Online Casinos Directory

It’s no secret that California is under a huge financial burden these days. Since the recession, the state has suffered greatly and is having a hard time recovering. The recession brought hefty foreclosure rates, a huge unemployment cost and overall depression to the state. Now, it has few options in terms of bringing in much-needed revenue. One of the newest trends in the US is to find creative ways of legalizing gambling. Gambling has proven its worth—it is a billion-dollar and growing business. No one anticipated the overwhelming response gambling would get when it was first introduced to the market. Sure land-based casinos have been popular, but that didn’t mean that they would translate well into the online gambling market.

Over the years, land-based casinos have found a lot of success with bringing in tourists. States have used them to create a tourist buzz and in turn a new revenue stream. Once online gambling came into play, it was not known if people would continue gambling, or cut back due to the overwhelming possibilities. Online gambling took off and proved to be a huge draw in the market. If you look at the numbers, it is one of the only industries that has consistently grown over the past five years, without any dip. Since the recession, it has only gained momentum due to its convenience and affordability. Though land-based gambling can be costly—of both money and time—internet gambling proves to be a popular alternative because it overcomes both.

If you love land-based gambling then check out internet gaming. Most likely if you are in California you will soon see a lot of new gambling activity. The state is under a lot of pressure to find millions of dollars for the 2011 budget’s needs, and there are few options that will bring in that kind of money other than gambling. Legislators are now debating the possibilities and how to write laws that make it truly possible to legally gamble in the state. Only time will tell how long it takes, but most likely in coming months the state will embrace gambling and gaming activities that involve wagering online and at land-based casino locations.

The question of legalizing gambling is taking center stage for many legislators and creating a new political debate to sort through. Georgia is another state that is taking on the issue full steam. Attorney General and Gubernatorial candidate Thurbert Baker would like to see gambling brought to the state’s budget. His hope is that gambling will fund the state’s education program for the coming years. Since the recession Georgia, like other states in the US, has found itself hampered financially by troubles due to the recession. Many programs have no option but to be cut if the state cannot find ways to bring in added revenue to sustain them.

Baker is just one of the legislators who is opting for bringing in casino gambling as a money-generating activity, rather than see huge education cuts in the budget, His main goal is to take the revenue from gambling and fuel it directly into the state’s education fund. He is currently estimating that over the next ten years gambling could bring in well over $2 billion in tax-revenue dollars. Much of Baker’s platform is dependent on the public perception of gaming and using it as a way to fuel the budget further in coming years. It may be difficult for people to say no to the huge estimate and naysayers are already accusing the Attorney General of gross exaggerations when it comes to the estimated revenue stream of gambling’s legalization in the state. They believe that the numbers will be much lower, and that they will be not as stable as reported by those who want to pass legislation for gaming.

The primary election in Georgia is July 20 and if Baker is going to make gambling a major issue in his platform, he needs to get the word out quickly. Voters are already forming preconceived notions of the issue and seeing this is Baker’s main focus in all his press, they may have already discounted him from the race. Right now Roy Barnes, the favorite candidate to win, is already winning votes by citing his decision to keep the issue in the hands of the people.

The market of online gaming has suffered a big hit due to the recession. The unemployment rate and foreclosure rates both rose quickly. It put consumers in difficult financial situations and gambling was quickly pushed out of their budgets. That was horrible news for casinos that depend on consumers having and spending their discretionary funds. When those funds were eliminated from most budgets, casinos quickly lost huge revenue dollars. In particular, markets where gambling was a primary source of income felt the cash crunch. Gambling revenue brought in $10.5 billion, or 47.8 percent of total revenue brought into the state. There are two-hundred casinos in the state and they contributed a reported $778.7 million in gaming taxes and fees combined. The totals added together make up about 7% of the gaming totals.

Las Vegas is a city that did not fare well during the recession due to its overwhelming dependence on gambling as a money-generating activity. The entire state of Nevada was hit hard by the recession and is having a different time rebounding. The job situation in America is slowly turning around but only nascent signs of reinvigorating. In the mean time Nevada operators are hoping to bring more consumers in with specials and outstanding bonus offerings. If you are looking for a deal, now is the time to look at Las Vegas and see all the specials available. As a market, the city is coming together and looking to its own future as a gambling center of the world. Most notably, Harrah’s has gained some recent publicity due to its move to the online gambling world. In fact, Harrah’s is the first company to make tangible moves to prepare itself for the future of virtual gambling.

The online world is where the market seems to be moving and companies want to be ready with the infrastructure to handle the change. If predictions are accurate, online gambling will grow exponentially throughout the coming months. In particular since the US is moving closer and closer to regulating and legalizing online gambling as a means of bringing in tax-dollar revenues. Las Vegas and the entire state of Nevada are hoping to be on the cuttign edge of the changes and be ready to capitalize on them quickly.

