Free Republic

A Canadian stroke victim said Tuesday he plunked his last sawbuck down on the lottery ticket that made him rich to the tune of $50 million. Lottery officials presented a tearful Kirby Fontaine of the Sagkeeng First Nation, northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and his wife Marie with a symbolic oversized check. Kirby Fontaine said he had been off work from his casino job after suffering a stroke several months ago and bought the winning ticket with his last $10. "My community -- everybody prayed for me," Kirby Fontaine said between sobs. "This is hard for a stroke victim." The couple,...

The Book The NBA Doesn't Want You To Read We've obtained a copy of Tim Donaghy's book, Blowing the Whistle, which purports to expose the NBA's "culture of fraud" and which Random House was set to publish next month — until, a source says, the league threatened to sue... Excerpts From The Book The NBA Doesn't Want You To Read As promised earlier, here are a handful of excerpts from David Stern's favorite book, Blowing the Whistle, by Tim Donaghy...

He's been jobless and living on Social Security disability income for 15 years, yet Andre Michael Nestor told District Judge Jay Weller yesterday he had access to $400,000 cash to bail himself and a friend out of jail. That amount represents slightly less than what Mr. Nestor and two friends are accused of stealing from The Meadows Racetrack and Casino, in what officials have characterized as one of the biggest casino heists ever. It is certainly the largest in Pennsylvania, Washington County District Attorney Steven Toprani said yesterday during a news conference to announce county grand jury indictments of Mr....

I have been fighting against the slaughter of the innocent unborn for nearly two decades. It is not a political issue, it is a moral issue. But in the world of politics there are those who will say anything to get elected. Perhaps for the first time since the birth of our nation, the American public is seeing through the political mist. The "promise them anything, but tell them whatever you think they want to hear" mantra isn't working any more. A perfect illustration of the aforementioned politics is laid out to see in Dan Proft's campaign for Illinois Governor....

Harrah's Operating Company, which owns 38 casinos and two thoroughbred race tracks, is the new owner of Thistledown Racetrack. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware approved Harrah's $89.5 million bid for the North Randall thoroughbred racing facility. It ended 40 rounds of bidding on Monday that began with a so-called stalking-horse bid of $22.3 million by Penn National, bidding as Cleveland Gaming Ventures LLC, and included bids from a subsidiary of Pinnacle Entertainment. Harrah's will pay $42 million in cash when it closes the deal, and another $47.5 million in contingency payments. Thistledown is one of two horse racing tracks...

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. -- In the four years since Hurricane Katrina swallowed Barbara Lambert's Gulf Coast house, her family has slowly rebuilt its life - moving out of a FEMA mobile home and to another city, finding a job for her husband and enrolling the kids in new schools. Then, the recession hit. The Lamberts and others in the hurricane-stricken region are struggling through renewed hard times as federal recovery dollars dry up and the recession chokes off jobs and charitable help. For the Lamberts, paying next month's rent is the latest worry as a federal hurricane assistance program ends....

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- U.S. Sen. George Voinovich used biblical verse Thursday to blast gambling proponents, including Ohio Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, who is an ordained minister. Voinovich, the former Republican governor, joined forces with the Ohio Roundtable and Methodist churches to announce a lawsuit they filed Thursday at the Ohio Supreme Court against Strickland's plan to place slots-like video lottery terminals at Ohio racetracks.

Have you ever flipped a coin as a way of deciding something with another person? The answer is probably yes. And you probably did so assuming you were getting a fair deal, because, as everybody knows, a coin is equally likely to show heads or tails after a single flip—unless it's been shaved or weighted or has a week-old smear of coffee on its underbelly. So when your friend places a coin on his thumb and says "call it in the air", you realize that it doesn't really matter whether you pick heads or tails. Every person has a preference, of course—heads...

Howard Lederer, aka "the Professor," is a professional poker player, not a gambler. If Congress will acknowledge this distinction, it will rectify one of its recent mistakes. In 2006, Congress, cloaking cunning with moralizing, effectively outlawed Internet gambling by making it illegal for banks or credit-card companies to process payments to online gambling operations. This was more than moral pork for social conservatives. It also blocked online competitors from poaching gamblers from the nation's most aggressive promoters of gambling -- state governments. They are increasingly addicted to revenues raised by lotteries -- the 42 states that have lotteries spent $520...

