Free Republic

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia's plan to close gaming halls, from gaudy casinos crowned by extravagant neon structures to dingy dwellings containing a handful of slot machines, could turf a third of a million people out of work this week. "I've got 800 staff looking at me every day for inspiration and hope," said Clive Tilley, who runs the 70-tabled Casino de Paris, Moscow's largest gaming complex where gamblers play under vines in mock French courtyards. "With the economy as it is now, it's not the time to pound the streets looking for work. It breaks my heart." From July 1,...

The European Union urged the United States on Wednesday to open talks on scrapping a ban on foreign online gambling companies, saying it breaks global trade rules. The EU says it could seek compensation from the World Trade Organization because the 2006 ban unfairly prevents foreign Internet gambling sites from operating in the United States. But it said it would hold off launching legal action until it had the chance to negotiate a solution with President Barack Obama's administration — another sign of a thaw in EU-U.S. relations since President George W. Bush left office.

Note: The following text is a quote: Former Bank of China Managers and Their Wives Sentenced for Stealing More Than $485 Million, Laundering Money Through Las Vegas Casinos Two former managers of the Bank of China and their wives were sentenced today after their convictions on Aug. 29, 2008, by a federal jury in Las Vegas on charges of racketeering, money laundering, international transportation of stolen property as well as passport and visa fraud. U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro sentenced Xu Chaofan aka Hui Yat Fai to 25 years in prison, Xu Guojun aka Hui Kit Shun to 22...

A New York banker with roots in Ely is exploring a run against U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. John Chachas, a managing director of Lazard Ltd., has been talking to Republican Party bigwigs in Nevada and Washington who are anxious to find a credible challenger to the Senate majority leader, sources said this week. Chachas declined to comment Thursday on the speculation about his potential candidacy. Chachas' interest in the race is said to be active but preliminary: He feels strongly that Reid could be felled by a strong opponent and would be willing to step into that role if no...

What? Casinos and gambling considered threat to national security and military readiness by Univ. of Illinois economist. No way, says the business...

6 Apr 2009 MGM hires bank to sell casino assets: Source NEW YORK: MGM Mirage to advise on selling a number of its casinos, and is talking to potential buyers about the assets, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday. The No. 2 casino operator, controlled by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, is grappling with weak consumer demand and reduced access to credit. The casino firm is hoping to raise money to meet debt payments and also to fund a troubled project it jointly owns with Dubai World called CityCenter, the source said. MGM Mirage, which said in March that...

Court rules for state in American Indian land case I. – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the federal government's authority to hold land in trust for Indian tribes, a victory for Rhode Island and other states seeking to impose local laws and control over development on Indian lands. The court's ruling applies to tribes recognized by the federal government after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The U.S. government argued that the law allows it to take land into trust for tribes regardless of when they were recognized, but Justice Clarence Thomas said in his majority opinion that the...

Nothing but snake eyes for Atlantic City casinos By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer Sunday, February 22, 2009 Uncertainty has always been a way of life for casinos who make their money on games of chance. But now, Atlantic City casinos are looking at their own futures with uncertainty. Donald Trump quit as chairman of the casino company he once ran, and wants his name off the three casinos that have been synonymous with Atlantic City for decades, now that they're in bankruptcy for the third time. The Tropicana Casino and Resort will file for bankruptcy next month, and Resorts...

Gaming revenue fell for the 12th month in a row in December and last year's overall drop is historic. Some locals who depend on conventions to survive say they can't afford the war of words going on between President Obama and Mayor Oscar Goodman. Last week, both Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs canceled corporate junkets scheduled to take place here in Las Vegas. They were trying to get away from the perception that they are taking the money given to them in these bailout packages and using it to treat their CEO's to lavish vacations. The comment President Obama made...

As head of the bad check unit at the Clark County, Nev., district attorney's office, Zadrowski has seen a lot of deadbeat gamblers reported by the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip - at least 700 a month, a number that has climbed as the economy has soured. But a few of those names stick in his memory - and Ausaf Umar Siddiqui is one of them. Turns out the Clark County district attorney's office is one of a number of agencies that has been watching Palo Alto resident Siddiqui, 42, who was arrested Friday on a federal complaint of...

Casinos in Illinois have posted double-digit revenue declines since a smoking ban took effect there in January. And it's not primarily because high air fares stop tourists from visiting the Windy City in search of a game of chance. "The smoking ban is having a major impact," Tom Swoik, head of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, told The Wall Street Journal last week. Share & Save Newsvine Digg Fark Technorati reddit StumbleUpon del.icio.us Slashdot Propeller Mixx Furl Twitter MySpace Facebook Google Bookmarks Yahoo! Bookmarks Windows Live Favorites Ask MyStuff myAOL Favorites What is this? A 2005 research paper by the...

