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MEDIA BEGGING US FOR CONSPIRACY THEORIES ON LAS VEGAS
Ann Coulter Dot Com ^ | 11 Oct 2017 | Ann Coulter

Posted on 10/11/2017 6:54:01 PM PDT by Rummyfan

Now the media are just taunting us with their tall tales about Stephen Paddock, the alleged Las Vegas shooter. Reputedly serious news organizations are claiming that he made a living playing video poker. That's like claiming someone made a living smoking crack.

The media are either doing PR for the gambling industry or they don't want anyone considering the possibility that Paddock was using gambling to launder money.

NBC News reports, with a straight face: "Las Vegas gunman earned millions as a gambler." A Los Angeles Times article is headlined, "In the solitary world of video poker, Stephen Paddock knew how to win." The story says that Paddock's gambling "was at least a steady income over a period of years."

I don't know all the ins and outs of Paddock's life, but that's a lie.

How do reporters imagine casino owners make a living? Any ideas on how all those glorious lobbies, lights, pools and fountains are paid for? How do they think Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn became billionaires if gambling is a winning proposition for people like Paddock -- and therefore, by definition, a losing proposition for the casinos?

The media think about money the way Democrats do. They have absolutely no conception of where it originates. Those casino owners sure are generous! reporters think to themselves. Economist Thomas Sowell is always ridiculing journalists for not understanding basic economics. It turns out, they don't understand the spreadsheet of a lemonade stand.

(Excerpt) Read more at anncoulter.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coulter; lvinvestigation; paddockbio; paddockgambing; paddockmotive
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To: Rummyfan

In a better world Ann Coulter would be running the New York Times and journalism would be a respected profession....


21 posted on 10/11/2017 8:31:51 PM PDT by GOPJ (IF 'illegals' rob a bank should their "innocent DREAMERS" be allowed to keep the loot??)
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To: BansheeBill

Ann’s done her research...


22 posted on 10/11/2017 8:32:32 PM PDT by GOPJ (IF 'illegals' rob a bank should their "innocent DREAMERS" be allowed to keep the loot??)
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To: BansheeBill

That is very interesting. I admit I did not believe it was possible.


23 posted on 10/11/2017 8:48:41 PM PDT by Tammy8 (Please be a regular supporter of Free Republic !)
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To: SoCal Pubbie

That interview was in the 1990s. Everything has gone up since then. I also imagine some that do this for a living are better than others.


24 posted on 10/11/2017 8:53:06 PM PDT by Tammy8 (Please be a regular supporter of Free Republic !)
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To: rx
How do you make a small fortune playing video poker?

As a laundry man.

Maybe taking hit jobs on the side.

25 posted on 10/11/2017 8:56:17 PM PDT by ladyjane
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To: ladyjane

I think you’re pretty close.


26 posted on 10/11/2017 9:14:16 PM PDT by crusher2013
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To: SaxxonWoods

“Until someone can produce hard evidence that Paddock made the money some other way, the existing evidence is that he made it as he reported, improbability notwithstanding.”

I don’t think you get it. That’s the point of money laundering. People who start spending millions on real estate, cars, boats, etc. show up on the radar with the IRS. This needs to match roughly what you have been telling the IRS you earn. If you report $50k a year, but spend like you’e making millions, you’ll go down like Al Capone.

So people launder their ill-got gains by pretending they got it elsewhere. Preferably in an all-cash business. Gambling is one easy way.

I think it is possible but improbable that he made fortunes gambling. And I also think that casinos watch their customers so well that they can probably tell if someone is laundering money. And this begs the question of their role in that dirty business.


27 posted on 10/11/2017 10:19:11 PM PDT by unlearner (You will never come to know that which you do not know until you first know that you do not know it.)
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To: Rummyfan

The best way to win in Vegas, is to play the game with the best odds.

Which is why I always buy stock in the casino, if I go to Vegas to gamble.


28 posted on 10/11/2017 10:24:31 PM PDT by Cvengr ( Adversity in life & death is inevitable; Stress is optional through faith in Christ.)
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To: unlearner

Casinos certainly know if you consistently win. It won’t matter to them if you are just lucky or are a card counter, if you win more than they think that you should they will ban you.

That’s one more reason not to believe the idea that Paddock got rich by gambling.

Like you, I think gambling is how he was laundering money. That, and his real estate investing. Both involve large sums of money that may not attract attention if you report large taxable gains.

His dad was a career criminal. Stephen just put into practice a few tricks he learned about how to stay invisible to the authorities.