WASHINGTON — Howard Lederer is a professional poker player, not a gambler. If Congress will acknowledge this distinction, it will rectify one of its recent mistakes. In 2006, Congress, cloaking cunning with moralizing, effectively outlawed Internet gambling by making it illegal for banks or credit card companies to process payments to online gambling operations. This was more than moral pork for social conservatives. It also blocked online competitors from poaching gamblers from the nation’s most aggressive promoters of gambling — state governments. They are increasingly addicted to revenues raised by lotteries and from taxation of other legal gambling. The law...

A victim's tale of robbery and murder unraveled when investigators learned that she'd participated in the stickup that backfired and turned deadly, police said Monday Ashley Brannon, 22, has been charged with facilitation of attempted aggravated robbery. Brannon told police Thursday morning that a man forced his way into the back seat of her 2008 Dodge Avenger about 6:30 a.m. outside the Exxon at 4040 S. Third, pulling a gun and demanding money. She told officers a friend in the passenger seat, Gregory Mitchell, 18, struggled with the robber, then was shot to death. But another version of the homicide...

DOVER, Del. -- Delaware officials are fighting a request by professional sports leagues and the NCAA for a quick ruling by a federal appeals court on the state's plan to offer sports betting. A federal district judge has already denied a request from the leagues and the National Collegiate Athletic Association for a preliminary injunction that would have barred the state from offering sports betting with the start of football season in early September.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., the state-owned agency that has a monopoly on taking offtrack parimutuel bets from residents of New York's five boroughs, has an operating deficit of $38 million, an accumulated deficit of $228 million, and will be insolvent soon without legislative help or the implementation of drastic cost-cutting measures, according to an audit conducted by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released on Friday. The audit, which analyzed the operations of the state-owned company over the past four fiscal years, concludes that OTB's financial problems are largely related to its obligations

See post below for link.

Bipartisanship is in short supply in Washington these days, but a diverse coalition ranging from liberal Democrat Barney Frank of Massachusetts to conservative Republican Joe Barton of Arlington is uniting in a high-stakes push to legalize Internet poker gambling.

Louisiana casinos won $193 million from gamblers in June, a 14 percent decline from the $225 million haul in May and a nearly 10 percent drop from last year's June haul of $214 million, State Police reported Tuesday. Winnings were down at all New Orleans area casinos between May and June. The only metro area gambling hall to post a gain between June 2008 and June 2009 was the Fair Grounds Race Course and Slots, which was still in its infancy this time last year. The state's riverboats reported a 12 percent decline in revenue in June compared with May...

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - A day after a warrant was issued stemming from his $822,500 in gambling debts, Antoine Walker was arrested in Harrah's Casino in South Lake Tahoe, Nev., on Wednesday night. Walker was led out of the building in handcuffs, and is in Douglas County Jail with bail set at $87,000. Walker is accused of three felony counts of writing bad checks. County prosecutors say he failed to make good on 10 checks totaling $1 million written to Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood and the Red Rock Resort Walker’s lawyer in Las Vegas, Jonathan Powell, didn’t immediately respond...

Spoiler Alert.

With the current recession driving states to beg for handouts from the Obama Administration, some legislators will invariably begin to look at other areas for revenue. And some states will probably consider what could be called the “Nevada model.” The “Nevada model” began in 1931 with that state’s legalization of casinos, which in turn directly created one of America’s most desired vacation spots, Las Vegas. According to Nevada’s Gaming Control Board casinos raised 928.2 million dollars for that state just through taxes and licensing fees in 2006. Since the Nevada legalization of casino gambling -- and various rulings simultaneously allowing...