It’s no secret that the gambling market has suffered greatly as a result of the 2008/2009 recession. Las Vegas is having problems with recovery and the numbers are proving it. Recently the Gaming Control Board, the GCB, released a statement saying that the top earning Nevada casinos have reported a gross earning loss of 6.8 Million dollars for the 2009 fiscal year.  The information on gaming is a report of the combined financial information for Nevada gaming licensees that grossed $1 million or more in gaming revenue during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009. During the 2009 fiscal year, there were 260 casinos in Nevada that grossed $1 million or more in gaming revenue. Together, these casinos generated a net loss of $6,778 billion from total revenues of more than $22 billion. Total revenue is not simply money gambled in casinos, but rather also it includes room rates, show prices, food, beverages, gift purchases, and all other expenditures inside these 260 Nevada Casinos. 

The net income or loss is the money retained by casinos after expenses have been paid, but prior to deducting federal income taxes and prior to accounting for other expenses. Gaming revenue accounted for $10.5 billion, or 47.8 percent of total revenue. The 260 casinos in the report paid $778.7 million in gaming taxes and fees, which equated to 7.4 percent of their gaming revenue. Clark County had 149 casinos grossing $1 million or more in gaming revenue during fiscal 2009, which generated a combined net loss of $6.5 billion from total revenues of $19.2 billion.

The losses can be attributed to a number of causes, some of the most notable include; less spending per hand on table games, fewer visitors staying in casino hotel, and shorter stays by tourists at these hotels.  While gaming represents nearly fifty percent of all revenue, the other fifty percent has seen nearly the same amount of losses that gambling has seen. The question for top Nevada casinos, now, is how to try and stimulate spending by tourists so 2010 will not see the extreme losses that were seen in 2009. The slight economic upturn the country has seen is also expected to boost casino revenue for the 2010 fiscal year.  Only time will tell whether or not the projected changes become a reality, but hopefully for the Las Vegas economy, things are on the rise.

The American Gaming Association reported that revenues for casinos in the state of Illinois are down by 9.3%. The study was done to gauge whether or not the new anti-smoking laws would have an effect on revenues. Unfortunately, they did.  There was a long-standing fight for smoking to be kept in gambling facilities in the state. Many casino operators believed that the move to stop smoking on their casino floors would have an adverse affect on their income and they were right. Despite objections, the state still banned them from allowing smoking on their floors.

True to their initial thoughts, banning smoking from casino floors did hamper sales. It caused a good portion of the population to lose the one place they could go and smoke freely. Operators fought hard to keep smoking open to their patrons but legislators decided that it wasn’t fair to ban smoking everywhere but casino floors. Though casino operators hoped for a different outcome, the verdict was that smoking should be banned. And true to their predictions, patronage is down.

Of the 14 states that allow gambling, Illinois ranked 3^rd in revenue decline, only behind New Jersey and Nevada. The drop in revenues was not as big as it was in 2007 to 2008 when indoor smoking was banned throughout the state of Illinois. The industry trade group showed casino revenues in Illinois dropped by 20.9 percent in 2008 compared with a year earlier, the sharpest decline in the country. Overall the state is looking for new ways to bring in revenues due to the harrowing recession of the past 18 months. The problems created by the recession are having a detrimental effect on the economy in general and the casino industry is suffering. Las Vegas has posted some of the biggest losses over the past few months and the city is looking to spur patronage. Illinois is another market that is suffering and the banning of smoking is not helping. Though casino operators hope that the law will be changes, most likely the ban on smoking is here to stay. Casinos will be left with finding alternatives to bring in new customers.

Illinois race tracks will tell a state gaming commission that allowing slot machines will help Illinois’s poor economy.  Race tracks all over the country have been suffering due to the recession. One of the biggest issues of the economic downturn was a lack of discretionary spending among consumers. They cut back on all spending—from groceries and cars to vacations and hobbies. It was a difficult situation. Add to it the staggering unemployment rate that left millions of Americans without a job and it’s sure fire disaster for the market. People need to start getting back into the workforce, but with over 2.5 million jobs eliminated it’s difficult for even the most educated consumer to find placement. It made people worry about their financial futures and the future of the economy as a whole.

Race tracks are not different in the market. People cut back on spending and that included betting at race tracks. Many tracks throughout the country have had to file bankruptcy or close down completely to manage. Without some new product, it seems that race tracks may continue to close down. That’s why many are calling for slots integration to bring in new customers and in turn, new revenue. The biggest advantage of slots is that they have proven to be highly lucrative in today’s economy. Even Las Vega touts the benefit of having slots and cites that their slots parlors bring over 60% of their average revenue into the business. Race tracks know this and want to save their own operations with the inclusion of slots. Unfortunately, they need permission to do so.

