Posts Tagged ‘legal’
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
New Jersey is a state that has long been feeling the brunt of serious declines in revenue. Atlantic City is an area that once was huge in the world of gambling. It was second to Las Vegas alone in offering the best games, deals, entertainment and overall vacation excellence in the country. Then the recession came into play. It seemed like the recession is what eventually brought down the gambling center from its pinnacle of success. And nothing seems to be reviving it, though gambling operators are trying. They are creating even bigger deals and specials, but the market continues to dwindle. Now legislators in the state are getting involved. State senator Ray Lesniak is taking the lead in turning things around. He is pushing for Bill S490 to go through. This is a bill that would allow online gambling to be legalized and regulated throughout the state. His main concern is to use gambling as a means of bringing in huge dollars needed to revive the state’s economy. There was a time when Atlantic City did that, but now it is showing no signs of revival.
No one can debate the huge growth of the online market. Lesniak knows that despite the state’s land based decline in gaming, online gambling is nowhere near the same diminishing state. In fact, online gambling is skyrocketing in popularity with gamers everywhere. No one can debate the ease of wagering online due to its convenience and overall ease. All you have to do is have a secure internet connection and a computer and you can wager to your heart’s content. Lesniak is trying to take advantage of this for the state and is pushing hard for Bill S490 to be accepted. If it does work out, this will be the first state that passes online gambling law for international and domestic gamblers. All money brought in will be used to fuel the economy and turn it around. It is estimated that if this bill is passed it will create over 13,000 new jobs for locals and bring in $1 billion within the first year of operations.
Tags: legal, Lesniak, New Jersey, online
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Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
The question of legalizing online gambling is a big one in the US. Now there are many legislators who are seriously considering making the changes necessary to allow online gambling into their markets. They know that gambling is a $3 billion business right now and experts are projecting that number will more than double in the coming four years. By 2014, gaming should be well worth $7 billion and upwards. This means that any state involved with a legalized gaming plan will be able to benefit in the form of huge tax revenue dollars. Companies already know how lucrative the market is and that is why they are putting millions into developing new games and new promotions for gamers to enjoy. Now states understand that if they can build viable gambling plans, they can take advantage of the huge tax revenue dollars available. It is a time when states cannot turn down the money either—they know that post recession the market has been difficult and there are few other options beyond gambling that can bring in the millions of dollars needed to turn their economies around. It is a sign of how popular gambling is, and legislators are trying to harness that power and use it to fund their state budgets.
In the world of gambling and the US, so far New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut are all embarking on some for on online gambling plans. They want to open that door and hope to bring in huge dollars. In particular New Jersey is interested in creating a good plan due to the failures of Atlantic City. The gambling Mecca has failed in the past few months to return to its former days of glory—in fact it has diminished considerably over the past year. Now the area is in danger of being eliminated altogether unless it finds some way of bringing in patrons again. This is why New Jersey legislators are pushing so hard for some gambling online to replace the lost revenues from the land based casinos of Atlantic City. Only time will tell what is going to happen, but legislators are determined to harness the power of the internet and the popularity of gaming to bring in the money needed for a true change.
Tags: gaming, legal, New Jersey, online
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Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
The midterm elections were an important time for gambling companies. Most states have put the issue of legalizing gambling or at minimum increasing land based casinos on the ballots in some form or another. Some states wanted the voters’ decision on building specific new gambling casinos in their states. They wanted to make sure that gamers are aware of the benefits of gambling, but have the opportunity to see the downside too. Prior to the midterm elections, advertisers on both sides pined and petitioned for their positions to be heard. On one end were the pro-gambling organizations that cite the growth in revenue and job possibilities as the main reasons why gaming companies should be allowed to expand in the markets. They believe that the benefits of gambling companies are the biggest draw to making the moves. They also advertised that gaming companies will bring in millions in tax revenue dollars, thus making the taxation put upon voters that much smaller. On the other side though was the group of organizers who stated that legalizing and regulating gambling would bring more problems than benefits. Sure there would be a rise in revenue due to the increases in gambling, but the ancillary problems would take over a huge chunk of that revenue. Namely, they cited gambling addictions, crime, corruption, money laundering and other illegal activities as the specific things that would weigh heavily on the communities that allowed gambling in.