Barney Frank: Online Gambling a RightSpoke in front of 1,700 poker players at the World Series of Poker By Daniel O Jul 07, 2009 Critic of military spending, protector of the environment and legislative leader on behalf of home owners across the United States, Representative Barney Frank (D - MA) visited Las Vegas on Sunday to speak at the World Series of Poker. His message at the event was a hopeful one. The powerful Congress member has kept been fighting against the current ban on online gambling. Two bills sponsored by Rep. Frank - HR2266 and HR2267 - aim to...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Ginger Whittaker Bragg, daughter of Powerball winner Jack Whittaker, was found dead in her Daniels home, authorities said. Chief Deputy D.E. Stafford of the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department said in a press release that deputies were called to Bragg's Lake Drive home in the Glade Springs Resort Sunday afternoon after receiving a report of a dead person in the home. Deputies said Bragg, 42, died inside her home. Stafford said the department does not suspect foul play but is investigating. Bragg's father won a $314 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day 2002, then the largest amount ever...

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia's plan to close gaming halls, from gaudy casinos crowned by extravagant neon structures to dingy dwellings containing a handful of slot machines, could turf a third of a million people out of work this week. "I've got 800 staff looking at me every day for inspiration and hope," said Clive Tilley, who runs the 70-tabled Casino de Paris, Moscow's largest gaming complex where gamblers play under vines in mock French courtyards. "With the economy as it is now, it's not the time to pound the streets looking for work. It breaks my heart." From July 1,...

In Guys and Dolls, craps players desperate for diversion welcome the arrival of Nathan Detroit because "even when the heat is on it's never too hot" for Nathan to arrange some action. Today, Nathan Detroit is more likely to be a state legislator, a governor or a board of education commissioner than a Broadway gambler. Forty-eight of our states have now legalized at least some form of gambling, and in the wake of growing state budget woes, legislators are scrambling to expand government-controlled legalized betting to raise new revenues. Every recession, in fact, brings a little more state-authorized betting, so...

Rural upstate New York, where I grew up, offers unique evidence these days about some shifting demographics of the Seven Deadly Sins. Fifty years ago, the area was dominated by family farming, an Air Force base, and copper manufacturing. Today, the growth industries are prisons and casinos -- the former, big gray teeming boxes of all the Deadly Sins tied up and bowed with barbed wire; and the latter, pleasantly humming hives of the Deadly that is our subject for today: Greed.Of course some readers might dispute the idea of linking Greed to gambling. We now call gambling an "entertainment,"...

The European Union urged the United States on Wednesday to open talks on scrapping a ban on foreign online gambling companies, saying it breaks global trade rules. The EU says it could seek compensation from the World Trade Organization because the 2006 ban unfairly prevents foreign Internet gambling sites from operating in the United States. But it said it would hold off launching legal action until it had the chance to negotiate a solution with President Barack Obama's administration — another sign of a thaw in EU-U.S. relations since President George W. Bush left office.

Legendary Las Vegas performer Danny Gans' cause of death has been ruled an accidental overdose of pain medication. Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy said Danny officially died from hydromorphone toxicity due to chronic pain syndrome -- and that other contributing factors include hypertension cardiovascular disease and a disease that caused him to produce an abnormal amount of red blood cells. Murphy says Gans had a toxic reaction to the drug because of an existing heart condition. He added, "This was not drug abuse." Danny died on May 1 at his home after a family member called 911 to say he...

Faced with the threat of Delaware’s reactivation of sports betting, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine is now seeking to join a federal lawsuit that would make the industry legal in the state of New Jersey and 46 others. Delaware signed legislation into law last month legalizing sports betting, which under a federal law in 1992 was banned in all but four states (Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon.) “Delaware’s entry into sports wagering and table games is a serious threat to both the casino and horse racing industries in New Jersey,” Corzine said. “We must do everything in our power...

A Taiwanese man who lost two million US dollars in Las Vegas is threatening to sue the casino for using feng shui to cause his losing streak, a report here said. The man, surnamed Yuan, alleged that the Venetian dug a one-metre (40-inch) square hole on the wall of the presidential suite he was staying in April last year and covered it with a black cloth, said Apple Daily. The casino also put two white towels in front of Yuan's suite and turned on two large fans facing his room without notifying him, it said. Yuan claimed that his luck...

