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Internal Affairs Minister George Hawkins indicated in Parliament yesterday that further changes would not be made to the Gambling Bill, despite the ruling council's concerns. Those concerns were delivered to the party caucus meeting yesterday by president Mike Williams. Last night amendments to the bill were passed allowing the Lotteries Commission to run internet gambling, letting poker machines accept notes up to $20, and requiring consultation with the gaming industry on a proposed problem gambling levy. National MP Nick Smith said the bill "may as well be called the state-sponsored gambling bill". New Zealand First MP Peter Brown said allowing internet gambling would damage families. "It will split families and turn the moderately wealthy into the poor." The Council of Christian Social Services said earlier that it was "devastated" United Future was supporting the bill and the amendments, particularly the one allowing internet gambling. Spokesman Major Campbell Roberts said the package of changes Labour and United Future were trying to sneak through would "tear families apart". On Monday, Green MP Sue Bradford released to the Herald a Labour Party council memo outlining its concerns at aspects of the bill being imposed on the Government by United Future "through a series of anti-family amendments". The council opposed: * The gambling industry's involvement in setting how much money should be levied for the funding of problem gambling services. * Internet gambling. * The ability of poker machines to accept banknotes. It urged the Government instead to advance the bill "in a form that minimizes gambling-related harm, maximizes transparency and protects the interests of those on low incomes". Mr Williams told the Herald yesterday that it seemed to him too late now to change the bill, noting that Labour led a minority Government that had to do deals to "get things through". When it was put to him that the Government had just tabled a 65-page amendment package, he maintained it was too late to change anything. "I did what I was asked to do - I took the concerns of the consensus in the council to the caucus. What happens after that is, frankly, their business." Asked if he was concerned about the issue, he said he trusted the party's parliamentary wing. The gambling bill: Establishes a Gambling Commission to regulate the industry with the Department of Internal Affairs. Bans new casinos and expansion of existing ones, and gives councils some control over the licensing and location of gambling venues. Retains locally based distribution of non-casino poker machine profits. Restricts the number of machines on a site to nine - half the present limit - if operators were licensed on or after October 18, 2001. Funds problem gambling services through a levy on operators.
The 12 gambling halls won $475 million in August, an 11.2 percent increase over the same month last. But without the Borgata, which opened in July, revenue at the other casinos fell 1.2 percent. Still, the results were an improvement over July, usually a strong month, when revenues grew only 4.4 percent, and without Borgata fell 6.8 percent. Borgata had a strong showing. Its $53 million in revenues put it second behind Bally's, which reported $67.4 million. And Borgata's $20.1 million table win put it at the top for the city. Many analysts say Borgata has been helping to bring table players back to Atlantic City at a time when the resort has been very focused on slot customers. The Showboat, helped by a hotel expansion that opened in May, reported the largest revenue increase of 5.5 percent. Big losers included two of the three Trump casinos, Hilton and Harrah's. Geographically, Borgata, which is located in the Marina District, hurt nearby Trump Marina and Harrah's, while several of the Boardwalk casinos faired better in August than July. Trump Marina, which has been hampered by poor access as it waits for a new ramp connecting it to Borgata, also played unlucky at the tables. Its revenue declined the most. Michael Pollock, publisher of the Gaming Industry Observer, said it is too soon to see trends in the numbers, he was encouraged by the August results. Compared to July, revenues rose 10 percent. "I'm always leery of putting too much emphasis on one month," he said. "But it's a 10 percent improvement over July. I think that clearly the market is growing." But Mark Brown, chief operating officer for Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, said the figures show Borgata is stealing market share, because six casinos -- including Trump Marina and Trump Taj Mahal -- reported revenue declines, and Trump Plaza was essentially flat. "They're not growing the market," Brown said. "They just took money."
