Monthly Archives: March 2022

In the early 1990s, when he was deputy mayor of St Petersburg, Vladimir Putin was known to a member of the citys legislature, Viktor Talanov. A psychologist by profession, Talanov prepared a study of Putin in which he concluded that one of his subjects fundamental psychological characteristics was a very high tolerance of risk.

As Russias leader, Putin has consistently demonstrated this characteristic, while western countries have consistently failed to realise its significance and respond appropriately. Their failure to impose heavy sanctions on Russia until its invasion of Ukraine last month encouraged Putin to believe that his aggression would meet with little resistance.

Since taking power in 2000, Putin has established an authoritarian regime by repression and illegality. Elections turned into a sham as opposition parties and candidates were prevented from standing and the results were falsified. The fabricated votes of non-existent voters were awarded to Putin and his party. The independence of the mass media was ended.

The oligarchs Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky were driven into exile because their media empires had influence over public opinion and were critical of Putin. Their television channels, Gusinskys NTV and Berezovskys ORT, had helped Boris Yeltsin to win the presidential election of 1996.

Gusinskys Media-Most media group was taken over by Gazprom, the state-owned gas company. Berezovsky was forced to sell his shareholding in ORT to Roman Abramovich. ORT has since also become widely seen as a propaganda organ. The third independent television station, TV-6, was forced into liquidation. Consequently, all the national television channels were in Putins hands or under his sway.

In 2003, Putin turned on Yukos, the largest oil company in Russia, and its chairman Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Khodorkovskys sins were that he financed parties other than Putins in Russias parliamentary elections and was critical of the regimes corruption.

Putins regime prosecuted Khodorkovsky on trumped-up charges of embezzlement and tax evasion, confiscated his company and transferred most of it to a state-owned oil company, Rosneft. Khodorkovsky spent more than ten years in prison.

Putin was so vicious that he had Khodorkovsky prosecuted on further charges in 2010, when he was still in prison. The charges were so patently false that the chairman of the Moscow Bar Association called them a disgrace to justice.

Aleksandr Litvinenko, the former security service officer whom Putin had himself fired and who had fled to Britain in 2000, was murdered with a radioactive poison, polonium, in London in 2006. The British tribunal which investigated his murder concluded that Putin had ordered it. Berezovsky died in mysterious circumstances in Ascot in 2013, perhaps by suicide, perhaps strangled by an assassin.

Since about the same time, neighbouring states have accused Russia of attacking them and their people. An attempt was made in September 2004 to kill Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-western candidate for the Ukrainian presidency, using the poison dioxin.

In April 2007, hackers directed by the Kremlin launched a massive cyber-attack on the websites of banks and public institutions in Estonia. The Estonian government was so alarmed that Nato had to consider whether such a cyber-attack triggered Article 5 of the Nato treaty.

In 2008 Putin waged an illegal war his troops invaded Georgia and occupied its territory. Putin later recognised the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

From 2008 to 2012, Putin served as prime minister rather than president because the Russian constitution limited the president to two four-year terms. Instead, his political ally Dmitri Medvedev served a term as president before allowing Putin to run again for the top job.

On his return to the presidency in 2012, Putin commenced a war on the west which he has steadily escalated. Nihilistic propaganda, computer hacking and the public disclosure of e-mails, cyber-attacks, murder and covert deployment of agents of influence have all taken place in western countries since 2012.

To the wests disgrace, the sanctions which began to be imposed on the Putin regime from 2012 resulted from the initiative of a private person not that of any state. Hermitage Capital, the venture capital firm run by the British-American investor Bill Browder, was driven out of Russia in 2005 because Browder challenged the corrupt management of Gazprom, a company which Putin and his mafia exploit to enrich themselves.

Browders lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud perpetrated by government officials but was himself arrested for the fraud. He died in prison after being severely beaten and denied necessary medical treatment. Browder persuaded the US Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act of 2012, which imposed asset freezes and travel bans on the Russian officials involved in the lawyers murder.

In 2014, Putin started the war in Ukraine by annexing the Crimea and providing military support to separatists in eastern Ukraine seeking to break the country up. Finally, western states, led by the US, took action. Following the example of the Magnitsky sanctions, they imposed asset freezes, credit bans and travel bans on key figures in Putins regime and their corporate vehicles.