Gaming regulators were hoping that they would get the backing of the American public for gambling changes, but that isn’t what happened. For the most part voters opted to either maintain the 50-50 split on the issue, or vote against gambling altogether. It was not the outcome gaming operators were hoping for. In addition, now Marco Rubio has moved into the Senate in Florida. Rubio is known as a conservative who most likely will vote against any gambling growth towards legalization. His push regarding the issue is the rise in criminal activity that anti-gambling activists first started to promote while advertising for their own side of the issue. Only time will tell what happens, but gambling is still a hot topic in the world of legislators.
Tags: Florida, gaming, legal, Rubio
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Monday, November 15th, 2010
There are many city legislators in the market who are debating legalizing gambling. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is no different. It has been over a year now that a casino has been built in the area but it has already made a huge affect on the market. The casino has caused more traffic to local stores and most are voicing their pleasure with the casino location. It is the Rivers Casino that was erected just a year ago. It is proof of how the market is ready for gambling again. It may not be wagering at the rates it was in previous times before the recession, but things are moving once again to hefty levels of growth in the market. Some businesses have seen growth rates in their own revenue streams as a result of added traffic. This was the hope when casino operators were first petitioning for permission to put the casino up over two years ago. They promised that it would be a sure fire way to bring in revenue of millions every month in tax revenue dollars—money that could eventually find its way into the market and fund various public programs, education and expansion within the state.
Still there are some local residents who aren’t thrilled. They say that they were forced to improve their businesses so they “looked” better but have not yet received the promised increase in business as a result. They state that though their businesses cater to the public visiting, their own revenue streams have not changed. For example, a local bed and breakfast owner stated that the casino has brought no new overnight patrons to his business despite being in a convenient area to the casino. Still the city overall is happy with the change. They believe that it could take some time for things to revive and most are ready to wait for tangible and lasting changes. Now they are not only looking for increased revenues, but also they are looking for job creation as a result of the casino’s success and eventual expansion. In today’s market bringing in more games is a top way to revive interest in various projects.
Tags: casino, gambling, legal, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
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Monday, November 8th, 2010
Many states in the US are pushing for legalized gambling. They know how much of a financial benefit legalized gambling provides to their legislations. Consider that recently the opening of Hollywood Casino in Perryville Maryland brought in $2 million—and it was open for just the last four days of October. This is the kind of money generating activity that doesn’t come along often in the market—or any market for that matter. This is why so many legislators are pushing so hard for gambling companies to set up in their jurisdictions. The want to benefit from the huge tax revenue dollars that could potentially come in from the games, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The biggest detriment is the social aspect and the various repercussions that gambling could potentially bring. Sure there are millions of dollars to be had, but there also are problems that occur as a result.
One of the main problems is that happens with gambling is that it opens the door for addictions. Remember that the online world of gambling is dependent on having an internet connection. It is hard for people with addictions to stay away from the internet altogether to fight their addiction. For example, an alcoholic can stay out of bars and places that serve alcohol. What is a gambling addict to do to avoid internet access? In today’s world there is internet access almost everywhere—coffee shops, restaurants, cafés, libraries and even some retail outlets. It is one of the biggest ways that they promote their customer base—they offer free wifi connections. It is difficult for gambling addicts to remove the activity from their world completely. So the point of anti-gambling activists is that legalizing gambling could bring in a long list of problems for addicts. And the government would then have to find solutions with recovery support and groups to help them—that all would cost communities extra dollars to manage. Though they would be bringing in millions of dollars as a result of gambling initiatives, they could be portioning out a huge amount of that for creating help centers for addicts. In the end, the debate looms on. People are worried about gambling and worried about the repercussions of legalizing it. Who will win out? No one knows just yet.