Racing officials will say that allowing racinos at Illinois tracks will make up for revenue lost from the state’s new law permitting poker machines at bars. The poker machine law was expected to help fund state’s $30 billion, multi-year infrastructure rebuilding plan, the Post-Dispatch reports. But is only on a voluntary basis and many municipalities have not yet agreed to allow it. Lobbyists are pushing harder than ever for the reform to be considered. It will take a few months, but soon people will see if slots are going to be introduced to race tracks.

One of the problems with table gambling and managing its revenues is that it is unstable. Though many governments are looking to legalize and regulate gambling, they are not fully aware of how the industry will evolve in coming months. A move that many legislators are making is to budget projected gambling dollars into their upcoming 2010 budgets. They are already earmarking funds to go to things like education, roads, development and public works programs. Legislators are thinking optimistically about the outcome and already portioning out millions of dollars in funding.

The problem with this plan, however, is that many critics are saying that legislators are “counting their chickens before they hatched.” One thing that is true of the gambling industry is that it is highly unreliable. Though it has grown in past months, despite the recession, it isn’t money that can necessarily be relied upon to come in steadily. Mark Cohen, gambling analyst, said, “Gambling revenue has its ups and downs…if you look at the recent recession, it’s clear to see how volatile the market has proven to be.”

One state that seems to be making this mistake is Pennsylvania. Governor Ed Rendell was so sure that table gambling would bring in millions that he allowed accountants to write the projected revenue into the upcoming 2010 budget. In reality, table games are not even legal in the state. Rendell has tried to push lawmakers to move quickly on passing the table games bill. Unfortunately, legislators have had a difficult time sorting out any rulings that would move the new law forward.

Illinois is just another state in the US that has a huge deficit to deal with. The state has a high unemployment rate, faltering housing values, and a dismal economy. Much like most states post-recession, Illinois is trying to figure out how to fix their huge budgetary shortfalls.  States nationwide are looking to gambling as a cure-all, hoping it will bring in the necessary funds to shore up state coffers. Most industry insiders are predicting that the economy won’t be visibly improving until mid-2010. With numbers like this it’s no wonder why Illinois legislators were trying to get video slot gambling approved as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, there seems to be a hold up.

New signs are showing that it should be at least another year before the state is able to legalize video gambling machines in bars, restaurants and truck stops. The delay is coupled by further information that has industry analysts saying that the number of communities opting out of using gambling as state funding is not large enough to make a serious dent in the financial projections. So far the state is hoping to bring in between $288 and $534 million by installing video gambling in various locations throughout its borders. Senior analyst Eric Noggle said that the communities that are opting out of the funding are only up to about 10% of the overall state populace. Although it may move closer to 20% by next year, there is still a huge amount of funding to create with legalizing gambling. The numbers will have to be amended if that number nears 20%, but the millions are still there.

So far Illinois is joining the US in debates over legalizing and regulating gambling and then using the funds to bring in money to the economy.  Though it looks like a great option, critics warn that no state should think of gambling as a “sure-fire” hit and base funding on its revenues.  Like anything else, the gambling industry ebbs and flows. It may provide millions of dollars one year and provide only a sliver the next. Noggle added, “The economy is always moving up and down, and that includes every industry. You never know how people will be spending in three, five or ten years from now.”

Gaming analyst Brad Dawkins stated, “US states are realizing that gambling is the one thing that can get them through these tough economic times. That is why we are seeing a shift in policy from limited gambling, to full-scale gambling in many of these states.”   In Ohio there have been serious moves to bring gambling to the forefront. Director of the State Lottery Gerald Aubin just authorized a slots parlor Twin Rivers to run 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. It hasn’t been announced yet when the slots parlor will move to the new hours, but the move is expected to generate much-needed funds to the state.

Voters in Ohio have rejected casino gambling on several previous occasions, but recently the vote turned around. Now citizens seem to be accepting gambling slowly. The idea was pitched to them from an economic standpoint. Legislators cited job creation and tax relief with the added revenues from gambling as a reason for voters to support the legalization of gambling. It seemed to have worked.

In Pennsylvania, lawmakers are closing in on allowing table games at their casinos. It is part of an aggressive casino gambling expansion that has taken place over the past couple of years in the Northeast. Several other states have also expanded their casinos’ hours of operation and betting limits.

Some critics believe lawmakers around the country have simply turned their backs on morality and ethics due to the hope of making millions of gambling dollars. They believe that by accepting gambling as legal, legislators are opening the door for many other problems to enter the market. They cite the growth in crime and addiction as the two main reasons to not allow gambling to be legalized. They also believe that legalizing gambling as a way to fund government and public programs is highly unreliable. It may answer the immediate need for funding, but is it going to be the long-term solution many legislators are hoping for? Critics believe that it won’t serve the community well over time and it will do more harm than good. They also believe that without the necessary precautions such as an expansion of gambling addiction resources and locations, the public is in great jeopardy.