Asset freezes and denials of credit targeted in particular those sectors of the Russian economy which Putin and his circle have most exploited to enrich themselves. These include banking, oil and gas, mining, metals, engineering and weapons manufacture. While the sanctions affected Russias economic growth, the countrys economy adjusted to them. Such mild sanctions were not going to deter Putin from engaging in aggression in the future.

Outrages continued. Boris Nemtsov, Putins most dangerous political opponent and a prominent critic of the war in Ukraine, was murdered near the Kremlin in February 2015. His murder was blamed on Chechens but they were probably working for Putin because no one else had any incentive to kill Nemtsov.

Putin now sought systematically to weaken western countries and discredit democracy by interfering in the politics of those states.

According to the report presented to the US Congress in March 2019 by special counsel Robert S Mueller, Russia interfered in the US presidential election of 2016 in two ways. First, a troll farm called the Internet Research Agency conducted a campaign on social media designed to favour Donald Trump and inflame social and political conflict in the US. Meanwhile, two groups of cyber hackers hacked into communications networks of the Democratic Party, stole a huge number of e-mails and documents and made them public.

According to the report on Russian influence operations in the UK published in July 2020 by the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, Britains openness to Russian oligarchs and their money has enabled Russias intelligence agencies and organised crime to infiltrate British politics, finance and business and establish a large network of witting and unwitting agents.

These agents are used to launder illicitly obtained money. They are also involved in Russias aggressive and risky influence operations.

During the referendum campaign over Scottish independence in 2014, Russian troll farms and bots, backed by overt propaganda organs such as RT and Sputnik, were active on social media in support of the Yes camp. Two years later, the same covert and overt disinformers are suspected to have supported the Leave camp in the referendum campaign over the United Kingdoms membership of the European Union.

Russian hackers broke into the computers and stole the e-mails of the main political parties in Germany and France. They hacked into the computers of Emmanuel Macrons party, La Rpublique en Marche, during the French presidential election of 2017. German, French and British politicians issued warnings about Russian cyber-espionage, but took no firmer action.

In March 2018, an attempt was made to murder a Russian intelligence officer living in exile in Britain, Sergei Skripal, with a nerve gas called Novichok. Skripal survived the poisoning, but the assassins killed a British woman called Dawn Sturgess by mistake. British authorities identified two Russian nationals, who used the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, as the suspected killers and alleged that they were officers of the Russian military intelligence service.

Eight days later, another critic of Putin, Nikolai Glushkov, died in suspicious circumstances in London. The death of Glushkov, a friend of Boris Berezovsky, had been made to look like a suicide, but the coroner ruled that the victim had been strangled because there was evidence of third-party involvement. Twenty-nine countries responded to the attempt on Skripals life by expelling 153 Russian intelligence officers, but they took no further action.

On February 24 this year, Russia invaded Ukraine. Appalled, western states responded by imposing severe sanctions on Russia and Putins oligarchs, including freezing the Central Banks foreign reserves, excluding Russia from the SWIFT financial information system and ending normal trade relations with Russia and its companies. Oligarchs assets have been frozen, Russia has been expelled from the Council of Europe and western states have declared their intention to end their imports of Russian oil and gas.

These sanctions should have been imposed in 2014 at the latest, when Putin started the war in Ukraine and seized the Crimea. Putins immediate response to them was to increase international tension still further by putting Russias nuclear forces on special alert. The sanctions should remain in force until Putin is removed from power. His dangerously aggressive and risky rule must be ended.

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Vladimir Putin: risk-taker who is gambling his country's future - The Conversation

Are you looking for a mobile-friendly casino without a license in Sweden? Heres how you can find a reliable online gambling site for Android devices in Sweden.

Technology has changed the concept of gambling, and the introduction of Android-friendly gaming sites has truly revolutionized the industry. Currently, there is barely any online casino that players cannot open on their smartphones. The majority of players find gambling on smartphones more practical and convenient than on desktops. They can carry their mobile phones wherever they want and enjoy the thrill of playing casino games even on the go.

When it comes to adopting the latest technologies and innovations, the Swedish gambling industry is probably second to none. You can easily find plenty of online casinos with and without a license in Sweden that is compatible with multiple devices, including Android phones. In this article, we are going to learn how to find the best-unlicensed gambling app in Sweden. If you are also interested in pocket gambling, then this article can help you find the suitable one without any hassle.

Gambling enthusiasts can easily find reliable online casino apps without a Swedish license and gamble on their smartphones. Here we are providing you with some effective steps to identify which unlicensed casino app is best for gambling in Sweden. Check below these steps and find yourself a perfect unlicensed gambling app in Sweden.

