Focus | Page 17 | Stop Predatory Gambling

The issue of dischargeability of gambling debt grows in severity

Litigation, Lotteries, Lowering the Standard of Living for Ordinary Citizens, Online Gambling, Regional Casinos, Sports Betting, Studies

With the increasing pervasiveness of government-sponsored gambling, the issue of the dischargeability of gambling debt has become very significant. The attached report by two U.S. Trustees of Indiana highlights several major problems including how one research group suggests that about 10 percent of bankruptcy filings are linked to gambling losses, 20 percent or more of compulsive gamblers are forced to file bankruptcy because of their losses, and upwards of 90 percent of compulsive gamblers use their credit cards to gamble.

GAMBLING ON DISCHARGEABILITY: Casino debt collection practices

The libertarian argument against government-sponsored casinos

Essays, How Gambling Impacts Democratic Values, Lotteries, Online Gambling, Regional Casinos, Sports Betting

“When the state joins forces with private industry in order to sponsor and propagate an old human vice, the results can devastate both civic life and, in the long run, the civic purse as well.” This is the conclusion made by author Harvey Silvergate after a visit to Atlantic City with his son. His libertarian values would, one would think, compel him to support as many casinos as the free market would support. However, this visit to an Atlantic City casino showed him the despair which problem gamblers feel as they drain their savings in slots. The surrounding community, with its old, rundown, dilapidated buildings further convinced him of casinos’ harmful effects. Ultimately he makes the conclusion that this is not so much a private business as it is a government-sponsored industry that causes social dislocation and poverty. The story he tells is gripping and the poverty he describes is palpable. The article is a must-read for anyone looking into the issues of government-sponsored casino gambling.

Libertarian angst- My problem with casinos and slots

North Carolina Lottery does not provide promised education funds

Government Revenues from Gambling, Lotteries, Lowering the Standard of Living for Ordinary Citizens, Studies

This article by the North Carolina Justice Center explains how the North Carolina Lottery is not living up to its promises of education funding. After providing an initial bump in funds for education, the level of education funding has now dropped back down to below pre-lottery levels. The old argument that the lottery will pay for its social injustice by giving money to schools is now defunct, according to the article, because the state spends less on education than it did before the lottery was put in place. Now that the lottery no longer provides money for education, it is no more than “a regressive tax that falls mainly on the poor”.

NC Lottery: A Failed Experiment

Small businesses in the food and beverage industry hurt by surrounding casinos

Economic Effects, Native American Casinos, Regional Casinos, Studies

Casinos negatively impact small businesses in the surrounding area, especially those in the food and beverage industry. This article from Indian Gaming helps to explain the casino strategy to subsidize food and drink costs with gambling profits to help boost the overall revenues from gambling, which hurts small businesses around the casinos and helps lure players into the casino.

Maximizing the Results of Casino Food and Beverage Outlets

Italian mafia uses German online gambling sites for money laundering

Crime, Investigative Journalism, Online Gambling, Sports Betting

This article from Deutsche Welle examines the use of German online gambling sites by Italian mafia members for transferring money made by human trafficking and drugs into legal circulation. Due to unclear laws, the police are powerless to stop the situation, as more and more illegal money exchanges hands over the internet. A prominent Italian lawyer described the “unbelievable” sums of money flowing through internet gambling, which could total almost $2 billion.

Online gambling- Playing into the mafias hands

Casinos hurt home values in host communities

Economic Effects, Lowering the Standard of Living for Ordinary Citizens, Regional Casinos, Studies

A new report from the National Association of Realtors shows how home values in western Massachusetts would be hurt by a casino in the area. Due to its addition of traffic noise and the general bother of an attraction that brings thousands of people in, a casino would have an “unambiguously negative” affect on home values in the areas, sapping as much as $3300 in value from the average homeowner. Below is a copy of the study itself, as well as an article summarizing its findings.

2013 Realtor study NAR- Casino-Research

2013 Realtors- Western Massachusetts casino would hurt home values in host community

Political influence of gambling interests in Illinois grows due to lack of strong regulation

Corruption, Lotteries, Online Gambling, Regional Casinos, Studies

This study by the Common Cause details the growing influence of gambling interests in Illinois. Illinois is one of the few states without a limit on campaign contributions, so deep-pocketed lobbyists and special-interest groups, especially the gambling industry, can use their exorbitant amounts of money to exert influence over Illinois legislators.

Payout–Gambling Study by Common Cause Illinois

Pennsylvania’s failure to limit campaign contributions allows gambling interests to buy their way to legislative victory

Corruption, Regional Casinos, Studies

This study by the Common Cause shows the growing influence of money in Pennsylvania politics, especially from gambling interests, due to the state’s lack of limits on campaign contributions. Gambling interests with essentially limitless sums of money can thus buy their way to influence and power over Pennsylvania lawmakers.

Payout in PA

Poulos v. Caesars World: A Battle over Corrupt Business Practices

Lawsuits, Litigation, Predatory Business Practices, Regional Casinos, Uncategorized

This article details the court case Poulos v. Caesars World, where Caesars World, a casino corporation, was sued for “a course of fraudulent and misleading acts and omissions intended to induce people to play their video poker and electronic slot machines based on a false belief concerning how those machines actually operate, as well as the extent to which there is actually an opportunity to win on any given play”. This legal battle of the business practices of Caesars World casinos shows the extent to which players can be swindled into losing large sums of money on games that are deigned for them to lose.

Poulos v. Caesars World, Inc.

Many Asian-Americans are riding the casino bus everyday just to exist

Investigative Journalism, Lowering the Standard of Living for Ordinary Citizens, Regional Casinos

This article from The Morning Call details a growing phenomenon in the Asian-American community in urban New York. Many of these people are very poor, or even homeless, desperate for a way to make a living. Casinos will often provide $45 in free-play cards to these citizens, as a way of getting them into the door and luring them into playing. These people then take a bus for several hours to a casino, and sell these cards to gamblers at the casino, so they can have cash to support themselves.

2014 Asians at Sands Bethlehem casino ride bus to live