Friday, May. 29, 2009 Holy Craps! How a Gambling Grandma Broke the Record By Claire Suddath It sounds like a homework problem out of a high school math book: What is the probability of rolling a pair of dice 154 times continuously at a craps table, without throwing a seven? The answer is roughly 1 in 1.56 trillion, and on May 23, Patricia Demauro, a New Jersey grandmother, beat those odds at Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. Demauro's 154-roll lucky streak, which lasted four hours and 18 minutes, broke the world records for the longest craps roll and...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev confirmed the intention of the authorities to ban the gambling business in Russia. Mikhail Mokretsov, the head of Russia’s Federal Tax Service, signed the adequate order immediately after his meeting with Medvedev, The Kommersant newspaper wrote. All casinos and gambling bars were ordered to shut down their activities before July 1. Federal Tax Service officers will also take efforts to prevent the appearance of disguised gambling establishments. Medvedev said on May 6 that the new law would come into force on time. “There will be no way back, no matter how hard certain business structures might...

A US ban on online gambling, which has sparked criminal investigations and sent share prices at betting companies around the world plunging, could be eased under legislation to be presented by the House financial services committee. Barney Frank, Democratic chairman of the committee, wants to introduce a licensing regime for online gambling companies that would modify anti-gambling laws under which investigations into executives at companies such as UK-listed PartyGaming were conducted.

Lawmakers are rolling the dice on Internet gambling. Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Peter King, R-N.Y., unveiled legislation Wednesday that would enable Americans to legally gamble online. "The government should not interfere with people's liberty unless there is a good reason," Frank said. "This is, I believe, the single biggest example of an intrusion into the principle that people should be free to do things on the Internet. It's clearly the case that gambling is an activity that can be done offline but not online." The law currently prohibits credit card companies and...

The state of Minnesota has handed Internet providers a 7-page blacklist (PDF) of gambling Web sites that they're supposed to prevent customers from accessing, a move that raises First Amendment and technical concerns. "We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance," said John Willems, a Minnesota Department of Public Safety official, in a statement. Companies that received the list of off-limits Web sites--which was made public on Thursday--include AT&T, Comcast, Qwest, and Sprint/Nextel. The Department of Public Safety's letters to the Internet providers say that "gambling is illegal within Minnesota" and claim that a...

What? Casinos and gambling considered threat to national security and military readiness by Univ. of Illinois economist. No way, says the business...

Because I am known to have a certain fondness for casino blackjack, and because it was my Kentucky mother who taught me to play poker (and other games of chance), perhaps I’m the appropriate one to say a few words about Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposal to legalize video poker in the middle of a howling recession. It’s the worst idea out of Harrisburg in a long time. The first time I was in a casino, my parents took me. One fine July night in 1969, we walked into Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. And then walked right back out, with...

HARRISBURG -- Efforts to legalize thousands of video poker machines to generate tuition relief funds for certain college students are on the fast track. Rep. Katie True, R-Lancaster, said today she's been getting a lot of calls from students and parents inquiring when the tuition relief funds would be available. "Many students expect tuition relief for this fall," she told state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak at a budget hearing. Gov. Ed Rendell, who came up with the idea, has talked about having some tuition relief money available by fall. To have money available that soon, she said, "We would have...

A Buffalo, N.Y.-area financial institution that loans money to law firms to finance litigation was within its rights when it decided not to gamble on an attorney who used money he borrowed to play poker, a federal judge has ruled. Western District of New York Judge Richard J. Arcara ruled in Counsel Financial Services v. Melkersen Law, 08- cv-0156A(Sr), that Counsel Financial Services could call in just under $250,000 in outstanding principal on attorney Michael J. Melkersen's loan, plus $22,420 in outstanding interest and $3,923 in late payments. Melkersen argued that neither his card-playing, nor other personal uses of the...

Court rules for state in American Indian land case I. – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the federal government's authority to hold land in trust for Indian tribes, a victory for Rhode Island and other states seeking to impose local laws and control over development on Indian lands. The court's ruling applies to tribes recognized by the federal government after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The U.S. government argued that the law allows it to take land into trust for tribes regardless of when they were recognized, but Justice Clarence Thomas said in his majority opinion that the...

Nothing but snake eyes for Atlantic City casinos By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer Sunday, February 22, 2009 Uncertainty has always been a way of life for casinos who make their money on games of chance. But now, Atlantic City casinos are looking at their own futures with uncertainty. Donald Trump quit as chairman of the casino company he once ran, and wants his name off the three casinos that have been synonymous with Atlantic City for decades, now that they're in bankruptcy for the third time. The Tropicana Casino and Resort will file for bankruptcy next month, and Resorts...