One of the first things that every player should look at is the safety and security at the platform. You might be wondering whether gambling on unlicensed gambling sites is safe or not. Let us tell you that even though Swedes call these casinos unlicensed, these sites are completely safe and secure. However, it is still recommended to check the licensing information of the casino.

Many online casinos without a Swedish license use high-end SSL encryptions to ensure the protection and safety of players. Mostly the licensing information is available at the bottom of any gambling site. Online casinos without a Swedish license are registered under some reputed offshore regulators. With the help of the team at svenskacasinonutanlicens.se we have gathered all the major licenses that foreign casinos have for the Swedish market.

Here are some top online gambling authorities outside Sweden:

Once you are sure that the casino is safe, you can check if it has a mobile gambling app. There are many online casinos without a license that provide a functional casino app for gamblers. Even though the casino does not offer any app, you can still access the website from any browser on your phone. Online casinos that offer mobile-friendly apps usually have a download link available on their website. Players can also find several casino apps on the Google Play Store.

Anyone who is visiting an online casino app is there to have a seamless gaming experience. This is why it is important to look for the types of games that are available at the casino. You can also check the software providers of these games. Some of the most popular games that you can play are online slot machines, table games, jackpots, live casino games, megaways, and poker.

Reviewing the gaming library can help you analyze how good your gambling experience is going to be. Furthermore, you can also check the Return-to-Player (RTP) of various casino games. Here are some top-notch gaming software developers in the industry:

You can also read the reviews of different unlicensed gambling sites and select the best one. There are many websites like svenskacasinonutanlicens.se that provide valuable information regarding gambling on online casinos without a Swedish license. Reading casino reviews and guides can help you understand the various aspects of gambling in Sweden. Players can also read informative guides such as how to play at unlicensed casino sites. It can help you enhance your mobile gaming experience.

Bonuses and promotions are the features that can make your gambling more fun and exciting. One of the many reasons why players get disappointed with Swedish-licensed casinos is because of the lack of bonuses. At Swedish-licensed casinos, players can only claim a single welcome bonus. However, online casinos without a Swedish license are filled with exciting and generous promotional offers.

Many unlicensed gambling sites offer lucrative welcome bonuses to attract players. If you are interested in improving your chances of winnings and claiming free spins or bets, then you can check if the gambling app offers bonuses. Usually, unlicensed casinos have the following promotional offers:

Payment methods can be a significant factor while selecting an online casino. Swedish players can find multiple payment options at online casinos without a Swedish license. Make sure you select the online casino that accepts the payment methods you are familiar with. Whenever you register on any online gambling site, the first thing you need to do is make a deposit on the platform. After making a deposit, you can play real money games.

Find the payment methods that allow users to track transactions in case any issue occurs. If you are not comfortable with sharing any personal information on the casino, then you can use different types of cryptocurrencies as a payment method. It can allow you to play anonymously on online casino sites. Here are some popular payment methods that you can use on online casinos without a Swedish license:

Customer support is also one of the most important factors that you should consider while selecting an online casino app. Usually, the online casinos without a license have friendly and helpful customer support. Players can connect with customer support and solve their queries by communicating in languages they are comfortable with. You can talk to experienced players and find out if the customer support at the casino is available 24/7. Online casinos without a license also provide excellent customer assistance through live chat facilities, email, and telephone numbers.

Gambling enthusiasts can keep the above six steps in mind while selecting the best-unlicensed casino for gambling. This can help you find a reliable casino app for gambling. Find the casino that has all the reliable features, including types of casino games, bonuses, and promotional offers. Look for an online casino without a license that offers higher payouts and entertainment for a longer period. There are many online casinos without a license in Sweden that offer reliable and functional mobile apps. You can easily download the apps on your Android device and enjoy wagering on a wide range of casino games.

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How To Find The Best Gambling App In Sweden - Android Headlines

1 North Dearborn (1 North Dearborn)

Chicagos third-hand market is gaining some office supply.

A sports gambling company is making a quick exit from the Loop offices it subleased just a year ago, adding to a market with already historic levels of sublease offerings.

The sportsbook Fubo Gaming, which is operated by the FuboTV streaming service, put its seventh-floor offices at 1 North Dearborn Street back onto the market after subleasing itself from artificial intelligence company Narrative Science, Crains reported, citing a marketing flier from brokerage JLL.

