Online Gambling

Government-Run Gambling Bigger Than Organized Crime

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Should our democratic institutions be competing with organized crime for revenue? Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Monica Yant Kinney discovers an important distinction between illegal underground gambling and government-sponsored predatory gambling: “Bookies don’t prey on gamblers. Bookies don’t solicit. Gamblers find them.”

This lies in stark contrast to state governments using taxpayer money to solicit our fellow citizens to play the lottery and providing tax incentives to allow casinos to come to town.

Pennsylvania Competing with Mob Bookies

CkirbyGovernment-Run Gambling Bigger Than Organized Crime
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Hitting Rock Bottom – West Virginia and the Problem Gambling Help Line

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West Virginia recently released some jaw-dropping data about the impact of the failed government policy of predatory gambling in that state. Among the findings was that in one county, one out of every 87 residents has called the 24-hour problem gambling hotline seeking help for themselves or a loved one. What is even more troubling about that finding is only about 10% of problem gamblers seek help at all. That means 90% of the problem gamblers in the county have not called the hotline.

Hitting Rock Bottom – Ohio County Leads State in Calls To Gambling Hotline

CkirbyHitting Rock Bottom – West Virginia and the Problem Gambling Help Line
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Money Laundering in Las Vegas

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Despite stricter sanctions that have eliminated some of the criminal activities in Las Vegas, money laundering still persists. According to one IRS agent in Las Vegas: “In a currency intensive industry it’s virtually impossible to eliminate entry points for money laundering. We work hand-in-hand with the casinos.”

Money Laundering Still on Rinse Cycle in Las Vegas Casinos

CkirbyMoney Laundering in Las Vegas
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Poker Bots and Cheaters Make Online Gambling Even More Predatory

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In the summer of 2010, one the world’s leading online predatory gambling companies, PokerStars, refunded $2.1 million to its customers after discovering cheaters colluded to rig games. In another incident, PokerStars paid out another $80,000 to players who had unwittingly been up against poker “bots” – automatic card playing software. These bots are causing people to lose even more money than normal. Click on this link to the story and the podcast from BBC Radio 5. You will need to scroll halfway down the page to obtain the podcast.

Can the World of Online Poker Chase Out the Cheats?

LesPoker Bots and Cheaters Make Online Gambling Even More Predatory
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Taylor Branch Speech at the Stop Predatory Gambling National Convention

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This is a video featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch at Stop Predatory Gambling’s 2008 National Convention in Washington, D.C. He begins to specifically address the issue of government-sanctioned predatory gambling after the 6:00 mark. Daniel Hunter of Casino Free Philadelphia was invited to introduce Branch.

 

LesTaylor Branch Speech at the Stop Predatory Gambling National Convention
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Sleep-Deprived Citizens Are a Lucrative Profit Center for Gambling Operators

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In this study, researchers at Duke University Medical School found that sleep-deprived individuals tended to make choices that emphasized monetary gain and were less likely to make choices that reduced financial loss. Sleep deprivation can also change the way the brain assesses economic value. Finally, the study also demonstrates that sleep deprivation increases sensitivity to positive rewards while diminishing sensitivity to negative consequences.

Sleep Deprivation Biases the Neural Mechanisms Underlying Economic Preferences

CkirbySleep-Deprived Citizens Are a Lucrative Profit Center for Gambling Operators
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Public Health Leader Calls on Rhode Island Not to Create Even More Gambling Addicts

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Dr. Bob Breen, a psychiatrist from Rhode Island Hospital, wrote a letter in March 2011 to Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee explaining that 50% of the state’s gambling revenue comes from addicts and warning that allowing table games would create 1,000 to 2,250 new addicts.

Bob Breen Letter to RI Governor Chafee

CkirbyPublic Health Leader Calls on Rhode Island Not to Create Even More Gambling Addicts
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Taylor Branch on Democracy and Government-Sanctioned Gambling

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Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Civil Rights Movement and biographer of Martin Luther King, lays out why the government policy of predatory gambling undermines the core democratic principles our nation was founded on: “State-sponsored predatory gambling is essentially a corruption of democracy because it violates the most basic premises that make democracy unique: that you can be self-governing, you can be honest and open about your disagreements as well as your agreements, and that you trust other people that you are in this together. That’s what a compact of citizens is. And the first-step away from it is to play each other for suckers. We’re going to trick them into thinking they are going to get rich but they are really going to be paying my taxes.”

The first document below is a opinion piece written by Branch for the Baltimore Sun in 2004. The second item is a feature story on Branch’s activism that appeared in the Sun in 2008.

Taylor Branch – Slots and Democracy

Taylor Branch – Slots Foes Bag a Literary Lion

CkirbyTaylor Branch on Democracy and Government-Sanctioned Gambling
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One of the world’s largest accounting firms finds that gambling was the most common motivator of fraud

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This 2009 Australian report from KPMG (one of the world’s largest accounting firms) finds that gambling was the most common motivator of fraud with an average value of $1.1 million per incident.

KPMG Fraud Survey

LesOne of the world’s largest accounting firms finds that gambling was the most common motivator of fraud
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