Free Republic

The Supreme Court has no excuse for allowing Nevada officials to use a public health crisis to fill poker tables while emptying pews. All four gospels record that the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus cast lots for his clothing. This was not the last time government agents were more interested in gambling than God. The latest instance is in Nevada, where the state government has granted casinos special privileges denied to churches. Casinos are allowed to operate at half-capacity, while churches are restricted to a hard cap of 50 people, no matter their capacity.When this double standard was challenged in...

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Nevada can legally limit attendance at indoor religious services to just 50 persons. At the same time, casinos, restaurants, bars, theme parks, and gyms are allowed to operate at 50% capacity. This is a double standard. Why are houses of worship restricted to an arbitrary number — no matter how big the venue is or what safety precautions are in place — while business capacity is regulated based on the size of the venue? This ruling unfairly targets churches and other institutions of faith. It tells the American people that the economy is...

On July 8, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon issued his “Special Message to the Congress on Indian Affairs,” which served to herald a new era in Federal Indian policy: Indian Self-Determination.In his message, President Nixon applauded the adaptability and creativity of Native Americans in the face of overwhelming obstacles, praising their enormous contributions to our Nation through art, culture, resilience, and spirit, and embracing strong Tribal governments and respecting Tribal decision-making.  Building on this momentum, Congress passed and President Ford signed into law the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) of 1975, which recognized the primacy of the...

After 78 days of historic quiet, cards will be cut, dice will roll and jackpots can jingle again 12:01 a.m. Thursday at casinos in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada. There will be big splashes — even amid ongoing protests over the death of a man in police custody in Minnesota — and big hopes for recovery from an unprecedented and expensive shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - A Florida man is charged with providing material support to the Islamic State extremist group, including attempting to buy multiple weapons and scouting potential targets for an attack in the Tampa Bay area, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. A criminal complaint charges Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, with attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The charge carries a potential 20-year prison term. **SNIP** According to the affidavit, Al-Azhari scouted a number of targets in the Tampa Bay region, including beaches, parks and even the Tampa FBI field...

Casinos in Las Vegas and other Nevada cities can reopen next Thursday for the first time since the coronavirus forced the gaming industry to shut down more than two months ago, Gov. Steve Sisolak says. The state plans to revive its gaming industry nearly a week after it starts Phase 2 of its reopening this Friday. "We continue to see a consistent and sustainable downward trajectory of percentage of positive COVID-19 cases and a decrease in the trend of COVID-19 hospitalizations," Sisolak said Tuesday night. Casinos are forming plans that they hope will entice customers to return. As Nevada Public...

Spotlight 29, Tortoise Rock and the Morongo casinos this week will become the first to reopen in the Coachella Valley. Others will join next week, including the Pechanga Resort Casino near Temecula, Soboba Casino near San Jacinto and Cahuilla Casino Hotel near Anza. The move comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom last week sent tribal leaders a letter, urging them to align their reopening plans with local and state orders. But as sovereign nations, tribal groups are not required to follow the guidance. The resorts had voluntarily shut their doors in March. Since then, Riverside County’s coronavirus outbreak has grown to...

May 20, 2020, 7:21 p.m. EST: BREAKING: The Minnesota Catholic Conference and The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in Minnesota sent Governor Tim Walz separate letters today announcing that they will resume worship services on May 26 despite Governor Walz’s current COVID-19 executive order which allows retailers to operate at 50 percent capacity but caps church worship services at ten people. Governor Walz’s latest re-opening order allows the Mall of America to open its doors to those seeking retail therapy but disallows churches from providing spiritual healing to their congregations. At the same time, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sent Governor...

Las Vegas casinos owners may have just five months to stay afloat as they burn through up to $14.4million each a day following orders to close down operations for a month. On Tuesday March 17 Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak ordered a statewide closure of all nonessential businesses for 30 days, including casinos, bars and restaurants, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, turning Sin City into a ghost town. Casinos are now facing the dilemma of keeping workers employed, while grappling with zero income. Some operators have as little as five months before they run out of money, according to Macquarie...

Casinos have joined the airline industry in asking Congress for emergency financial help as Las Vegas and other tourist destinations take a severe financial hit from the coronavirus outbreak. The requested aid for the casino companies, raised by lobbyists in recent days, could come in the form of a comprehensive bailout package, similar to what lawmakers may provide to airlines, cruise companies and the hospitality industry. Other possibilities include direct cash payments, deferred taxes, or special bankruptcy protections, said two people with knowledge of the conversations, who were not authorized to speak publicly. One person said that on a strategy...

