Attorney General Luther Strange announced Thursday that the Judiciary Committee of the Alabama House of Representatives has approved House Bill 414, legislation advocated by the Attorney General to fight illegal gambling. “I am pleased that the House Judiciary Committee has taken action on our recommendations to make Alabama’s gambling laws stronger and more effective,” said Attorney General Strange. “I want to thank Representatives Allen Farley and Paul DeMarco for their leadership in moving this bill forward, and I urge members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass this bill as soon as possible. This is my top legislative priority.” Under current law, the maximum penalty for any illegal gambling enterprise is a misdemeanor, regardless of how many millions of dollars are being made from the illegal activity.  The legislation … Read entire article »

Fayetteville Police during the late morning hours April 17 entered the Fayette Gift Shop on North Glynn Street to serve search warrants related to illegal gambling on the premises. A search warrant was also served at the Travis Trail residence of the person believed to be the registered owner. Maj. Kevin Gooding in a release of preliminary information at the scene said the business was believed to have been operating as a gambling location similar to the activities identified recently in Peachtree City and Clayton County. And what investigators found inside in the front of the building was the gift shop with items such as picture fames hanging in the wall. But in a room at the rear of the store were six electronic gambling machines, Gooding said. The find corroborated initial … Read entire article »

Tinley Park/092209- Lloyd Galske of Tinley Park plays a video poker machine at The Old Tinley Pub and Eatery in Tinley Park, IL. Tuesday, September, 22, 2009. jm092209 news/TIN_pokermachine_P3 (SouthtownStar Photo by Joseph P. Meier) … Read entire article »

An accountant swindled thousands of pounds from her employer to fund an addiction to online bingo. Mum-of-two Maria Parsonage was losing around £30 a day through her internet gambling habit. Parsonage, 36, was trusted to pay herself an agreed wage at the employment agency where she worked but helped herself to extra cash to pay her debts. She admitted five counts of fraud totalling £4,350 and was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work. But Stockport magistrates ruled that she would not have to pay any of the cash back because she did not have enough money. Parsonage, of Seal Road, Bramhall, Stockport, started working for Vital People, in Vernon Street, Stockport, in May last year and the frauds happened between August and December. But the court heard her online bingo habit went back to … Read entire article »

SkyCity must continue to address problem gambling – Key Updated at 7:55 am on 18 April 2012 Prime Minister John Key says SkyCity must continue its efforts to address problem gambling in any deal struck with the Government. Talks are continuing on a deal that could see SkyCity fund a $350 million convention centre in Auckland, in return for an extension to its casino licence. SkyCity chief executive Nigel Morrison says it is absolute rubbish to say that increasing the number of gaming machines would cause social harm. He says most of the issues of problem gambling are in underprivileged suburbs, whereas people gamble at SkyCity recreationally. Mr Key will not comment on those claims, but says there are problem gamblers wherever gambling is available. He says the Government is keen to see the convention centre … Read entire article »

Talk of a casino in Toronto has gone up a notch, with at least two Las Vegas gambling giants expressing interest in building a complex in the city. Caesars Entertainment is the latest purveyor of blackjack tables and slot machines to voice enthusiasm for the province’s plan for a new entertainment destination in the Toronto area. MGM Resorts International is also eyeing the possibilities of a major development that could include convention space, entertainment venues and restaurants. “Absolutely, we’re interested,” said Jan Jones, executive vice-president of communications and government relations for Ceasars Entertainment. … Read entire article »

Apr 5, 2012  KUALA LUMPUR — A football betting and fraud ring busted by Malaysian police grossed more than $1 billion, reports said, after an operation that led to the arrests of scores of Chinese and Taiwanese nationals. Police conducted the raid in the city of Kajang, near capital Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday after receiving a tip-off, the latest high-profile effort to clamp down on rampant illegal sports betting in Asia. The Malaysia ring operated for a month from several luxury bungalows in an upscale gated community “home to several ministers and former cabinet members,” The Star Newspaper reported. Police believe the operation raked in nearly four billion ringgit ($1.3 billion), it said. The bungalows had closed-circuit video systems for security and police found “suspects engrossed in their laptops and telephones in a classroom-like atmosphere … Read entire article »

Coming to a location near you: drive-through betting on the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Keeneland plans to open drive-through betting kiosks at the Kentucky Horse Park on Ironworks Pike and at its Thoroughbred Training Center on Paris Pike to offer pari-mutuel betting on Oaks and Derby days, May 4-5.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Monday approved without objection Keenelands plan, contingent on receiving a lease from the state, which owns the Horse Park.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Vince Gabbert, Keeneland vice president and chief operating officer, said the track will lease an area at the front of the parks parking lot for the two days. The park will get a portion of the wagering profits, he said.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;In a letter laying out the request, Gabbert said the move … Read entire article »

Last months bingo gambling trial ended as expected. All six of the defendants were found not guilty by a Montgomery federal jury. The first trial lasted almost the entire summer of 2011. Federal prosecutors put on elaborate testimony and tapes and brought 138 charges. The jury in that case found no validity in 99 of those counts against nine original defendants. Even in the face of this humiliating defeat, where they spent more than $30 million and got no convictions, they astonishingly sought a second trial. The second jury, which mirrored the first one demographically, found the remaining six defendants not guilty on 27 counts. The six defendants in the second trial consisted of VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor; lobbyist Tom Coker; state Sen. Harri Anne Smith, I-Slocomb; former casino spokesman Jay … Read entire article »

DSM 5s announcement that the psychiatric diagnostic manual will, for the first time, call something addictive that doesnt involve substance abuse — gambling — has opened the floodgates. It is intriguing to consider how gambling was placed in this category, since there isnt an addiction task force for DSM 5, only a substance-related-disorders one. So who decided gambling was the one thing people did, other than to consume drugs and alcohol, that was addictive and how did they decide that? Charles OBrien, MD, a leading addiction = chronic-brain-disease proponent and chair of the substance-disorders group, announced the inclusion of gambling because pathological gambling and substance-use disorders are very similar in the way they affect the brain and neurological reward system. Thus it seems OBrien, rather than the task force of … Read entire article »