The desire to quickly market an office that was already subleased once is an example of how companies have been juggling their needs for physical office space in downtown cores and making quick decisions to scale up or down as the pandemic rages, then wanes.

A record 5.9 million square feet in Chicagos central business district was on the secondary market earlier this year, with Motorola Solutions, Schiff Hardin and Peoples Gas adding to it in recent months as companies cut space. In the city and suburbs, some companies with expiring leases have downsized in moves or renewals, sometimes by as much as a quarter of the space they rented pre-pandemic.

It is unclear where Fubo Gaming will head next. A spokeswoman for the company told Crains that Fubo Gaming continues to be committed to locating its headquarters in Chicago.

Sublease offerings are drawing tenants looking for savings by renting at discounted rates from a tenant that has downsized or left a lease early rather than directly from a landlord at full price. A sublease offering at 515 North State Street is being considered by publicly traded cannabis company Verano Holdings, while marketing software company Braze subleased 50,000 square feet at 1 North State Street from another software firm Showpad early this year.

Contact Sam Lounsberry

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Subleasing a sublease: Quick exit by Chicago sportsbook adds to office oversupply - The Real Deal

Four people have been arrested in relation to a raid at the Golden Ball Amusement Center on 2300 E. Saunders St., according to Laredo police.

Liuhuan Chen, 37, and Minjie Dan, 29, were arrested on March 16 while Jiuming Fu, 47, and Tan Yong, 48, were arrested on March 17.

Chen and Fu are facing charges of keeping a gambling place, gambling promotion and money laundering. Yong was charged with money laundering. Dan was charged with keeping a gambling place.

The case dates back to Oct. 15. At about 6:30 a.m., police set up simultaneous surveillance at two apartments in the 9100 block of McPherson Road and the 7600 block of Green Meadow Drive and a home in the 10100 block of Caballo Drive. These locations are associated with Dan, Fu and Yong.

The case continued on Oct. 27. As part of an illegal gambling operation, an undercover officer entered the Golden Ball. The undercover officer observed a woman identified as Chen entering the cashiers office and fixing the chairs. She was also observed sweeping. The undercover cop did not observe prizes on display that could be obtained from winning, authorities said.

In addition, there were signs offering Match Play. Match play is a term used at eight-liner establishments that doubles the face value of the money that is inserted into a slot machine, states an affidavit.

Live music was being played in the background and free snacks were offered for customers. An Hispanic female employee offered the undercover cop a beverage and later provided him with bottled water. It was also observed that customers were provided with alcoholic beverages, authorities said.

Moments later, the undercover cop inserted $5 into a slot machine identified as Fire Link. About 20 minutes later, the undercover cop won $30. When he cashed out, the undercover cop observed Chen inside the cashiers office overseeing the illegal payout, according to police.

Police recorded a second illegal payout at the Golden Ball on Nov. 4. This time, the undercover cop inserted $5 into a slot machine identified as Life of Luxury and earned $10 after playing for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Chen was observed walking the floor of the gaming establishment. She would also walk around the establishment and enter the cashiers office several times, according to authorities.

A third illegal payout was recorded on Nov. 19. The undercover officer inserted $5 in a slot machine identified as Fire Link and won $40. Fu ordered a Hispanic female to cash out the undercover officer. The undercover cop then sat down at another machine labeled Fire Link. He inserted $5 and won $20. During the operation, the undercover cop observed about 65 slot machines.

Further investigation yielded Dan and Yong as suspects in the case. The four suspects were arrested last week.

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Affidavit: Four linked to illegal gambling investigation - Laredo Morning Times

Like most problems, gambling addiction is a complex issue that doesnt have just one solution.

Treatment for problem gambling can be as diverse of an issue as the people facing it.

As Gambling Awareness Month draws to a close, advocates are spotlighting the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in treatment methods.

According to Deborah G. Haskins, Owner and Chief Consulting Counselor of MOSAIC Consulting, less than 5% of community members actually seek gambling disorder treatment.

Approximately 100,000 people in the state have struggled with a gambling disorder, but not all seek treatment for various reasons.

For people of color, or within minority communities, those reasons are amplified by a lack of trust or belief that the system can work for them.

My mission statement is always going to say, how are we reaching the other 95%?, Haskins said. That is what I want us to think about moving forward. It may mean we have to change everything we have done so far.

Haskins is stressing the importance of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in the approach for gambling addiction treatment.

Equity may be the biggest piece of this puzzle, as Haskins illustrates.

