After a carjacking in the Taj Majal casino parking garage, the Atlantic City mayor demands an increase in private security. Security issues have been a major problem in Atlantic City over the years due to the increase in the gambling presence.
After a carjacking in the Taj Majal casino parking garage, the Atlantic City mayor demands an increase in private security. Security issues have been a major problem in Atlantic City over the years due to the increase in the gambling presence.
The Illinois Lottery announced a new marketing campaign ad that focuses around “optimism.” The $3.5 million campaign sloganing ‘Anything is possible’ will run across major networks, billboards, and newspapers alike throughout the state, luring citizens to blow their savings on lottery games literally mathematically rigged for them to lose.
The U.S Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is cracking down on players hiding behind Native American sovereign immunity. These players are abusing the power to run casinos in states where gambling is otherwise illegal, and also distributing payday loans in illegal areas.
The recent fiscal downturn forced cash-strapped, tax-averse state lawmakers to seek unconventional revenue- raising alternatives, for additional revenue-raising opportunities outside of the income, sales and property taxes that form the backbone of most state tax systems. One of the most popular alternatives to those major revenue sources is state-sponsored gambling. As this policy brief points out, however, gambling revenues are rarely as lucrative, or as long-lasting, as supporters claim.
Despite billions of dollars that have been spent and lost in Atlantic City, crime and poverty are sinking the city down further. The tragic situation underscores the truth that commercialized gambling merely redistributes wealth from ordinary Americans to the powerful.
Failed revitalization in Atlantic City, and the continued culture of crime
There is no grassroots movement anywhere in America calling for regional casinos. The push is completely driven by very powerful corporate gambling interests that are dominating state legislatures across the U.S. This New York Times story highlights just one example of how this highly corrupt process works to force casinos into communities. It focus on the lobbying practices of Genting in New York State, a massive corporate gambling power based overseas.
Despite the statewide ban on indoor smoking, state government in Kansas exempted casinos. Research indicates that a smoking ban would drive thousands of patrons away from Kansas casinos.
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.
State governments presumably believe that the ‘gamble responsibly’ message is evidence of their concern about gambling problems, and will assist people who gamble to do so in a ‘responsible’ manner. This message seems to be no more than a façade however, providing a false sense of caring, as persuasively explained in this article by Charles Livingstone.
With more than 500 Oklahoma school districts vying for their cut of the funds and only 35 percent of gross proceeds going to education, the lottery pie gets sliced hundreds of different times before an individual school district sees its portion. The result: The amount in lottery funds sent to individual school districts in Oklahoma has been relatively small. Read below to learn more how the Oklahoma Lottery has (not surprisingly) failed to fund education in the way proponents had promised citizens.