Tags: addiction, debate, gambling, law, legal
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Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Many gambling company operators know that now is a critical time in the world of gambling. Barney Frank is a representative who has been fighting hard to write codes that would allow for online gambling. His biggest focus is amending the UIGEA of 2006. If he can come up with the right legislation, this could be a turning point for the US in terms of gambling. In former years it has been a huge debate in the states whether or not to legalize gambling. it isn’t a question of money necessarily, but that could be what wins out in the end. Frank is working overtime with other legislators to create a code that would allow the US to take advantage of that profit, but still protect gamblers. The debates coming from online websites are centered on the UIGEA. Its original purpose, according to its writers, was to protect online gamblers from dangerous online wagering. Gambling activists are noting that it never did that. In fact by prohibiting gambling, all it did was push millions of online wagerers to move to the online world of gambling from other countries. This put them in dangerous positions because in today’s internet market it is easy to set up an offshore company, then bilk people for millions and then run away.
There are a lot of problems with internet gambling. The US tried prohibition and that didn’t work. People are going to wager wherever it is possible is the only thing legislators learned from the UIGEA. China is another country having problems. There they are trying to ban gambling by restricting internet access. This is becoming a heated debate over government censorship and whether or not they can legally do it. Canada is having problems with legalized gambling because of security breaches they have thus far experienced. Overall the problem comes down to writing the right legislative code to do all that it needs to. Barney Frank is taking the helm at the issue, but he has a strong support system also who want to see his legislation passed. Most likely it will eventually get passed, but the question is how long it will take and what the rules will be.
Tags: bill, code, Frank, legal, market, UIGEA
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Friday, November 5th, 2010
Canada is another one of those countries that is working its way through the world of online gambling. Various provinces as of late have been pushing for changes in the world of internet gambling. They are trying to work out ways that allow them to capitalize on the huge growth market. If you recall a few months ago one of the provinces moved in on gambling but had a setback. After just a few hours of operations, a security breach caused the website to have to be shut down. It seemed that hackers were able to get in on the secure website and wreak havoc on the business. This is just one of the problems that Canada has had when it comes to implementing online gambling. the country is pushing for some law, but so far things have been sketchy. There are still lotteries to rely on, but online gambling is back to the drawing board for legislators.
The question of legalizing gambling throughout the country is up for debate still. Some provinces are opting to push ahead and find some type of gambling law, while others are backing off the issue altogether. It seems odd that they are so open to the pastime. Millions of Canadians are calling for some type of legalized gambling. they are doing same thing US players did though when gambling was not open to them. They are playing at offshore companies that allow them to wager. This is something that countries need to learn—if people want to wager, they will do it. Whether that means staying in a legalized system or moving out of their country where gambling is allowed. The underlying problem though is that it causes millions of dollars to be channeled out of a country’s economy and into someone else’s. This is a difficult problem—especially now when gambling companies are offering a huge revenue stream for countries willing to write the proper legal code to implement and support it. Only time will tell if more provinces are willing to move on gambling, but until then, residents are left to seek out offshore companies for their gaming needs.
Tags: Canada, gaming, legal, regulate
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Friday, November 5th, 2010
The world of gambling is highly lucrative. It is a billion dollar business and that is scheduled to double in the coming years. The US is a country that is still debating legalizing and regulating gambling. On one hand, some legislators believe that without those billions of dollars, the US has few other options for revival. The recession was difficult on every market and recovery is proving to be a much more difficult thing than earlier anticipated. On the other hand though, there are also legislators who believe that legalizing gambling would bring more problems than good. They agree that millions of dollars would be brought in but their argument is that gambling would create problems that would need a lot more money to fix. They believe that gambling would create more addictions, more foreclosures, more repossessions and more crime. Communities would benefit from added gambling revenue, but a huge portion of those funds would have to go directly to fixing the problems it created in the first place. No one knows which the actual outcome is, but both sides are fighting it out harshly to be heard.