What we want to strive for with equity is the recognition that not everybody starts out in the same place. In order to provide access and provide health wellness, we have to recognize in our mission that different community members are going to need different accommodations, she said. We think that people have equality, that everyone has the same playing field, that they can access health equity in the same way, and they have the same resources even with the Affordable Care Act, but that is not the case.

As was touched on during our look at youth gambling concerns, Adverse Childhood Experiences play a role in the world of gambling disorder and diversity.

There are 10 commonly researched ACEsand their connection with frequency of gambling. They are:

The 2018 Nevada Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data showed that odds of frequent gambling was 69% higher among those exposed to three or more ACEs compared to those who had none.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences often are accompanied by Adverse Community Environments. Those include:

These challenges create a greater threat of problem gambling, and have impacted minority communities at a greater rate.

Haskins identified more direct issues within the different communities.

Verbiage is important for the black community, according to Haskins.

She says gambling is perceived as a solution for many within the community, not a problem. So, when treatment identifies with the words problem and addiction, that can deter them from seeking help right away.

If we are branding all of our awareness as problem gambling, we are not going to reach some people. As soon as they see problem, they are going to feel it doesnt relate to them because they dont see themselves as having a problem, she said.

Haskins also pressed the living conditions, social needs, and laws and policies as other key factors standing in the way of proper treatment for people of color.

We have to, from the beginning, include the race and cultural context in approaches to treatment, Haskins said. You have to able to articulate right out the gate that you understand, even though you may not know what its like to be a black or brown person and living in these experiences, but you have empathy culturally and you are learning about it more and want to provide a safe place. If you cant do that, most of these community members are not going to access your services. We have been very shy as a discipline, professionally, to really talk about race. Many times its not an easy conversation, but guess what? By not addressing it, it sends a message to a person that we dont see that their living conditions are true and valid.

According to the 2016 Journal of Gambling Studies, almost 80% of Latinx mental wellness patients said they had gambled in the past month.

Trust was an issue for many in seeking treatment, as they would first seek help from a close family member before looking for clinical help.

Those that have immigrated to the U.S. face additional challenges as they feel greater pressure to provide for their family when earning low wages.

People who immigrate to the United States, English is one of the hardest languages to master. It can be hard for English-native speakers, let alone someone coming into a new land, Haskins said. You have to learn the language, then you have to figure out how you are going to work. You may have had a vocational identity in your native land, but now you come here and may not be able to access that same occupational status. All these things create a lot of acculturation stress that creates psychological challenges, spiritual challenges, financial challenges and family challenges.

The Native American community is exposed to the harms of problem gambling due to their connections with the industry.

While the industry has been successful for many tribes across the country, it can come at a high cost for some in regard to developing addiction.

However, most guides on treatment dont specify the best approach within their community.

Haskins highlights the lack of holistic approaches to treatment, something that the Native American community feels is important.

Even in 2022, how do the theories and techniques and prevention that we use match the cultural communities, Haskins asked. Right now if you look for a practitioner guide on diversity, equity and inclusion on problem gambling disorder, it doesnt exist.

According to Haskins, there are three crucial strategies that should be implemented in improving the services for all people.

Haskins also stressed the need for treatment services to evaluate how they operate and provide more options to their patients. Those can include:

Are you really meeting people where they are? Because if you really are meeting them, you understand that using the term problem gambling, disordered gambling is very deficient-focused. It focuses on pathology, and people feel more stigmatized, Haskins said. We have to be very sensitive. We have to use different messaging.

For more information on equity in problem gambling prevention, check out the Our Voices Matter study done in May of 2021.

If you or anyone you know needs help with their gambling-related issue, call the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-270-7117.

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Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Needed For Gambling Addiction Treatments - Play Michigan

Implementation of a penny-per-push tax on video gambling machines by suburbs that adopted it generally hasn't been as swift as last fall's rush to get it on their books before a state legislative deadline.

Many that stayed ahead of the Nov. 1 cutoff approved language with a default effective date of May 1.

But last week, Schaumburg's finance, legal and general government committee recommended deferring implementation indefinitely. If formally approved April 12, discussion of the tax would not come before the village board until a member asked for it.

Schaumburg Trustee George Dunham, who chairs the committee, said the village board's adoption of the controversial tax last fall was to ensure it would remain an option beyond the legislature's deadline.

"It wasn't necessary at the time and we have no plan to implement it, but we're able to do so if the need ever arises," he said.