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A team of Oneida officials last week toured a 60-acre site near Markham, Ill., about 20 miles south of Chicago, said Oneida spokesman Mark Emery. Markham Mayor David Webb told The Post-Standard of Syracuse, that the tribe has been holding negotiations with a Chicago investor for at least several months. The tribe is interested in building a casino, hotel and auditorium in Markham, a city of about 12,000, he said. Emery said he had no other details of the negotiations, which were first reported by the Chicago Tribune. An Oneida nation casino would be the first one established by Indians in Illinois. The state has nine river-based gambling boats. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last year rejected efforts by the state legislature to open new gambling venues to help offset the state's budget deficit. The Illinois' governor's office had no details on the Oneida plan, a spokeswoman said. The Oneidas presently run Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona, about 30 miles east of Syracuse. Since it opened 10 years ago, it has become a huge success. It draws more than three million visitors annually and generated a $70 million profit for the 900-member tribe. The Oneidas also have been interested in building one in the Catskills. In 2001, the tribe began negotiations to open casinos in Acapulco and Mazatlan if the Mexican congress ever legalizes gambling there. In the past, Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter has been critical of other tribes from outside New York seeking to open casinos here. Specifically, the Oneida Nation has been trying to stop Wisconsin tribes with New York roots from building casinos in the Catskills.
Some of the submissions claimed that the bill was draconian, would result in the loss of thousands of jobs, put investments worth billions of rand in jeopardy and threaten black economic empowerment ventures. Others claimed that the bill could be much tougher on the gambling industry to help addicted gamblers, who brought misery to thousands of families throughout the country by getting hopelessly into debt. A common complaint was, that despite claims by the department of trade and industry that it had consulted widely when drafting the bill - the one before the committee is the 11th version - this had not happened and the "unintended consequences" of the proposed law would be immense. One academic even warned that, in their haste to pass a law on a controversial issue that could win the government votes in the upcoming election, the department and parliament risked "substantial political embarrassment" if they allowed the bill to go through in its current form. The bill, among other things, aims to limit the availability of credit in or near casinos or betting halls, restrict advertising, force casinos to close for at least six hours a day and make gambling premises provide counselling and other help to problem gamblers. In written submissions, the horse racing industry complained that the limit on credit could upset its long-standing "telebet" systems and the casinos claimed the restricted hours would discriminate against shift workers while limits on advertising and special accommodation offers at casinos could affect thousands of jobs and the viability of casino complexes. Black entrepreneurs complained that the planned curbs on the roll-out of limited payout machines would badly affect many black-owned companies that had invested heavily in infrastructure and resented the fact that the department had queried the legitimacy or long-term viability of their investments in the industry. The submissions contained vastly different estimates on how bad the gambling problem in South Africa was, with the Casino Association of SA claiming its members' business had shown "little real growth" since 1996. Anti-gambling activists, however, claimed that it was very serious and that the lottery was, in fact, the fastest growing part of the sector and all the curbs, especially on lavish advertising, should apply to it as well. Many submissions said that the bill, if passed into law, could be contested in court on constitutional grounds and lead to expensive litigation for all concerned. The hearings continue today and Alec Erwin, the trade and industry minister, is due to respond to the submissions on Monday.
Today was the deadline for applications to operate the casino, which was authorized by the legislature in April after residents of the two towns lobbied for a decade to allow such a site in their economically depressed community. Craig Adolph, a former State Police sergeant from Auburn, is among the principal investors of Tranchant Indiana LLC, one of the groups who applied to operate the venue. Adolph has been involved in bringing the independent movie company Mike the Pike Films to Orange County, where the company plans to begin shooting a feature film by the end of this year. Bird is a member of a group of investors that submitted an application today under the name Orange County Development LLC. Bird, who grew up in French Lick and still owns a house there, has said he'll donate his share of the gambling profits to charities in Orange County. Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts submitted its application last week. It would be the company's sixth casino. Other applicants for the Orange County permit are the Bally's company of Las Vegas and Jacobs Entertainment of Black Hawk, Colorado. Bally's operates casinos in Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ontario, Nova Scotia, South Africa, Uruguay and Australia. Jacobs operates the Lodge and the Gilpin Hotel in Black Hawk, The Gold Dust West in Reno, Nevada, seven truck plaza video-gaming facilities in Louisiana, and a race track and four pari-mutuel betting sites in Virginia. The only hurdle left to open the place is a November 4 referendum, in which a majority of voters must favor legalized gambling in Orange County. The vote has pitted those who lobbied against a group of anti-gambling activists, who say a casino in their town would cause a rise in crime and bankruptcies.
