Free Republic

Gambling might join the list of Baltimore City's problems after Horseshoe Casino opens Aug. 26. As the city touts 1,700 new jobs, millions in education funding and an expected economic boost, new billboards advertise hotlines for gambling addiction, a dark side to Horseshoe’s shiny exterior. A moral gamble? With a median household income of $35,000, Park Heights is among Baltimore City’s poorest ZIP codes. In 2012, however, it led state lottery ticket sales, with a total of $34 million, according to a Capital News Service analysis. Father Zaborowski compares gambling spending to alcohol and drug addiction, which plague the neighborhood,...

By this point, you have made up your own mind, as so many of us have. You are from one of two camps. One is the "hasn't Pete suffered enough? The other is the "Pete got exactly what he deserved" I occupy the former.

They’ve turned to politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and union reps to try to save their jobs at three Atlantic City casinos scheduled to close soon. Now, hundreds of soon-to-be unemployed dealers, cocktail servers and hotel workers are turning to what many say could be their last, best chance. “We’re praying for God to open new doors to them,” said Rev Eric McCoy, president of the Atlantic City Fellowship of Churches. Clergy members and the main casino workers union organized a rally and prayer service Wednesday night for the nearly 8,000 workers who will be jobless when Revel, the Showboat and Trump...

The winning streak has run cold for Atlantic City, N.J. Earlier this week, the upscale Revel Casino Hotel announced it will close, bringing the total number of casinos in the city expected to close by the end of the year to four. Thousands of workers are confronting unemployment. The state has long guaranteed Atlantic City a monopoly on gambling within New Jersey's borders, but gambling revenues there have been declining due to increased competition from new casinos in neighboring states and the lingering effects of the financial crisis. The monthly report from the state Division of Gaming Enforcement issued Wednesday...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-12/atlantic-city-faces-downward-spiral-with-revel-s-demise.html

Before Maryland’s largest casino opened less than two miles away, convenience store manager Chirag Patel was hoping to sell more lottery tickets than he was already moving. “We were doing very good business with scratch-off games,” he said. “I was trying to get another terminal” from the Maryland lottery commission. Then the massive Maryland Live opened near his Dash In gas station, and in the two years since, he estimated, his lottery ticket sales have gone down by 25 percent. And so has his commission, which used to be about $3,000 a month. Maryland lottery commission officials can commiserate. On...

Kelsey Zachow bought the ticket on Friday the 13th last month, but didn't even know she had the winning slip until 11 days later. The mom of a 7-month-old, Zachow will take home $27 million in the lump sum payment after taxes, and plans to quit her jobs.

Sure, Las Vegas is known for its casinos. But just because Sin City has the highest concentration, that doesn’t mean it has a monopoly on gambling. If Vegas isn’t your thing but you still want to hit the slots and be entertained, then seek an alternative at one of these non-Vegas casinos that are getting the most Yahoo searches.

ATLANTIC CITY - The list of casinos closing or expected to close here just keeps growing. Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino will likely shut its doors for good in mid-September. Trump Entertainment Resorts told The Associated Press that it expects the casino to close its doors Sept. 16. No final decision has been made, the company said, but it “expects that it will terminate the operations of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino on or shortly after September 16, 2014.”

Pete Rose has a vision. Someday his career hits record will be tied, and he will respond with one final turn at bat. He will roll a single up the middle and crawl to first base for No. 4,257, reclaiming his title as Hit King. Rose related this fanciful dream on the phone the other day, at the end of a lively conversation. The problem with the story, obviously, is that he is 73 years old and has been barred from baseball since 1989. But there has to be a better ending out there, somehow. Life is good for Rose....

The Showboat Atlantic City Hotel and Casino is closing after more than 27 years of operation, according to an official with the city’s largest casino workers union. Unite HERE Local 54 president Bob McDevitt said Showboat’s 2,100 employees will receive WARN Act notices Friday. The federal law requires covered companies to give workers at least 60 days notice if plans are in place to shut down a job site or execute mass layoffs. “We were notified earlier today from Caesars that they’re issuing WARN Act notices to Showboat employees tomorrow and we immediately began notifying our members,” McDevitt said Thursday...

