Online Casinos Directory

The US is slowly moving to legalize gambling. States are individually coming up with legislation to handle gambling and to bring millions of dollars to the state budgets. Though gambling is a hot topic now that the recession is coming to an end, it is still not always positive. The US lawmakers and police are cracking down quickly on illegally operated gambling rings. One of the most recent involved a cyber cafe in Murray, Utah. It was at Fortune Cyber Cafe in Murray that was the scene for the chaos. Five people were arrested in a bust at the Fortune Cyber Cafe. Each one was charged with felony counts of money laundering. The police had been surveying the establishment for some time throughout the investigation. They were trying to shore up a rock solid case against the cafe and it took time to build up enough evidence. “This raid was similar to many that have been taking place across the country,” said Gaming Analyst Brad Dawkins, “The police agencies watch the operation for several months, and when they have enough evidence, they move in and raid the illegal gambling operations.”

Police noted that to play at the cafe, people were instructed to purchase time on a card. Then they inserted the card into a computer where gambling was allowed. Games of chance are illegal in the state, so police worked hard to crack down on the priority case. Despite the relative ease of the arrest and investigation, many anti-gambling supporters are citing this as the first of many illegalities regarding games of chance. Charles McCormack, critic of gambling within the state, said, “Today kids think that gambling is normal. They don’t understand that you can get into serious trouble if you are caught in the fray…”

It will take a while for people to get used to the new laws, but with crackdowns as publicized as this one, operators of illegal casinos and/or illegal poker establishments will need to be ready for the change. As of right now games of chance are illegal in the state of Utah. Until that changes, citizens need to be used to gambling at legal land-based casinos or at legal online casinos.

Pennsylvania is still in the midst of serious restructuring regarding gambling. The state is making moves to allow casino gambling. Governor Ed Rendell signed a new budget in late October and much of the budget centers around colleges and universities in the state. Money from gambling has already been earmarked for the educaitonal institutions. The interesting thing is that gambling is seen as a negative ethical move for states. Critics of the move are citing crime, addiction and corruption as main reasons why it should be kept out of the legislature. The biggest draw, however, is the amount of funds readily available from gambling. It’s no secret that gambling is a billion-dollar business. States throughout the US are working hard to create letgislation that would allow taxing and operations of casinos, but land-based and online.

Part of the problem with Rendell’s move, however, is that the way funds will be channeled to educational institutions is still unclear. There are several proposals on the table and lawmakers will have to iron the issue out soon. With the next school year coming up, it’s imperative that schools know if they are getting additional funds to put students through college. Rendell’s own criticism is that the laws in place should have been instituted years ago.  Critics also believe that the state has been dragging its feet on the issue. No one knows why, but those in favor of bringing gambling to the market are questioning the move of procrastination. Gary Tuma, Rendell’s aide, said, “The governor has said legislative leaders need to get serious about the table games bill. He is disappointed and frustrated. There seems to be no sense of urgency about this bill.”

The state is lagging due to “more pressing issues.” With the recession on its tailend out of the market, things are still leveling off. Most businesses suffered greatly due to the economic downturn. Although it is seen that gambling is a positive overall move that would bring millions of dollars into the state, there are still some critics who believe the problems will outweigh the positive advantages. Only time will tell what legislation the state will come up with and how casino gaming will be brought into the general consumer marketplace.

The state of Colorado is helping parents collect money for child support. The state is in the midst of debates over legalizing and regulating gambling, just like other states. It is citing the usual two-sided argument. On one side there are legislators who see the millions of potential tax-revenue dollars that gambling would bring to the market. They believe that the money would allow for post-recession clean up of finances and the funds could be earmarked for various building and public works programs that, have yet to be funded.  On the other hand three are those who oppose legalizing gambling. They believe that the move to legalize gambling would bring more problems than good. Namely, gambling addictions, crime and corruption are all cited as potential issues if gambling is allowed into states.

