Monthly Archives: March 2021

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)The month of March is recognized across the country as gambling awareness month. Here in Michigan, with online betting now legal, experts are worried about one particular group, our youth.

I can sit at home on my phone, on my computer and I can gamble and thats a concern, says Gambling Disorder Program Manager for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Alia Lucas.

She says despite the legal age to place a bet being 18,addiction can start much earlier than that.

When our clinicians talk to them and they start the assessment and theyre starting to get into the history of the gambling activity what they learn is that these individuals start gambling at the ages of nine to eleven years old, said Lucas.

Mae Lambert is a licensed clinician and an expert in youth gambling. She says gambling activates a reward system in the frontal part of the brain that is not fully developed until the age of 25, priming the brain for future addictions.

The frontal lobe is where we create all of our rationalizations and where we understand consequences, said Youth Gambling Community Coordinator for the MichiganDepartment of Health and Human Services, Mae Lambert.

Lambert says online betting age restrictions are easy to get past.

They can say yes Im 18 and over. Theres no way for the vendor to know that this is someone who is under 18.

Lambert and Lucas say 80% of teenagers have gambled within the past year. Its a number they expect to increase this year due to more time spent at home. Experts also worry even pay to play video games could become a problem.

While it might not seem harmful for a lot of the youth to play these online games and pay for the things necessary to progress, it is something to pay attention to, said Lucas.

Lucas says the best thing you can do to help your kids prevent a gambling addiction is to have an open conversation with them about it.

Ask them if they are gambling, you know what kind of gambling, what kind of gaming are you doing and have an upfront conversation about the potential dangers of gambling.

Below is a list of resources, and ways to get help.https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71550_2941_74002,00.html

Go here to read the rest:

Experts weigh in on the dangers of youth gambling - WLNS

This is an opinion column.

Gambling is an answer in search of a problem just not Alabamas problem.

If you want to see one of the biggest reasons Alabama lags behind in most measurements of quality of life, I can show you with a chart. Its a little old as data goes three years but like Alabama, little about the data has changed for the better.

Three years ago, the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy calculated what Alabamians pay in state and local taxes and put that data on a chart. On the left side are the poor folks. On the right are the rich. Its an ugly picture. This is what it shows.

If you made $11,000 that year, you paid about 9.9 percent of your income in one state or local tax or another sales, property and income.

On the other hand, if you made $500,000 that year, you paid about 5 percent.

For sales tax the biggest draw or drain, depending on which side youre on the poorest 20 percent paid 7.1 percent of their income. The richest one percent paid just one percent.

Alabama's dependence on sales taxes puts a greater burden on the poor than the rich, perpetuating poverty instead of solving it.

In short, the less money you make, the greater percentage of that money you pay in state and local taxes. The only major change since then was in 2019, when Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama lawmakers raised the states gas tax, which made this regressive tax structure even worse.

At the heart of Alabamas problems is this: We ask more from people who dont have the means to bear the burden of state expenses than we do those with the most means to pay. Our tax structure perpetuates poverty instead of alleviating it.

And soon we might turn to gambling.

A lottery isnt going to fix Alabamas big problem.

Casinos arent going to fix it, either.

But some lawmakers are determined to try.

A proposal to legalize gambling in Alabama, introduced by state Sen. Del Marsh, promises to rake in hundreds of millions in new revenue for Alabama, but theres nothing new about it. Its the same old thing this state has always done. Our officials are searching for another way to do the same thing weve always done.

And were likely to get the same weve always gotten.

Im not against gambling itself. As a moral issue, if someone wants to set their money on fire in the backyard, its theirs to do with as they please. And lets face it, its not hard to find a place to blow your money these days, either by crossing a state line or day trading stocks on your phone.

But there is one question I cant get past. Why is it OK if the state taxes the heck out of it, but a crime if not?

I dont believe the sole criterion for a thing being legal or illegal should be whether a state gets a cut.

And the very worst reason we could have for making a thing legal is to again rob from the poor to give to the rich.

Every year in Alabama, we have this debate. And every year it ends the same way. Gambling legislation fails not because of religious prudes or high-minded navel-gazers like me, but because of gambling interests. The Poarch Creek Indians and the dog tracks-turned-bingo-halls fight over who will get the biggest piece of the action and their squabbling kills the bill. Every time the Legislature tries to split the baby, it actually splits the baby.

But maybe this is the year all that changes. Maybe the bad ideas time has come.

And maybe when its done and when it doesnt work we can move on to the good ideas nobody yet wants to try like removing sales taxes on groceries and medicine, or taxing farm and timberland like Mississippi.

Maybe.

But I wouldnt bet on it.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group.

You can follow his work on his Facebook page, The War on Dumb. And on Twitter. And on Instagram.

Tuscaloosa named street for slain officer. Lawmaker wants to rename it for Nick Saban.

The Medicaid Civil War is over. Quit fighting, Kay Ivey.

Just keep talking, Tommy Tuberville

Richard Shelby, Mo Brooks and the death of Alabama pork politics

Alabama lawmaker has a health care plan for lawmakers, not you

Alabama prison plan went from $900 million to $3.7 billion. How? Thats still a secret.