INSIDE GAMING: Maybe that iPhone user isn't just taking calls HOWARD STUTZ INSIDE GAMING Users of iPhones beware -- state gaming agents are watching you. California gaming authorities tipped off their Nevada counterparts to a blackjack card-counting program that can be used on either the Apple iPhone or the Apple iPod Touch portable music player. "The program calculates the true count and does it significantly more accurately," according to a Gaming Control Board memorandum sent to casino operators last week warning of the electronic device. Card counting is not illegal in Nevada casinos. However, using a device to aid in...

Gaming revenue fell for the 12th month in a row in December and last year's overall drop is historic. Some locals who depend on conventions to survive say they can't afford the war of words going on between President Obama and Mayor Oscar Goodman. Last week, both Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs canceled corporate junkets scheduled to take place here in Las Vegas. They were trying to get away from the perception that they are taking the money given to them in these bailout packages and using it to treat their CEO's to lavish vacations. The comment President Obama made...

Thirteen people face charges after allegedly telling Fresno Lotto winners that they were losers, and then keeping the winnings for themselves. Undercover officers posing as customers turned in winning lottery tickets worth about $1,000.00 apiece at several Fresno convenience stores.

Obama pick faces questions over bombers' clemencyBy PETE YOST Associated Press Writer Originally published Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM WASHINGTON — New York police detective Anthony S. Senft's life changed forever when a bomb set by Puerto Rican separatists exploded, blowing him 15 feet in the air and blinding him in one eye. Now, he's angry that Eric Holder, who played a key role in awarding clemency to the bombers, is in line to be attorney general. Holder, as President Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, worked closely with the Justice Department's pardon attorney to raise the possibility of...

As head of the bad check unit at the Clark County, Nev., district attorney's office, Zadrowski has seen a lot of deadbeat gamblers reported by the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip - at least 700 a month, a number that has climbed as the economy has soured. But a few of those names stick in his memory - and Ausaf Umar Siddiqui is one of them. Turns out the Clark County district attorney's office is one of a number of agencies that has been watching Palo Alto resident Siddiqui, 42, who was arrested Friday on a federal complaint of...

Holder omitted Blagojevich link from questionnaire Announced as a ‘special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board’ in 2004 December 17, 2008 BY CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporter/cfusco@suntimes.com Before Eric Holder was President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general, he was Gov. Blagojevich's pick to sort out a mess involving Illinois' long-dormant casino license. Blagojevich and Holder appeared together at a March 24, 2004, news conference to announce Holder's role as "special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board" -- a post that was to pay Holder and his Washington, D.C. law firm up to $300,000. Holder, however, omitted that event from...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Department of Justice said late Tuesday that Anurag Dikshit, founder of Internet gambling company PartyGaming PLC, has pleaded guilty to "using the wires" to transmit bets and wagering information in interstate commerce.

Another card may have fallen in the governor's house of cards. Christopher Kelly - one of Gov. Blagojevich's closest advisers, fund-raisers and friends - is set to plead guilty in his federal criminal case, according to a court filing. Kelly was charged last year with failing to report gambling proceeds. He was not charged with conduct related to state deals but is widely known to be under scrutiny for fund-raising schemes under Blagojevich. Court records show Kelly is scheduled to plead guilty Jan. 16. Kelly is pleading guilty only to the tax charges, according to a source who said the...

Bad beat of the year: The Danish government wants 73% of Peter Eastgate's WSOP winnings. Peter Eastgate won $9,152,416 in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, but the question is how much of it he will get to keep. Denmark has strict taxation rules for poker winnings - Eastgate has to pay 45% in taxes on winnings up to approximately $520 000 and 75% on the rest (over $8.5 million). The end result will be $6.6 million in taxes, if the Danish government gets what it wants. Eastgate moved to England shortly after reaching the Main Event final table to protect...

The Bush administration is moving in its last weeks to complete regulations to enforce a controversial law that seeks to block Internet gambling. The move is drawing hot protests from Democratic lawmakers and supporters of online betting.

Listen Nevada, still have time to do right by Nevada and our country. VOTE ONLY for McCain and Palin