Interestingly Colorado is a state that is making moves to incorporate something good into its gambling plan. The state is helping parents receive full child support payments. A law has just gone into effect that requires any winners of jackpots over $1,200 automatically go through a computer check to make sure the winner does not owe back-child support payments of any kind. If the winner does, then the winnings go directly to the state to apportion out to the child’s guardian for his or her care. It’s an interesting offshoot of the gambling law in that it proposes to do good to the ethics of the society. So far over $600,000 has been given out to parents in need of back-child support.

“This is a checks and balances system that should be in every state where there is casinos,” says Annabelle Slaton, “There are many parents who are not paying child support but are instead using the money to gamble. This should not be allowed.” California lawmakers believe that this is an excellent way to keep track of deadbeat dads and force them to come up with funds for their children. Ben Balister, gaming analyst, said, “To know that someone cannot go to a casino and spend money that should be going to their children is comforting. These deadbeats not only should have their winnings taken, they should be in jail.”

Issue 3 for the state of Ohio is a big deal. It’s a referendum vote that would allow the state to bring casinos to four major cities. Each casino is set to be a state-of-the-art facility that is able to offer all gambling needs to tourists. Mahoning County Democrat David Betras released the results of the new poll. Although it was thought of initially as a good plan to be transparent with the state residents, it proved to be an issue with many residents. A poll, conducted by a Florida company shows that Ohio residents, by a majority, will still be voting in favor of Issue 3, which would bring casinos to four major cities in the state. Betras spun the poll to look as if support was down for the casinos from a recent newspaper poll. He was cited for being unethical in his methods.

There was a poll commissioned by some of the biggest newspapers in the state that showed 95% of voters are in favor of bringing casinos to the state through Issue 3. The poll released by Betras showed that support was only in the 50% range. Melissa Belton, voter from the state, said, “Betras spun this poll to make it look like support was down, but that is not really the case. He is just against the casinos and is trying to sway voters that it is a bad idea. I guess if bringing jobs and revenue to Ohio is a bad idea, then Betras is right.” There already have been variou polls conducted to split party lines according to Betras. He believes that Republicans have been selling their commissioned polls to show that Ohio is in favor of the Issue 3 gambling law. The issue will be resolved in the November election with many signs pointing towards Ohioans voting in favor of casinos for the first time in history. The unemployment rate and fiscal condition in Ohio are a main reason for the change of heart. Legislators are promising millions of dollars to be brought into the economy and new job creation plans as the main reasons why everyone should support the move.

It’s no secret that Las Vegas is suffering as a result of the recession. The state is one of the hardest hit in the post-recessionary times. Foreclosures are running rampant and the unemployment rate is high. Some new studies are showing that Las Vegas will take years to recover back to its former state of operations. Although it once was the hub of gambling activity, the recession cut tourism drastically. Many are citing Las Vegas’ biggest problem was to center its economy around one market– gambling. Now that people have not been spending for the past year, the state has no other money-generating options to fall back on. It’s a lot like Michigan. Michigan was a state that relied on the car manufacturing industry to sustain it. When companies were closed due to the recession, the state was lost trying to figure out what other industries it had within that were ready to take the place of gambling. Unfortunately, there was no replacement and the state fell hard to difficulties.

In an effort to reinvigorate the market of gambling legislators are discussing lowering the gambling age from 21 to 18. If the age is lowered, the state would hope to build an entire marketing and advertising plan geared towards the younger demographic. Thomaas Slock, lawyer fro Aristocrat Technologies, said, “I personally feel that this is a way that additional revenue could be generated, and if that means keeping our teachers employed and not cutting the state budget any further, i tihnk it should at least be discussed.”

Part of the issue with lowering the gambling age in Nevada is that Arizona and California are already operating with lowered gambling ages. Analyst Bill Murldey said, “If Nevada wants to stay at the top of the casino industry, they need to make some changes. One of those changes is the gambling age limit. Other states are realizing that if men and women can serve in the military, they should be allowed to gamble. This is a change that would be positive for Nevada casinos.” Despite proponents, there are some who believe that lowering the gambling age would create problems. Namely people are concerned that the move would usher in a new young gambling addict within the society and resources would have to be created to serve them for their addictions.