In the end, it could be that gambling’s legalization wins out. The money most likely is going to be too much for legislators and voters to put off. Not only do increases in gambling facilities bring in money for economies, but they also call for more employees to manage the various casino’s positions. This is great news and right now any mention of more jobs receives a lot of praise from voters. Millions of people were out of work as a result of the recession and now they are still looking. Some had to take jobs they were over-qualified for to get by and the promise of a new job market is highly attractive to them. In the future expect legislators to continue to fight it out over the issue but likely some form of legalized online gambling will enter the US market within the next year. When it does, a lot of entities stand to benefit: companies have access to millions of new customers, communities have access to gambling tax dollars, people have new job potential. Overall it is going to change the market, and hopefully for the good.
Tags: debate, gambling, illegal, legal
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Thursday, November 4th, 2010
More and more countries are moving towards legalized gambling and it is a sign of where the market is going. The gambling market is taking over and making huge dollars for operators. This is fueling gambling to a new level of popularity all over the world. Now the Netherlands are weighing in on their views of gambling. The country’s legislators are making moves to regulate online gambling, stating that prohibition isn’t working. This is a mistake a lot of countries, including the US, have made. They believe that putting a ban on gambling will cause people to stop wagering. History has proven that this is far from what will happen. Just look at the US UIGEA. It was meant to ban internet gambling but all it did was push US gamers to use offshore companies, and in turn fuel their money into other economies. In the end all the US did was to push money out of the country and that money is non-recoverable. Now the legislators are left to scramble and work through their own plan for legalizing online gambling but US gamblers already are playing in mass numbers at non-US gambling websites. This is pushing billions out of the country.
Legislators in the Netherlands don’t want to be in that same boat. They are working to expand their online operations and hoping that creating legal gambling will push illegal operations out. If there is some workable regulatory system, then criminals will be forced to close up shop if their market is gone. It is somewhat an unlikely place for gambling to take on a new form. Holland is by no means a “gambling hub” of the world and it is interesting to see a relatively small country pushing for gambling’s regulation in a big way. They believe that the people of the country need to be protected first and foremost. If that means creating a viable gambling plan, then that is what is prioritized on the desks of legislators. So far they have made strides in the market, but expect the next few months to be telling of where they are going to take the market. Either way, expect gambling to be regulated with a viable plan sooner than anticipated in the Netherlands.
Tags: Holland, legal, legislator, Netherland
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Thursday, November 4th, 2010
It is no secret that gambling is a big business market. People are weighing in on their own opinions of how big it is, but no one can truly hone in on a number due to the overwhelming growth going on. There are signs though and gaming operators are watching them closely. Betfair.com recently announced that it is going public and that move alone could create $2.3 billion in additional money. In addition US companies are also moving into the publicly traded market. Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and MGM Mirage all have pushed themselves to the London Stock Exchange recently and are making a big showing. Betfair.com was also noted as one of the top ten biggest companies in the world in terms of overall value. This means that gambling is no longer an underground business—it has quickly driven itself to the level of respect and true profitability in the market.
The US is lagging behind though—as some experts claim. They are saying that legislators are dragging their feet at a time when that is going to affect the nation’s economy the most. There is a true rise in online gambling and US gamers are a huge part of that. It is no secret that they want to wager and are going to do so wherever they can. The US should have learned their lesson back in 2006 when the government rendered online gambling illegal through the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. It was supposed to push Americans away from gambling, but in the end all it did was cause them to look outside the US for their gaming needs. People started wagering, and still do, in mass numbers at offshore casinos. The internet has made it possible for people to take advantage of the world market and that is exactly what they did in this instance. It makes the question of legalizing gambling in the US that much more important. There are some forms of gambling that are legal in the states, including horse race wagering, some land based casinos and state run lotteries, but this is small compared to what legalization would bring. Legislators are revisiting the issue and most likely are going to have to come up with some solution in coming months.
Tags: gambling, legal, legislation, US
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