Waukegan and Oak Lawn were among the municipalities that came up with the idea for the tax last year to raise more revenue. When a state bill was passed setting a deadline for others to follow suit, some did so while the decision was still theirs to make.

Under state law, 5% of gambling machine revenues go to municipalities, 25% goes to the state, and the Video Gaming Terminal Central Communication System, to which all machines in the state connect, collects 1%. The remaining 69% is split evenly between the machine operator and the establishment hosting the machine.

The push tax would provide another penny to the municipality's share every time a player presses the button on a machine.

The Support Main Street Illinois Coalition, which opposed the tax for the impact it anticipated on already struggling businesses, said implementation remains a logistical issue as well as one of individual policy.

Travis Akin, co-director of the coalition, said software doesn't yet exist to effectively charge the player an additional penny. He added that some establishments in towns already enacting the tax have made a nod toward compliance by putting out jars for players to drop coins into.

"What we're hoping happens here is that people understand the difficulty of collecting the tax and continue to defer," Akin said.

In the case of municipalities that already have approved collection of the tax, he hopes more will follow the examples of Galesburg and Pekin and repeal it.

Hanover Park began implementation of the push tax on Jan. 1 in an effort to stave off an increase in property taxes. And Mayor Rod Craig said he's not been amused by efforts to pay for what's calculated to be thousands of dollars of monthly push tax revenue with a few dollars worth of pennies in a bag.

"They're playing games with us," Craig said. "I look at it as a protest by them. We're sending them a bill with a late fee."

Craig emphasized that he doesn't interpret the businesses t to be on the hook for the tax. But while some were able to count how many pushes they had in a month, others said they couldn't despite the machines being manufactured by the same company, he said.

At one business in the village, the January amount of the push tax was calculated at about $7,500. But by the due date of Feb. 20 the village had received only about $2.14 in pennies, he said.

"My village doesn't need higher property taxes," Craig said. "The gaming people are becoming millionaires. I want to put this problem behind us. I don't want to be taking people to court. I'm not losing any sleep over their losing a few dollars."

Mount Prospect and Hoffman Estates are other villages that adopted the tax with tentative May 1 start dates. Officials said the issue will be back before those two village boards in the near future.

Wheeling also adopted the tax last fall but without any defined starting date. Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said Wheeling expects to defer any further action until after pending litigation against the tax in Waukegan and Oak Lawn has been resolved, per a recommendation from the Illinois Municipal League.

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Towns rushed to get video gambling tax on books. The rollout hasn't been as swift - Daily Herald

Kiltarlity man blew 12,000 of grandparents' money on gambling addiction Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. Linked In An icon of the Linked In logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo.

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Kiltarlity man blew 12000 of his grandparents' money to fund gambling addiction - The Press & Journal

Posted on: March 28, 2022, 08:52h.

Last updated on: March 28, 2022, 09:58h.

New Zealands gambling industry enjoyed solid results in its most recent fiscal year. An update from the countrys Department of Internal Affairs shows a 17% year-on-year increase in gambling spend across the 12-month period.

Gambling has always been a standard component of countries economies. Evidence exists that shows it was part of the entertainment ecosystem in Mesopotamia as far back as 3000 BC. Its not surprising, then, that it still enjoys a lot of interest today.

New Zealand has a lot of reasons to appreciate its gambling industry. The latest figures indicate that Kiwi gambling spend is on the rise, which means more money for the government, as well as the economy.

For fiscal year 2020-21, according to the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), gambling spend in the country was NZ$2.63 billion (US$1.81 billion). This is a 17% increase from the previous year and the highest amount from the last five years.

Much of that comes through slot machines not located in area casinos. This segment, which covers Class 4 operations at clubs and bars, rose 23% to reach $987 million (US$680.53 million).

The second-best improvement was in the TAB racing and sports betting segment. It trailed the slot segment by only 1%, collecting $385 million (US$265.45 million).

Casinos saw an increase as well. The segment reported an overall increase of 11%, as it took in $559 million (US$385.31 million). The improvement came even as New Zealands casinos were still dealing with COVID-19 restrictions and inbound travel complications.

Rounding out the list is the lottery. New Zealand lotto products captured $694 million (US$478.44 million), or 10% more than they did in the prior year.

Some, like Problem Gambling Foundation Spokesperson Andree Froude, believe this indicates a problem in the country. The average breakdown of gambling spend per adult 18 years old or older, if each gambled, is $662 (US$456.78) for the year. Thats only about what someone spends on a new cell phone and a Starbucks coffee.