Clinton County Ohio was another jurisdiction looking to bring in casino gambling. The county was pushing hard for a new casino. Like most other areas, legislators there know full well how lucrative gambling can be. They are trying to capitalize on its popularity by opening a casino there. Penn National is a huge name in the world of gambling. The company has been surrounded by controversy lately due to unscrupulous business dealings. Howevever, now the company is fighting against building the casino in Clinton County. Through millions of dollars worth of advertising, they noted to the state that there were loopholds in the famed Issue 6 that would allow a new casino to pay no taxes to the state.  Voters were thrown by the new information and cautiously turned away voters.

MyOhioNow is a group that was on the opposing side- it was pushing for bringing gambling to the state. A spokesperson for the company said, “We remain optimistic. We know there is a large base that supports the idea of a casino in Ohio. With that in mind, MyOhioNow has decided to move forward,” said co-founder Brad Pressman, in a press release. Originally Penn National was set to  build a casino in the Kansas area, but decided to nix the deal when they realized the amount of tribal-owned casinos in the area that would be direct competitors. Since the tribes are already established, it would be difficult to overcome their popularity with new gambling games. The tribes have been running casinos for years and already know how to manage and bring in new patrons consistently. Casinos owned by tribes are still worried however. Despite their popularity, even their numbers are down due to the recession. The tribes are worried that they will have difficulty maintaining their businesses due to the growth in alternative types of gambling and online gambling. The tribes are worried but committed to putting their best foot forward in terms of gambling. The activity is their livelihood and they need the gambling revenues to sustain themselves. In particular post-recession, the tribal owned casinos are concerned about how they are going to make it through the post-recessionary aftermath.

Barney Frank has been instrumental in the push for legalizing and regulating gambling. His main target has been the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, of 2006. The main purpose of the law was to protect online gamblers. Unfortunately, it failed to do the job due to a lack of specific wording. The main complaint of the law is that it never defined what “gambling” is. This created a lot of problems for the market because banks were unclear on what they were supposed to be banning and what activities were legal. Namely some lottery activities were thrown into the mix and deemed unlawful by financial institutions. The activities were later found to be legally exempt from the ban. Overzealous banks that didn’t want fees of any kind were to blame for the overly cautious moves.

The issue of gambling is hot on the mind of Representative Barney Frank. He recently introduced a new legislation that would manage gambling. Not only would it allow for online gambling to exist legally, but it also would allow the US to benefit from revenues via taxation.  It also would take the responsibility of policing transactions away from banking institutions. Part of the problem with giving them the task of regulating activities was that banks were paranoid about missing gambling-related transactions and potentially being at risk for huge fines by the government. Frank’s new bill would first and foremost, be highly specific in wording. Frank is proposing a comprehensive list of what is legal online and what isn’t. Most likely the only activity that will be deemed illegal will be sports betting, but the complete wording has yet to be seen. The most difficult aspect of finding a new law that is adequate in allowing gambling is to create the right wording. Frank has been working on the bill for months now and he has what is being noted as the closest thing to a viable option for legalizing and regulating online gambling. Only time will tell where online gambling goes from here and what the state of it will be after the new amendment to the UIGEA is passed. It isn’t set to be reviewed however until after the new year. Unfortunately there are many other pressing budget issues that are taking precedence over the gambling issue.

Almost everyone is looking to some form of gambling to fund its operations. In the US every state is in the midst of some type of negotiations with laws that would bring gambling revenues to the states’ budget funds. Charity organizations are also in on the funds that gambling brings. Many charities have used “casino nights” as a means of bringing in money. Whether the nights are weekly, monthly or seasonal, charities are well aware of how lucrative they can be. Some charities have used “casino nights” for years to fund their programs and expansion plans.

Today’s market is difficult, however and even charities are having difficult times managing. Just like other organizations, charities are having difficult times bringing in funds. There have been some activities that have worked against charities. Legislators are in the midst of changing gambling laws almost on a month-to-month basis and charities are getting caught up in the mix. Some states have adopted smoking laws that ban smoking inside of public places. This is causing charities to suffer because they are losing patrons due to the new restriction. Another law that is hurting charities is the opened door for casino expansion. While people looked forward to visiting church basements and VFW Halls to gamble, now there are much more sophisticated land-based casinos available. The competition for gambling is proving to be difficult for charities. They can’t compete with top-notch, million-dollar give-a-way casinos.