Top lawmakers on the Senate Banking and Finance Committee said they supported a bill that would require credit-card companies and payment services such as PayPal to block money transfers to Internet gambling sites. A similar bill was approved by a House of Representatives committee last week. Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby said that "This legislation represents a measured and appropriate response to a demonstrated social evil that grows worse every day." Maryland Senator Paul Sarbanes, the committee's top Democrat, said on Tuesday he also supported the bill. Christiansen Capital Advisors, which tracks the gambling industry, estimates online gambling sites will take in roughly $4bn this year, with half of this from US residents. Shelby and other critics say online gambling sites flout local regulations and provide access to children and adults struggling with gambling addiction. As nearly all of the industry's 1,800 Web sites are based offshore, an outright ban would do little good. Instead, lawmakers seek to prevent gamblers from paying their debts. Many credit-card issuers, stung by disputed charges, have voluntarily blocked online gambling transactions. Card firms now block roughly four out of five online gambling payments, said Richard Fischer, a lawyer who advises the industry. But one former state regulator said Kyl's approach would encourage gamblers to use forms of payment that could not be blocked as easily. Governments would be better off regulating the industry as the United Kingdom has done, said Frank Catania, a former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. "It is my hope that members of this committee will recognise that legalisation and strict regulation, rather than prohibition, could achieve important policy goals," said Catania, now a gambling-industry consultant. A bill introduced last week in the House would set up a commission to figure out how best to regulate the industry. Congress has tried to outlaw Internet gambling for years, but no bill has passed both chambers due to procedural issues and infighting among casinos, dog tracks and horse tracks.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said Thursday he is willing to talk to gambling lobbyists but pointedly noted that the industry's support is not essential to his bill's passage. "One way or another, we're going to get a bill," he said. "I hope (the casinos) can see their way clear to help us out." the Indian gambling industry, unlike mainstream casinos, generally supports Kyl's bill which passed the Senate Banking Committee by a 19-0 vote on July 31. The Kyl bill would allow tribal reservations to maintain technological links for bingo and other forms of gambling. But the bill also would prevent states from legalizing online wagering within their borders. This restriction would violate states' rights, said Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association. "This can easily be fixed by including language which would say gambling must be legal in states where the (Internet) gambling transmission is coming from," Fahrenkopf said. So far, no state has legalized Internet gambling. But online wagering has mushroomed from $445 million in bets six years ago to projected wagers of $4.2 billion this year on more than 1,800 offshore Web sites. Fahrenkopf said states, not the federal government, should decide if they want to legalize Internet gambling. States retain that option in an Internet gambling bill that the House passed 319-104 on June 10. Both the House bill and the Senate bill would prevent the use of credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers for online wagering. Fahrenkopf said the industry could support an earlier version of the Kyl bill, which mirrored the legislation passed by the House. But after the Department of Justice complained that the House bill would expand Internet gambling, the Senate Banking Committee changed Kyl's bill to prohibit states from legalizing online wagering. Fahrenkopf said the Justice Department misread the House bill and overreacted. After meeting with Kyl on June 23, Fahrenkopf sent a letter to the senator on Sept. 9 laying out the industry's objections to the Senate bill. The primary objection is the absence of a provision in the House bill that would preserve a state's option to legalize Internet gambling. Fahrenkopf said he hopes to follow up with a meeting next week with Kyl's staff. "I'm not optimistic, but I'm not pessimistic," Fahrenkopf said. "If you go back and look at the original bill, we would not oppose that legislation." But Kyl acknowledged that if he gives the casinos what they want, he could lose the support of tribal gaming interests. "It's a problem, and frankly, I thought that we were working with the casinos and then it appears that maybe they were not willing to work with us, " Kyl said. "So you know, it may be necessary to choose (between tribal gambling interests and mainstream casinos)."
