All posts tagged: Debt Collection and Lending Practices

Government’s Predatory Gambling Program Surpasses the Predatory Subprime Lending Business

Prior to the massive crash of the highly-predatory subprime lending business which nearly every state Attorney General sued for their predatory practices, former Harrah’s top executive Rich Mirman boasted to Wall Street Journal reporter Christina Binkley: “I worked in the subprime lending industry. At least casinos are open about what they do.”

The infamous subprime lender Countrywide Mortgage made a lot of money and employed a lot of people by selling bad loans to citizens who could never afford to pay them back. Countrywide’s “success” was phony prosperity and it caused major damage to our economy which all of us are still paying for today. Presently, our state governments across the U.S. are full partners with corporate gambling operators whose business practices go far beyond failed subprime lenders like Countrywide.

CkirbyGovernment’s Predatory Gambling Program Surpasses the Predatory Subprime Lending Business
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A Nation in Debt: How We Killed Thrift, Enthroned Loan Sharks and Undermined American Prosperity

This essay written by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead appeared in the July/August 2008 issue of The American Interest. It is excerpted and adapted from For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture, a report released in May 2008 by the Commission on Thrift. Whitehead exposes how anti-thrift institutions like state lotteries, casinos, payday lenders and credit card companies hinder the average American’s ability to save their earnings and get ahead financially. These institutions have been the main contributors to the growing amount of consumer debt accumulated in recent decades. Whitehead calls on the public to reform these institutions and to advocate for a culture based on saving and wealth-building.

Whitehead – A Nation in Debt

LesA Nation in Debt: How We Killed Thrift, Enthroned Loan Sharks and Undermined American Prosperity
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Casinos don’t mess around when it comes to collecting debts

Commercialized gambling is based on getting people to lose far more than they can afford. One common tactic is to get citizens to chase their losses. Casinos like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun often lend gamblers money interest-free because they know the players will inevitably gamble away all the money back to the casino. Then the casinos demand to be paid back for the money they lent! It’s a state-sanctioned business practice, often ensnaring people’s homes.. These two articles from WPRI (RI) and The Boston Globe describe the situation.

2014 CT casinos employ hardball tactic to collect debts

2014 CT casinos place liens on RI homes to recover debt

LesCasinos don’t mess around when it comes to collecting debts
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The issue of dischargeability of gambling debt grows in severity

With the increasing pervasiveness of government-sponsored gambling, the issue of the dischargeability of gambling debt has become very significant. The attached report by two U.S. Trustees of Indiana highlights several major problems including how one research group suggests that about 10 percent of bankruptcy filings are linked to gambling losses, 20 percent or more of compulsive gamblers are forced to file bankruptcy because of their losses, and upwards of 90 percent of compulsive gamblers use their credit cards to gamble.

GAMBLING ON DISCHARGEABILITY: Casino debt collection practices

LesThe issue of dischargeability of gambling debt grows in severity
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The Casino Practice of Lending Money to Citizens Who Then Gamble It All Away

The casino business model is based on patrons who “chase” their losses which means people who continue gambling to try to get back the money they have already lost to the casino. Borrowing money to gamble is one of the most glaring warning signs of problem gambling. One way casinos exploit the mind set of those who chase their losses is by loaning money to gamblers who do not have the cash on hand to continue gambling at the casino. Below is an example of the predatory casinos loan process taken from the Harrah’s Metropolis (IL) Casino website on May 30, 2012.

Harrah’s Casino Credit Info  

LesThe Casino Practice of Lending Money to Citizens Who Then Gamble It All Away
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Public Agency Acts as Casino Debt Collector in Nevada

The taxpayers of Nevada are funding efforts to collect debts for the state’s casino industry. According to the Las Vegas Sun, this is the only state in the country where this occurs. Casinos make a practice of giving out loans, or “markers,” to problem gamblers and those they know have been gambling for hours on end. Instead of hiring private debt collection firms like all other businesses, the casinos charge the taxpayers of Nevada to do this and put the Clark County Assistant District Attorneys to work on their behalf. This allows the predatory gambling industry to keep making huge profits.

Why Does District Attorney Act as Bill Collector for Casinos?

CkirbyPublic Agency Acts as Casino Debt Collector in Nevada
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The Ugly World of Casino Debt Collection

Casinos often give out loans (or “markers” as they are known) to players in need of cash. To keep them coming back, casinos generally charge an interest rate of 0% and give players several months to repay loans that can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when players can’t pay the loans back, casinos send a demand letter and can refer the case to the local District Attorney’s office bad check unit which prosecutes such crimes. Sometimes casinos file a civil suit as well. In addition, casinos (like other debt collection agencies) do not have to abide by regulations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Stop Predatory Gambling Memo – Casinos and Debt Collection

CkirbyThe Ugly World of Casino Debt Collection
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Thrift or Debt: Which Direction is Right for Texas?

The Texas Thrift Coalition is a nonpartisan, volunteer group of leaders and organizations whose goal is to promote thrift and encourage savings as a path to family prosperity in Texas. In 2011, the group published Thrift or Debt: Which Direction is Right for Texas? which found: Texas families face a savings crisis; anti-thrift institutions are trapping Texas families in debt; Texans see a danger in the rise of the anti-thrifts; Texans oppose the expansion of state-sponsored gambling; and Texans want to save more. The coalition issued the following recommendations:

To Oppose Debt

  • close payday lenders’ “lucrative loophole”
  • protect military families from payday lenders
  • vote “no” on casino gambling


To Support Thrift

  • to create a Texas “Savings Ticket”
  • promote alternatives to payday lenders
  • bring back national thrift week

Thrift or Debt – An Appeal to the Texas Legislature From the Texas Thrift Coalition

CkirbyThrift or Debt: Which Direction is Right for Texas?
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