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) — Gov. Phil Murphy says all New Jersey bars, restaurants, movie theaters and casinos will close at 8 p.m. Monday amid the coronavirus outbreak. Murphy made the announcement Monday morning along with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. The same restrictions apply to those two states. The governors said essential businesses like supermarkets and gas stations will be able to stay open after 8 p.m., though all non-essential businesses must close.

All Atlantic City casinos will close until further notice effective 8:00 tonight. The governors of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut have all agreed to a set of restrictions designed to halt the spread of COVID-19. Those restrictions include a ban on gatherings of 50 people or more and all bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters, and casinos will close tonight until further notice. "We want everybody to be home, not out," Murphy said

Exclusive: US authorities made inquiries even before 2016 election campaign into Trump property dealings in former Soviet Union They wanted to build the Las Vegas of the Baltics. In 2010, a small group of businessmen including a wealthy Russian supporter of Vladimir Putin began working on plans to build a glitzy hotel and entertainment complex with Donald Trump in Riga, the capital of Latvia. {snip} The Latvian talks began without fanfare. David Orowitz, TrumpÂ’s senior vice-president for acquisitions and development, discreetly visited Latvia in September 2010 to explore locations, according to one source. The island of Zakusala, in RigaÂ’s Daugava...

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Churchill Downs Inc. has reached an agreement to purchase Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky for $46 million, giving the company an additional foothold in a heavily populated area to expand its casino operations. The deal, which came together quickly over the past four weeks, was reached as Churchill was mounting a challenge to Turfway Park by submitting a dates application for the track’s winter dates. Under that proposal, Churchill had said that it would build an entirely new track and casino in the northern Kentucky-Cincinnati metro area if it was awarded the dates. If accepted by the...

Music blared as more than a thousand people formed a long, giddy line along the front of a once-abandoned Kmart. Two racehorses paced the parking lot. A man in fox-hunting garb blew a bugle call. Cheers went up, dignitaries urged the crowd to “have some fun!” and the new Rosie’s Gaming Emporium threw open its doors. “Virginia is boring,” Annie Randolph, 64, a retired health-care worker shouted as she jockeyed to get inside. She had arrived more than two hours early — thrilled, she said, to finally have fun gambling without traveling to Maryland or Las Vegas. “Keeps me from...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Federal and local law enforcement agencies raided a series of car lots and homes in connection with a money laundering investigation involving a convicted Palestinian terrorist. Family members of the suspect had previously been tied to a network of underground casinos, officials say. On Thursday morning, federal agents along with investigators with the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office carried out a series of raids at a home in a luxurious neighborhood and at two car lots owned by George Z. Rafidi.

As Twitchy reported, both The Washington Post and The New York Times have issued corrections, indicating that Nathan Phillips did not serve in Vietnam as he claimed. When the first, edited clip of the Covington Catholic High School boys emerged, a lot of reporters relied on the reporting of Indian Country Today for their background on Phillips, and that’s likely where most news sources got the idea that Phillips was a Vietnam combat veteran. Now, Indian Country Today is going all the way back to 2008 to correct an article in which Phillips described how he was spit on when...

FBI agents raided the home of Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam just before 8 a.m. Monday morning, the agency confirmed to NJ Advance Media. At least a dozen agents were seen going in and out of the Ohio Avenue home Monday morning, removing more than 10 boxes. An FBI spokeswoman at the scene said both FBI and IRS agents were involved in the search of home. “We can confirm that our agents were executing search warrant at the home of Mayor Frank Gilliam,” said Doreen Holder, a public affairs specialist with the FBI’s Newark office, declining to comment on the...

Delaware will become the first new state to offer sports betting following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the federal ban on sports gambling, Governor John Carney announced. The betting will begin Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. at all three casinos in the state. Betting will include single game and championship wagering on professional baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer, golf and auto-racing. The Supreme Court made the decision May 14.

SOUTH MISSISSIPPI (WLOX) - South Mississippi's casinos are already breaking revenue records before the peak summer season even begins. The Mississippi Department of Revenue released figures of last month's gaming gross revenue, boasting a total of $108.5 million dollars to Coast casinos in April. This marks a record-breaking 9 percent increase from April 2017, when Coast Casinos brought in $99 million. The second highest April earnings took place in 2007, when there was a large resurgence in business and revenue following Hurricane Katrina. That year, Coast casinos reported a revenue of $107 million.