The DIA, as well as a number of politicians in the country, believe that the slot machine segment needs an overhaul. There is mounting concern that their existence threatens society. This despite studies that show that, in general, those who could fall into the problem gambling segment only comprise 1% of the population.

Still, its enough for the government to allocate more time and money to review slot machines. The DIA launched a review of harmful gambling that could ultimately lead to a reduction in the legal market.

As part of its review, the government is also accepting feedback. It launched a public consultation on slot machines, giving consumers a chance to weigh in on the subject. The consultation period began on March 17 and will run through April 28.

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New Zealand Gambling Spend on the Rise, with Slot Machines Leading the... - Casino.Org News

Joseph Thaxter, born in Hingham in 1744, grew up sickly and impoverished. He worked on his parents meager farm until the age of 19, and planned to become a cooper. But then he bought a winning lottery ticket, and used his substantial proceeds to attend Harvard. After graduating in 1768 (and for a while thereafter selling lottery tickets of his own as a fundraiser for the Revolution), he landed a job as minister of the Congregational Church in Edgartown, where he served as the religious leader of the town for the next half-century.

Gambling mostly illegal has been present on the Island in one form or another for centuries. Although it was banned by the early Colonial government, historian Charles Banks found hints of card playing among the early settlers. He writes, The games of cards known [in Colonial times on the Vineyard] were Primero, Trump, Gresco, Port, Noddy, Gleek, and others not known to the present generation. Whist, or as it was formerly written, Whisk, was not developed till the next century. The card games of Pedro and Cribbage both became popular on the Island by the turn of the 20th century. We can only assume that at least some of these games involved nontrivial stakes.

There were other popular Vineyard activities, too, on which one could place a quiet bet. Thaxters lottery eventually mutated into the ubiquitous Vineyard numbers racket. Gambling was reportedly commonplace at the horse track at Girdlestone Park in Oak Bluffs. Then the slot machines arrived.

The history of slot machines is intertwined with the history of vending machines, which became popular in American cities in the 1890s, dispensing gum, candy, cigars, and soap. Penny-in-the-slot or nickel-in-the-slot machines could soon be found at county fairs, hotels, drugstores, cigar stores, saloons, and other public places. They were used not only for dispensing products, but also as fortune-telling machines, scales, music boxes, and, inevitably, games of chance. As early as 1893, some cities in Massachusetts were beginning to ban them.

In an attempt to circumvent the bans, a form of slot machine known as the trade stimulator became popular at the turn of the 20th century. Users of all ages would insert a coin into these countertop machines, pull a lever, and hope for a winning combination of numbers or symbols to align. But instead of a cash payout, winners would receive cigars, candy, or credit toward other store merchandise, and thereby it remained a legal pastime in many jurisdictions, at least until the law caught up. (One common payout was fruit-flavored gum; the cherries and other fruit-themed symbols associated with modern slot machines are vestiges of this tradition.)

For more than 50 years, one such machine was a popular showpiece at the Marthas Vineyard Museum. A miniature metal bicycle, its coin-operated wheels marked with numbers from 1 to 24, was encased in a wood-and-glass housing. Deidamia Bettencourt recalled in her 1972 booklet, Come Tour with Me, Both wheels are numbered, the slot at the side took nickels, the bell would ring, a lever would be tipped and the wheels spun around. If they both stopped on the same number, the men won a cigar. If the ladies won, they received an ice cream cone. The device was originally kept in Fred Bunkers ice cream parlor on Main Street, Edgartown. Sometime after Bunkers 1896 arrest for liquor sales, the nickel-in-the-slot machine was incorporated into bicycle-enthusiast Leroy Tiltons newspaper and ice cream store on Main Street, later run by Irving Willoughby, who in turn eventually loaned it to the museum temporarily. (Restored by the museum staff, visitors fed it nickels to watch it operate. Remarking on the regular whirring of its wheels all summer, a 1980 Intelligencer noted, Of all the exhibits in the room, it is the one that is most universally exclaimed over.)

Soon, modern slot machines arrived. I played the slots in Tiltons drugstore, served by Big Hutch, recalled John Canha of Vineyard Haven, referring to Kenneth (Big Hutch) Hutchinson, a popular clerk at H.L. Tiltons drugstore in Vineyard Haven (later Yates). I lost about $5 once, and it bothered me for weeks. It was during the Depression. It was in the mid-30s.