A Norwegian football fan has scooped a cool £500 after betting on Luis Suarez to bite somebody at the World Cup in Brazil. Suarez has twice been spotted biting opponents in recent years, so the punter thought he’d put £3 on the striker to take a munch out of somebody at Brazil 2014. And low and behold, towards the end of Uruguay’s clash with Italy, he bit Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini – triggering the bookmaker to pay out. With odds of 175/1, it was a pretty amazing outcome, despite Suarez’s reliability for biting his rivals. See above for the betting...

Pari-mutuel betting, for better or worse, is in my blood. My maternal grandfather spent every day for 60 years plying the greyhound tracks of South Florida and Massachusetts, and there’s enough of him in me to draw me to Belmont Park every time there’s a shot at the thoroughbred Triple Crown. There’s also enough of him in me to know that while I can’t guarantee that California Chrome will win the 146th Belmont Stakes, becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, I can guarantee there’s a sure thing for anyone who wants to bet the race. This...

Even though Warren Flagg, the retired FBI agent who's at the center of this brewing piece of news, was pretty definitive with his words, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban isn't having any of it: To set the record straight. I have never hired or consulted with any former FBI agents to investigate our 2006 Finals.

We need to have a debate about whether we really want a full casino attached to every smartphone in America. With the wave of the executive branch magic wand, unfettered Internet gambling could soon be imposed on all 50 states. When the Department of Justice (DOJ) unilaterally reinterpreted the 1961 Wire Act in December 2011, the DOJ circumvented the democratic process and opened the door for a massive policy change absent any significant public debate. We unequivocally oppose the legalization of online gaming.

Between having Republican presidential candidates fly to Las Vegas to kiss his ring, billionaire Sheldon Adelson has managed to fit in time to talk Sen. Lindsey Graham into sponsoring a bill banning Internet gambling. As you may know, Sheldon Adelson is a CASINO OWNER. Internet gambling would compete with his casino business.

Did you fill out a March Madness bracket this year? In many states, if you put money in a pool, that's illegal! The NCAA website warns, "Fans should enjoy ... filling out a bracket just for the fun of it, not ... the amount of money they could possibly win." Give me a break. Americans bet more money on March Madness this year than on the Super Bowl. Politicians can't quite make up their minds about gambling: They approve certain casinos and promote state lotteries but crack down on sports bets and some charity poker games. It seems that government...

Calvin and Zatera Spencer have been having an epic month. On March 12 the Portsmouth, Va., couple won a $1 million Powerball drawing. Then, on March 26, Calvin Spencer won $50,000 in the Virginia Lottery's Pick 4 game. The next day he dropped his wife off at an appointment and stopped at a 7-Eleven in Norfolk to get a $100 Million Cash Extravaganza Scratcher ticket. He scratched the ticket and realized that he had won the $1 million prize, News Channel 3 in Virginia reports. "Baby, we did it again!" he told his wife. According to the news station, the...

Caesars Entertainment announced in a press release Wednesday that it will close Harrah's Tunica on June 2. This is one of three casinos Harrah's operates in Tunica in northern Mississippi. The 1,300 jobs that will be lost makes this one of the biggest layoffs ever in Mississippi, said Richard Bennett, chairman of the House Gaming Committee. The layoffs come at a time when Tunica County had the highest unemployment in state in February at 17.3 percent. Bennett said 75 percent of the jobs are held by Mississippi residents, with the remaining 25 percent of the employees from Tennessee and Arkansas....

Nine people were arrested and some 3,000 fighting roosters and hens rescued when New York authorities busted a cockfighting ring they said was one of the biggest ever uncovered in the United States. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the arrests and said in a statement: "Cockfighting is a cruel, abusive and barbaric practice that tortures animals, endangers the health and safety of the public and is known to facilitate other crimes."