This article from the Tampa Tribune tells the story of Rhoda Toth, whose life was transformed by winning a $13 million lottery jackpot. She went from meeting Donald Trump and building a $92,000 swimming pool for herself to serving time in federal prison and living in a mobile home. Looking back at the day she won the lottery, Toth recalls: “It was my worst day.”
Jackpot Winners Just as Likely to Go Bust
This article from Yahoo! Finance explores the fact that for financially troubled consumers, the size of a lottery jackpot may not matter: Five years out, people who win $150,000 are just as likely to declare bankruptcy as those who win less than $10,000.
Predatory Gambling Bigger Threat Than Performance Enhancing Drugs
This article from The Australian outlines how predatory gambling is a greater threat to the integrity of sports than performance-enhancing drugs.
Alabama Bribery Scandal Centers on Gambling Operators
In October of 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted eleven people in Alabama accused of involvement in a gambling vote-buying scandal. The Justice Department unveiled an indictment accusing the owners of two of Alabama’s largest casinos, four state senators and several lobbyists of a scheme to buy and sell votes in the Legislature. One defendant has pleaded guilty to offering a senator $2 million to vote for a bill to keep the state’s bingo machines operating. Below is a press release from the Justice Department, a copy of the indictment and a list of those indicted.
U.S. DOJ Press Release Alabama Gambling Vote Buying
Casinos Hide Behind Public Relations Campaigns to Deflect Attention from the Addicts They Create and Exploit
Predatory gambling interests attempt to promote the perception they are concerned about the addicts they create and exploit for profit but the reality is they don’t have a business without them. Casinos commonly use tactics like those in the story below which describes the Seminole Tribe’s payment to “fight compulsive gambling.” Florida state government itself stands to collect an average of $240 million a year over five years from the casino, most of which will be coming from addicted citizens. How much did the casino tribe donate to help its victims? $1.75 million. Yet another reason why the most predatory business in the country is so profitable.
Instant Racing Machines Are Just Slots By Another Name
To circumvent existing state gambling laws, gambling interests are pushing “Instant Racing Machines” or what are also called “Historic Racing Machines.” They are simply just slots by another name. The short brief below includes an excerpt from a recent Wyoming Supreme Court decision opposing the machines.
How Vegas Security Drives Surveillance Tech Everywhere
Popular Mechanics examines how the predatory gambling trade employs the most effective and invasive surveillance technology in the world.
Portrait of Poverty in Oregon
Native Americans in Oregon have the state’s highest overall poverty rate, 29.4 percent. The report concludes that “given this high rate of poverty, it’s obvious that constructing gambling casinos hasn’t worked in bringing Oregon’s 40,700 Native Americans out of poverty.”
Gary Braden, executive director of the Native American Rehabilitation Association NW Inc. in Portland, said “The idea that the casinos have made all Native Americans rich is a myth.” The unemployment rate among members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation remains about 20 percent despite the tribe’s Wildhorse Casino, said Debra Crosswell, the tribal public affairs manager.
Hoffman v. Sandia Resort & Casino, NM
On October 6, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the New Mexico Court of Appeals decision in Hoffman v. Sandia Resort & Casino. The case involves a New Mexico man who reportedly won $1.6 million dollars at one of the casino’s slot machines. However, the Sandia Pueblo tribe, which owns the casino, informed Hoffman that the payout would not be made because the slot machine had malfunctioned. Arguing before courts in New Mexico, the tribe claimed Hoffman had no legal recourse because of the tribe’s sovereign immunity. Courts in New Mexico supported the tribe’s position and concluded that tribal immunity can only be waived “for purposes of providing a remedy to casino patrons who suffer physical injury to their persons or property.” These decisions seem to suggest that there is no legal remedy for casino patrons who have suffered financial injury because of wrongdoing at tribal casinos.
Please read the opinion of the New Mexico Court of Appeals below.
The Secrets of a Slot Machine
Dennis Bailey, the former Executive Director of Maine’s Casinos No!, wrote the excellent piece below which details how slot machines are heavily weighted in the casino’s favor.