By the 1930s, Boston newspapers were full of stories of murder and crime associated with the growing racket of the slot machine syndicate committed by slot machine gangs in Boston and other cities. In 1933, District Attorney Warren Bishop declared a War on Slot Machines. Every nickel in a slot machine during the Depression robs a baby of a glass of milk, declared one editorialist.

Walter Renear of Vineyard Haven told this story: Fred Hall ran the general store on Cuttyhunk the summer I worked there. He was a rather profane person, and outspoken in his general dislike for mankind. There was a soft drink hangout that we young people referred to as the Night Club. At this location there was a one-armed-bandit (slot machine); there was also another at the Allen House (a Sunday lobster dinner and boarding house). Someone reported these machines to the mainland authorities, and they sent two State Police officers to the Island at night and via the Coast Guard. While one of the officers went to the Night Club, the other went to the Allen House. At the Allen House, not seeing any slot machine, the officer asked for a lobster sandwich. After Clarence Allen took the order to the kitchen, he asked the officer if he would be interested in some amusement. The officer responded in the affirmative, whereupon Clarence whipped away a closet curtain and revealed the slot machine. Clarence was actually trying to teach the officer how to operate the machine when the officer called a halt and made his arrest; poor Clarence, as you may have gathered, was not exactly of sound mind, was put in handcuffs and taken to jail in Edgartown. The next morning there was a funeral wreath on Fred Halls front door; someone thought he had called the cops. I dont know, but I think he was capable of it.

Late one evening in August 1933, the State Police raided the Marthas Vineyard Country Club in Oak Bluffs. While 150 couples danced, 18 state and local police officers (including eight Vineyard cops) seized two slot machines and roughly $500 of liquor from the club. (Prohibition would not be repealed for another three months.) The clubs manager, Marston Flanders, was arrested and a $500 bail set. (The liquor raid, which followed an undercover operation, also included two Oak Bluffs hotels and three private homes the same night.) Flanders, a Vineyard native and a dropout of Yales finance program, soon left the Island to become a resident of West Palm Beach.

But the raid did little to stem the popularity of the machines on Marthas Vineyard. Four years later, in 1937, after weeks of complaints by residents, police warned proprietors of establishments across town to remove the gambling machines from the Island or face arrest. Some did. Others were visited by plainclothesmen, evidence quietly collected, and search warrants secured. Then, in late July, the State Police staged a fresh raid across Oak Bluffs this time exclusively for the illicit machines. Led by Oak Bluffs Police Chief Gus Amaral and a contingent of State Troopers, six men were arrested at four locations, and nine slot machines seized.

Plumber Jack Hughes and his partner Sanford Webb, who held the three-year lease on the bathhouses at the town beach, were arrested. Here at the bathhouses, the most valuable machine was taken, according to news reports. An English immigrant, Hughes ran a plumbing shop for many years on Circuit Avenue. (His son, John, helped out at the bathhouses and the attached pavilion, and fondly told stories of his time there up until his passing last fall at the age of 99.) Webb, the 28-year-old son of Dukes County Registrar of Motor Vehicles Harry Webb, worked off-season as a chauffeur and auto mechanic.

At the Oak Bluffs bowling alley, Raul Maciel was arrested. An Azorean immigrant from Fayal who spent much of his life as a Vineyard Haven farmer, Maciel also ran the bowling alleys underneath Cromwells hardware store in Vineyard Haven (occupied today by the Green Room).

At the Tivoli Taxi office, Roy Danforth was arrested, and four machines seized. On Oak Bluffs Avenue, William H. Jones and William Wilson were arrested, and three machines seized. Wilson ran a store and billiard hall in Oak Bluffs, but also worked as an employee of Danforth.

There are no gambling slot machines operating in Dukes County, the Boston Globe quoted the police after the arrests, in an article subtitled, Racket Declared at End in Dukes County.

But of course, they returned. Historian Arthur Railton described the officers quarters at the Naval Air Base (today the Marthas Vineyard Airport) during World War II, which included a recreation building, complete with slot machines, off-limits, of course, to the ordinary sailor.

Horserace gambling was legalized in Massachusetts in 1934, and the state lottery was established in 1971. But outside of the states three state-sanctioned casinos, slot machines remain illegal in the Commonwealth, unless they are privately held, at least 30 years old, and not used for gambling.

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This Was Then: The gamblers - Martha's Vineyard Times