There is no viable answer for casinos in today’s market. Although many people want to keep gambling alive as a means of funding charity events and charities, the truth is that there is too much competition in the market. In particular with the crops of new casinos on the way and the surge of online gambling, charity gambling could see a true decline in popularity. It is unfortunate how charities may have lost their former funding options with the move to legalize and regulate gmabling. States are making strong moves to bring gambing into the mix so they can collect millions of dollars in gambling tax revenues. Charities may be at a permanent loss in finding funding in the future.

Massachusetts is not new to the gambling market. In fact, the state is one of the most talked about when it comes to gambling. It is working hard to come up with legislation that allows gambling into the state legally and allows millions of dollars into the economy as a result. As of late, however, things have been different.  The state is noting a decline in lottery revenue. According to analysts that is due to the state’s cutback on advertising its lottery.

Governor Duval Patrick is now squaring off against his former ally Democrat Timothy Cahill. Cahill’s platform focuses on Patrick’s “mismanagement” of state coffers. He is using millions of dollars to promote Patrick’s alleged mistakes with millions of dollars in revenue from gambling. One of the main issues is a $8 million reduction in the amount of money that is spent on advertising for the state lottery. Cahill believes the reduction could be the reason for a projected $222 million in revenue losses. Due to an upcoming election, he is using that as his focus.

On the other hand, Patrick refutes the claim that he is mismanaging funds or that the lottery revenues are declining due to a cutback in advertising. He believes that it’s the poor economy and post-recession that is causing the lag in lottery ticket sales. Patrick said, ”The legislative leadership are losing our patience with the excuses with the lottery performance. Just give us a realistic estimate so we can build that into the budget, and not have to do patches and plugs to cope.” Although the issue is hardly settled, state lawmakers are trying to expand casinos within the state. They are hoping to capitalize on the popularity of casinos and online gambling by legalizing and regulating the pastime.

The governor now has allies in top legislative positions. House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray are both in favor of casino expansion. The two leaders have been lobbying fellow lawmakers to make the legal changes necessary to bring casinos to the state. They know the millions of potential dollars that are at stake with the move and want to shore up the state funds. The deficit is another issue that legislators are hoping could be overcome with gambling-tax revenues.

A few years ago Macau would have been an unlikely location for gambling. It is a small island with rolling beaches and beautiful countrysides to enjoy. The gambling industry came into the market, however and quickly took over. Now, Macau is considered to be one of the biggest gambling centers in the world. The country has a wide variety of casinos and every type of game can be found. It has a billion-dollar gambling industry that is fueling the country into new heights of GDP wealth.

The Chinese mainland is critical to the gambling industry in Macau. Chinese President Hu Jintao has a lot of power within the state due to his country’s contribution to the growth of Macau. The dense population of China is a main contributor to the huge number of patrons Macau hosts every year. Because of this President Jintao is now putting in his own desires for how the small peninsula’s gambling industry needs to change in the future. He wants gambling reform and diversification. Part of jintao’s issue is that Macau has largely built its economy on gambling. He believes, however, that if the country does not diversify its industry will end up in the same position as Las vegas.

In the recession Las Vegas suffered greatly. Due to Macau’s focus on the market of gambling, Jintao believes it is setting itself up for a collapse if the gambling industry changes in any way. Las Vegas is one of the most depressed areas after the recession. It’s estimated that a whopping 60% of homes are in foreclosure or in default since the recession. Now, the once-florishing city has a lot of recovery to manage. Jintao is hoping that Macau takes its cues from Las Vegas and how difficult the recession was on its economy. He is hoping that laws in Macau change to protect it from the same economic dangers of building its market on one industry.  Only time will tell if the country is going to make changes, but due to the involvement of China in the Macau market, most likely officials will listen to Jintao and take his cautions seriously.