that can later be exchanged off the premises for cash.The government doesnt break down the amount of taxes the industry contributes.

The threat of regulation is casting a shadow over a wider betting industry already in a downward spiral, as younger people spend more of their leisure time online, and tired race tracks provide little to appeal to new customers, according to Masatoshi Yamamoto, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Research & Consulting Co., who researches publicly funded gambling.

A customer plays pachinko.

Photographer: Shiho Fukada/Bloomberg

Industry turnover at pachinko parlors has shrunk by a third from a 2005 peak, and the number of venues is in a two-decade decline. While they introduced slot machines to attract younger customers, fans under 30 remain a rarity.

Shingo Ito of Nichiyukyo, a pachinko industry association, said prize values and opening times are already regulated. It also set up a phone counseling center that received 2,500 calls last year.

Its not like casinos, where people can spend as much as they want and stay as long as they like, Ito said. His group is running newspaper and poster advertisements describing pachinko as a healthy pastime to be enjoyed in moderation.

Little reliable data exists on the social costs of gambling in Japan. The results of the first comprehensive survey on addiction are due sometime in the next few months.

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In general, compulsive gamblers make up 1 percent to 2 percent of any given population, according to James Whelan, a University of Memphis professor who briefed Japans ruling party on gambling addiction earlier this year. That could work out to one or two million Japanese.Whelan said the addition of casinos in Japan -- which may be as soon as 2023 -- probably wont make the issue worse, given that gambling is already widespread.

Noriko Tanaka, a counselor and campaigner on problem gambling, said shes concerned that the new law wont be ambitious enough to help addicts. One cause for worry is that the draft bill refers to respect for the pachinko industrys own anti-dependency initiatives.

It could turn out to be just a fig leaf to help them pass the casino bill, Tanaka said.

Excerpt from:

Gambling Addiction Can No Longer Be Ignored in Japan's Casino Push - Bloomberg

A FOBT gambling machine in a Paddy Power betting shop in east London. Photograph: David Levene/the Guardian

The Labour party has accused the government of failing to act on fixed-odds betting terminals, after data showed that gamblers losses are largest in deprived areas and opposition-held constituencies.

A breakdown of estimated losses by parliamentary constituency shows that areas where voters chose Labour in the 2015 election make up eight of the top 10 most affected. Of 62 constituencies where gamblers lost more than 5m in 2015-16, 47 are Labour, five are Scottish National party areas and 10 are Conservative.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have promised in their general election manifestos to cut the maximum stake on FOBTs from 100 to 2. The Conservative manifesto did not address the issue and the government has so far resisted calls for stake reduction, pending a review due to be published this summer.

The data also shows a greater concentration of betting shops in areas with higher rates of poverty, fuelling existing concerns that bookmakers are clustering their shops in deprived areas.

Labours deputy leader, Tom Watson, said: Theresa Mays government has repeatedly failed to act on FOBTs, despite being presented with evidence they are highly addictive and target people who struggle to control their gambling.

Local councils see the damage FOBTs cause in communities up and down the country but the Tories have simply refused to talk about how to tackle this problem. Its a shameful record of inaction which confirms the Tories will always place corporate interests ahead of people.

Despite the prominence of Labour constituencies in the top 10, the highest losses were recorded in a Conservative seat, the Cities of London and Westminster, where gamblers lost 31m in 120 bookmakers, an average of more than 250,000 per shop.

The data, which shows that nine of the top 10 biggest losses are in London constituencies, may be skewed by the high number of people who do not live in those areas but pass through for work and tourism. Outside London, the worst affected constituency was Glasgow Central, where gamblers lost 10m on FOBTs in 66 betting shops, followed by Liverpool Riverside, where bookies took 8.1m.

And the constituencies outside London that suffered the biggest losses are also dominated by Labour and the SNP. Of the 15 where FOBTs took more than 5m, nine are Labour, five are SNP and one is Conservative.

While there is no official data on losses by constituency, the estimates were compiled by consultancy Landman Economics on behalf of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, by cross-referencing data released by the Gambling Commission and the Responsible Gambling Trust.

The statistics used to calculate the estimates include the number of bookmakers in local authority areas and the average losses in each region of the UK. The total estimated figure of 1.7bn for all constituencies tallies with the amount the Gambling Commission said bookies took from FOBTs in the 2015-16 year.

The data also provide fresh evidence of clustering by bookmakers, which have been accused of targeting areas suffering from low wages, high unemployment and high rates of child poverty. Forty-three parliamentary constituencies have more than 30 betting shops, of which 74% have a higher-than-average claimant count for jobseekers allowance or universal credit. About two-thirds have an average weekly wage below the national median, while 79% report above-average child poverty rates.

A spokesperson for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling said: This research shows that bookmakers are targeting the most deprived parts of the country with a highly addictive gambling product. They circumvent the limit of four FOBTs per shop by opening multiple outlets, which leads to clustering. It is welcome that both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have committed to reducing the maximum stake to 2 in their manifestos.

If Theresa May really wants to help those who are just about managing then she will commit to the same.

Bookmakers rake in 1.8bn a year from FOBTs, according to figures released last month, more than half of their annual revenue.

A spokesperson for the Association of British Bookmakers said: This research is deeply flawed, the reality is that betting shops are located in areas of high footfall with 84% of shops located in densely populated areas.

The most profitable shops are located in the least deprived areas.

Those with vested commercial interests in calling for a cut in stakes on bookie gaming machines want to put 21,000 people out of good jobs, close 4,500 full business rate paying shops, deprive horse racing of 290m in media payments and drive people to other forms of gambling while doing nothing to address problem gambling.

Bookmakers have argued that there is no causal link between FOBTs and problem gambling, and that curbing the maximum amount that can be staked on the machines could cost jobs and deprive the exchequer of taxes.

Jim Mullen, the chief executive of betting firm Ladbrokes Coral, has said cutting the maximum stake could cost up to 20,000 jobs. But campaigners and rival segments of the gambling industry, which support greater curbs on FOBTs, have questioned the claims.

John White, the chief executive of amusement arcade trade body Bacta, said the warnings were scaremongering, designed to shore up a status quo that puts consumers at risk.

Landman Economics has previously said that FOBTs represent a net drain on the economy, despite the tax revenues they provide. The economic research consultancy said FOBTs have actually reduced HMRCs tax income by 1.3bn since 2008 because the money spent on them would be more productive if spent elsewhere.

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Tories have 'shameful record' on FOBT gambling, says Labour - The Guardian