Miller eventually resigned from the Riverbend Regional Authority in Muscatine, disturbed by the socio-economic problems he saw. He was a featured speaker at a rally organized by "Citizens Voting No on Oct. 7," which is working to defeat the gambling referendum here.Nearly 200 people showed up at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center to pick up red-and-white "Boat No" signs and pink ribbons, and to hear gambling foes like Miller explain why they believe allowing Isle of Capri's proposed $80 million casino on a man-made lake and hotel near the Lost Island Adventure Park would bring more cost and problems than benefits. Miller, a past president of the Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and past director of the Muscatine Development Corp., said small businesses suffered when people began spending their money at casinos instead of on other goods and services. Restaurants and hotels were especially hard hit. Meanwhile, he said, gambling would boost the rates of divorce, bankruptcy, suicide and crime. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report in 1999 said when gambling comes to an area it creates 1.9 percent more pathological gamblers and 3 to 4 percent more problem gamblers, which equates to nearly 4,400 people in Black Hawk County. Jay Nardini, spokesman of Citizens Voting No, said the tax relief and economic benefits touted by gambling supporters are hollow promises. "They will say, they will do, they will promise anything to get their hooks into our local economy," he said. "Only a pittance (of the profit) will stay here for us, while the rest is in a pipeline to Biloxi, Miss.," home of Isle of Capri's headquarters. "The gambling isn't going to bring you much in the way of tax relief," he added, noting state law only allocates 1 percent of the adjusted net revenues - the amount lost at the casino --- to be split by the host city and the county. Members of the Black Hawk County Gaming Association, promoting the Oct. 7 referendum, have said Isle of Capri will pay an additional 5.75 percent of its adjusted net revenues to the association, which will distribute it for property tax relief, projects and charities throughout the county. Even if that's true, Nardini said, the $6 million to $8 million in annual revenue being projected by gambling proponents is inflated. And he noted the "money that goes into the belly of that boat is not subject to state sales tax," which will rob the local governments of local option sales tax revenue used for street repairs and school construction. "Taxes have never gone down in a county where there's gambling," he said. "Gambling tax is the crack cocaine of government. They will take that money and spend it five times over. Then they'll look to add more gambling."
In his remarks to the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, state Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. pointed to a research study that shows the economic costs of gambling far outweigh the benefits. The report by Earl Grinols, an economics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, found that casino-style gambling costs a state's economy $219 per adult annually. That compares to $46 per adult in benefits - including new jobs, tax revenue, profits back to the gambling operator and other economic activity. Curran, who led a 1995 study that concluded casino-style gambling would be bad for Maryland, said that legislators need to look beyond the tax revenues that gambling promoters say slots would generate for the state treasury. Another speaker, William N. Thompson, a professor of public administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said his research suggests that social costs in Maryland, if slots are introduced, could range between $571 million and $674 million a year. Those estimates are based on the state's population size and what it costs society, on average, for each new problem gambler and pathological gambler, he said. John Warren Kindt, a professor of business administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said that every $1 in tax revenue generated through money spent on gambling is more than offset by $3 in social costs. "This is not a close call," said Kindt, who also spoke at the conference. "Any economist will tell you the only people who are going to get rich out of this are the gambling companies and the people they cut in on it." Gambling industry officials have challenged studies done by Grinols, Kindt and Thompson, saying that they grossly overestimate the social costs and give an inaccurate picture of the impact of their business. The social cost of gambling was the main theme of the two-day national anti-gambling conference, which ended yesterday. Those who attended heard from a panel of lawyers about a growing number of lawsuits being brought against gambling companies. Similar to lawsuits against tobacco companies, the suits argue that gambling companies are knowingly selling a dangerous product. Other panels dealt with Internet gambling, compulsive gambling, casinos run by Indian tribes and effective political strategies to block casino-style gambling from coming into a state. Maryland was selected as the site for this year's conference because it is seen as a key battleground to stop the spread of gambling nationally, said the Rev. Thomas A. Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. He said he expects a tough fight next year as the General Assembly again takes up the contentious issue of legalizing slot machines at horse racing tracks or other sites.
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