What have you done now, Tommy Tuberville?

Heres the scariest thing about Mo Brooks

Want healing, Kay Ivey? Repeal the monuments law.

Alabamas Three Stooges. And Shemp.

Alabama owes Richard Shelby a big thank you. Doug Jones, too.

Mo Brooks knows hes lying. Just ask Mo Brooks.

Mo Brooks didnt shout fire. He started it.

Why is this taking so long? Failure and a big, big number

More here:

Whitmire: Alabama doesnt have a gambling problem. Its worse than that. - AL.com

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The Bureau of Internal Revenue in the Philippines has said that the tax revenue from Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) will drop this year.

BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa told senators that the latest projections show POGO tax collections settling at 3.92 billion, just half the 7.18 billion raised in 2020.

This is based on the January revenue of 327.2 million, down 69% compared to a year ago, multiplied by 12 months.

Victor Padilla, senior manager for offshore gaming of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), said there are only 38 license holders operating from a peak of 61 companies pre-pandemic.

POGOs were forced to shut down due to COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. They were allowed to reopen in May, but were told to settle all their unpaid dues with the BIR.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee tackled bills that would set the tax rules for POGOs. In the measure, license holders will pay a franchise tax worth 5% of gross gaming receipts while foreign employees will be subject to a 25% withholding tax. This assumes that they are earning at least 600,000 a year or 50,000 monthly.

These tax rates were originally passed under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, but POGO companies ran to the Supreme Court to stop its implementation.

It is their contention that once the foreign national acquired their working visa, these foreign nationals should be taxed like the ordinary Filipino citizen or resident alien employee, Guballa said during the hearing.

The BIR official added that POGO firms also insisted that they should not be paying any dues to the BIR as they registered abroad and do not derive income from the Philippines.

Related

Originally posted here:

Rajasthan Government to Ban Online Gambling, Betting European Gaming Industry News - European Gaming Industry News

BOSTON (SHNS) Massachusetts casinos have been making hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes available to gamblers since they reopened last summer, but players at MGM Springfield will now be presented with only Clorox products.

Clorox is now the Official Guest Disinfectant and Hand Sanitizer Brand of MGM Resorts, the casino company announced Tuesday. The cleaning products brand will supply disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer throughout guest-accessible areas of 20 MGM properties in Las Vegas and around the country, including MGM Springfield.

The health and safety of guests and employees remains our top priority, and were thrilled to partner with Clorox to support those efforts, John Flynn, MGM Resorts vice president of administration, said. Disinfecting and hand sanitizing are key components of our Seven-Point Safety Plan, and Cloroxs century of expertise and trusted brand make it a valuable ally in our ongoing mission to build confidence at our resorts and help keep guests and employees safer.

Continue reading here:

Gambling, brought to you by Clorox - WWLP.com

(Reuters) - Las Vegas Sands Corp , founded by late casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, will sell its Vegas properties for $6.25 billion, exiting the U.S. gambling hot spot after three decades to focus on Asia, home to the worlds largest gambling hub, Macau.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Las Vegas Sands Corp is pictured at the Japan IR EXPO in Yokohama, Japan January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The sale comes nearly two months after the death of Adelson - widely credited with helping transform the Chinese territory of Macau from a den of hard core gambling parlors into a center of luxury resorts and convention centers with revenue that now dwarfs Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Sands said the deal underscores its strategy of reinvesting in its Asian operations, with a focus on Macau and Singapore. Macau and Singapore accounted for 48% and 35% of the companys total revenue in 2020, respectively, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

The deal further strengthens the companys balance sheet to fund future growth in other domestic and global markets, Jefferies analysts said, viewing the sale as a net positive.

The properties being sold by the casino operator include the Venetian Resort Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. A possible sale of the properties was widely reported late last year.

The gambling industry, which thrives on air travel and large groups of people in close proximity, has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For 2020, Las Vegas Sands reported a loss of $1.69 billion, the biggest in its history, as travel restrictions and lockdowns brought the gambling industry to a virtual stand-still. The companys cash and short-term investments halved to $2.12 billion at the end of 2020 from 2019.

(Graphic: COVID-19 pandemic hits casino operators in 2020: )

However, widespread vaccinations are expected to aid in the travel recovery. Last month, rival MGM Resorts signaled a pickup in demand later this year as vaccines become more widely available.

Apollo Global Management Incs affiliate-managed funds will buy the operating company of the Venetian for $2.25 billion and VICI Properties will buy the land and real estate assets of the Venetian for $4 billion.

Apollos Alex van Hoek said the investment underscores our conviction in a strong recovery for Las Vegas as vaccines usher in a reopening of leisure and travel in the United States and across the world.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands were up 1.2% at $65.74 in morning trading. The S&P 500 casinos and gaming index has gained 15.2% this year, compared to a 3% rise in the S&P 500.

Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Manojna Maddipatla. Writing by Sweta Singh; Editing by Maju Samuel, Bernard Orr

View original post here:

Las Vegas Sands shuts door on U.S. gambling hub with $6.25 billion asset sale - Reuters