John Huddy, a veteran TV producer and print journalist, recounts the saga of Jose Manuel Vigoa Perez, who came to Sin City in the early 1980s, rose to the top of the drug trade, went to prison for several years on drug charges and, once released, embarked on a series of casino and armored-car heists. Following his June 2000 raid on the Bellagio hotel ("the crown jewel in the legendary MGM Mirage group"), he was captured by authorities and put away for good. Vigoa's rise was decidedly American, a kind of dark and violent Horatio Alger success story," Mr. Huddy...

Governor says deal curbs the growth of Indian gamblingOLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire is benefiting from more than $650,000 in campaign contributions from Indian tribes that hit the jackpot in 2005 when she killed a gambling compact potentially worth more than $140 million a year to the state. Unlike 22 other states that collect millions from revenue sharing agreements for tribal gambling, Washington gets no money from tribal casinos under the compact that Gregoire renegotiated with the Spokane Tribe. Gregoire backed away from the 2005 agreement that included revenue sharing in an attempt to keep gambling from expanding too quickly...

DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- A new gambling study shows some Massachusetts residents who have not supported casinos in the past may be changing their minds. "Fifty-seven percent of Massachusetts residents still favor two or more resort casinos in the state of Massachusetts. That number is actually four percent higher than when we last did this poll in September," said Dr. Clyde Barrow, a public policy analyst at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The study was funded by a real estate development firm with land interests in the proposed Palmer and New Bedford casino sites. The research showed that as the state's deficit...

In March, the Massachusetts House of Representatives rejected a measure that looked unstoppable when it was proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick last September: the authorization of “destination casinos” across the commonwealth. The plan was for Massachusetts to sell three 10-year licenses for at least $200 million apiece and then tax the casinos’ takings at 27 percent, raking in $400 million a year. That, went the reckoning, would cover a $1.3 billion budget shortfall. Patrick was backed by The Boston Globe, big casino corporations and some trade unions. His opponent, the House speaker, Salvatore DiMasi, warned of “human devastation” and suggested...

PALM SPRINGS – A state senator has introduced legislation that would enable a large group of Indian tribes to expand existing casinos or build large new ones without further negotiations with the state. Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, said his proposal would allow all 61 tribes that negotiated gambling agreements, or compacts, with former Gov. Gray Davis in 1999 to have up to 2,000 slots each, the number many tribes believe were promised by the deals. But the California Gambling Control Commission had voted to limit all tribes in the state to roughly 60,000 slots, based on the commission's interpretation...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois' statewide smoking ban is barely a month old and opponents already are trying to relight the debate. With the General Assembly scheduled to return to Springfield this week, various Illinois interests — casinos, bars, veterans' organizations — are preparing to push state lawmakers to carve out exceptions for various types of facilities from the sweeping ban that went into effect this year in all indoor public places. "I'm a dedicated nonsmoker, but the hair on the back of my neck stands up" at some of the freedom-of-choice issues created by the ban, said state Rep. Bill...

Southern California gamblers can try their luck this weekend on shiny new slot machines just days after voters approved four Indian gambling expansion plans. Workers have been busy installing some of the 17,000 slot machines allowed in new deals approved by voters Tuesday for four tribes. The new deals, known as amended compacts, allow the tribes to expand in exchange for sharing their slot-machine revenue with the state. The first payments, expected to be more than $40 million, are due to the state at the end of the fiscal year June 30, according to the governor's office's lowest estimates. That...

Even as Governor Deval Patrick seeks to license three resort casinos in Massachusetts, he hopes to clamp down on the explosion in Internet gambling by making it illegal for state residents to place a bet on line. He has proposed jail terms of up to two years and $25,000 fines for violators. The provision, buried deep in Patrick's bill to allow three casinos to the state, puts the governor at odds with a fellow Democrat: US Representative Barney Frank, the sponsor of federal legislation to license and regulate online gambling nationally. Yesterday Frank strongly criticized the governor's plan to punish...

MASHANTUCKET PEQUOT INDIAN RESERVATION, Connecticut: With hundreds of millions of dollars in annual profit flowing in from their gambling business, the Mashantucket Pequots first floated the idea of building a large amusement park. But those plans were shot down by neighbors already unhappy with the huge Foxwoods casino in their midst. The tribe then bought into a ferry-building business in hopes of diversifying its holdings, but that only provided a costly lesson, said Michael Thomas, the tribe's chairman. So maybe it should not be surprising that Pequot tribal leaders would choose to stick with what they know best. In doing...