29 posted on 10/11/2017 10:40:46 PM PDT by Pelham (Liberate California. Deport Mexico Now)
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To: edh

“Video poker in Vegas (as well as slots) would be a fairly straightforward way to launder a lot of money I’d think. As someone else mentioned, who cares if you lose 2 or 3 percent of your large bankroll when your goal is to have clean money at the end of the process.”

Something eludes me about taking dirty money and changing it into clean money via gambling. I am confused, please explain.

In Louisiana in the past the Mafia owned hotels in New Orleans That is the way they laundered dirty money into clean money. Their hotels were “always full” even though they were not. They used the dirty money as income to the hotels for the rooms that were really not used. They paid taxes on this dirty money and then used it to invest in totally legitimate business investments.

My ex worked for a very legitimate bank in New Orleans circa 1972.. One of their major customers was Carlos Marcello. He had big loans from this bank and all very legitimate. That was his clean and legal money. This was his clean money just doing legitimate business.


30 posted on 10/11/2017 11:11:36 PM PDT by cpdiii (Deckhand, Roughneck, Mud-man, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist, CONSTITUTION WORTH DYING FOR!)
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To: cpdiii

So the way it works is if you win a large amount of money (say a $15,000 jackpot on $5 video poker), the casino gives you a tax form and reports the winnings to the IRS.

So a money launder could take $100,000 cash into the casino, gamble for a while, and collect documentation that he “won” $90,000. That gets reported to the IRS as income even though the gambler actually lost $10,000.

I agree with Ann Coulter. There is no way someone made a multi-million dollar annual income on video poker. The tiny number of professional video poker gamblers report incomes of around $80,000 and would love to make more except they can’t because there aren’t enough games/machines with over 100% payout.


31 posted on 10/11/2017 11:41:37 PM PDT by TennesseeProfessor
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To: SoCal Pubbie

He was also playing quarters. Paddock was playing big money. The guy in the article balked at $1 games because you need a big bankroll. Paddock apparently had a big bankroll. Also, the guy in the article avoided the $1 games because of taxes. Paddock needed the taxes to clean the money. (??)


32 posted on 10/11/2017 11:53:45 PM PDT by mommab2003 (Stop these White House Chefs!!!)
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To: Pelham

“....if you win more than they think that you should they will ban you.”

I think you have it all backwards - win millions of dollars a year from a casino like Paddock did, and they comp you all the nice rooms and stuff so you’ll keep coming back to win even more money from them! /s

Hmm - His burger, soup, bagel and two Pepsi for $48 - no wonder they can afford to comp him a room! (Anybody know - meals aren’t comped I guess?)


33 posted on 10/12/2017 12:13:13 AM PDT by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts FDR's New Deal = obama)
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To: The people have spoken

Originally published: March 2003


34 posted on 10/12/2017 12:13:54 AM PDT by palmer (...if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive)
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To: TennesseeProfessor

In the absence of any proof otherwise, money laundering is probably the most logical scenario - Arms dealing, drugs?? He was involved in two of the most likely ways to launder money, real estate and gambling. Added to that, he worked for the IRS and also did accounting, so he would know the ropes in hiding paper trails. He owned planes, necessary in either arms dealing or transporting drugs. Granted none of this gives a motive, just explains source of income. Read up on how to launder money through real estate and gambling - far better than through a business where you have to provide detailed receipts of cost doing business that match a IRS profile for that particular type of business. Go in with a million - lose 100000 - turn in chips - get 1099 W2g for the IRS - deduct losses from “winnings” - pay taxes on balance - presto - clean money


35 posted on 10/12/2017 5:03:21 AM PDT by techrules2002
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

“In the solitary world of video poker, Stephen Paddock knew how to win.”

Steve Paddock had X-Men type powers-telepathy.

Steve could alter the machines code with his mind.
That’s the only way the lame stream media’s theory works


36 posted on 10/12/2017 5:49:48 AM PDT by Steven Tyler
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To: SoCal Pubbie

The article also said that the particular machines he played payed out over 100%. IF that was once true it’s not now. They are set to something like 97.5% pay out. The longer you play the more you succumb to the law of averages.


37 posted on 10/12/2017 6:06:37 AM PDT by jdsteel (Give me freedom not more government)
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To: lacrew

Could not afford her? So he mows down over 50 people and wires her over $100,000, and he is worth over $5M??? Not seeing it.


38 posted on 10/12/2017 3:26:55 PM PDT by GLDNGUN
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans
And it’s not even regular poker. It’s video poker, which is even more rigged than your average casino.

BINGO!

39 posted on 10/15/2017 9:16:35 AM PDT by GOPJ (NFL SAYS THEIR FANS ARE RACISTS WHO MUST BE EDUCATED BY THEIR PLAYERS? So insulting.)
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