Online Casinos Directory

Now Chicago is in on the debates over gambling. This time it is the City Council that is considering a change in the city’s gambling laws. They like other areas see the value in bringing in gambling and expanding it. The market is huge—it is a billion dollar industry—and that is something that cities everywhere want to take advantage of. They know that there are few other activities that could possibly bring in the same amount of tax revenue dollars. A good casino can bring in a consistent multi-million dollar revenue stream every month! Those are huge numbers to pass up for any city council, much less areas where the recession hit the hardest. Now in Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle is backing a proposal to put a referendum vote onto the ballot in February of 2011. Voters will be asked whether or not they believe that gambling should be under prohibition throughout the coming years. It will be telling of what the Chicago market thinks and if gambling is positively perceived by the voting public, it could change the gambling laws within the large city.

It was a year ago that the state of Illinois decided that video gambling should be legalized but every city had an individual right to ban or allow the games. Of course once the state allowed them, they had to be legalized, but cities were given a window of time where they could still keep the machines out of their markets. One of the biggest draws of allowing gambling now is to help businesses along with revenue streams. Namely bars and pubs would take advantage of the gambling machines and bring in new customers as a result. So far gambling has proven lucrative for all the markets it has entered and Chicago is next in line to possibly go that route. We will see what the February vote tells about online gamblers and what they decide. This is the first step in moving towards legalizing gambling throughout the state, but it shouldn’t take long to come up with laws that can regulate gaming for the public. No longer will they have to travel to Indiana for gambling, but Illinois could become a hub for the games.

November 2nd is the date many states are going to get telling signs of whether or not gambling is a positive move for the state. Most states are pushing for some kind of gambling related vote to be included on the ballot. If you are in Iowa the story is no different. Gambling operators within the state are hoping that their casinos will remain in business but it is up to the people to vote for what they want to do. Most likely it won’t happen—the mass vote has not been anti-gambling since way before 1991, when riverboats were first opened in the state. Though the question of gaming seems to be a shoe-in with residents, that doesn’t mean that it won’t appear on the ballot for years to come. In fact, state legislation dictates that it has to be included on the ballot every 8 years to get the public’s view on the issue. So far, the average support for gambling has been 73% and that number is expected to grow even higher as months of campaigning go on.

The question of public perception of gambling has long been a focus of various legislators and organizations. They believe that its legalization is not something that legislators can make a decision on because their main impetus is money. Consider that gambling is a $4 billion business and that means that there is a huge advantage to any state that brings in casinos or legalizes online gambling. Many organizations believe that legislators are blinded by the money available and no longer looking at the true repercussions of approving gaming. There is a downside of crime, corruption, money laundering and addiction that many legislators have not formally addressed and this is creating problems for pro-gambling organizations. Now legislators are looking at the downside of gaming and trying to come up with contingency plans that would change the way cities and states integrate gambling into their economies. It could be a great advantage if managed properly and legislators are now taking a second look at the integration process. They want to utilize the millions of tax revenue dollars on the table, but protect residents at the same time.

Maine is another state where legislators are working to build proper gambling laws. One of the biggest draws is the huge tax revenue dollars gambling can bring in but now another benefit is swaying the masses. It seems that one secondary, and almost equally important, repercussion of bringing in gambling to an area is arising. Now it is the hope of job creation that is spurring voters to opt for gambling plans. For example, if a top-dollar casino is built in a city, that creates the automatic need for anywhere between 500 to 1,500 new jobs for locals. In a time when the economy is still recovering from the recession, it’s hard to say no to those kinds of numbers.

Maine is a state that is going through just that with voters eying the job possibilities these changes would bring. Two years ago voters decided against a $180 million casino just north of Portland. They didn’t see the true value of the change—not just twenty-four months later, though, there is a different result
A recent referendum vote showed that Maine residents would be welcoming of the new project. They believe it will inevitably bring at least 1,000 new jobs to the market. And, politicians are promising that it will also fuel millions of dollars into the struggling economy. Both are proving to huge to pass up for voters. The other change is that this time, there are a group of investors who are committed to the project. They are pushing for a full-service casino to be built that is going to offer poker, all table games, craps and blackjack, along with slot machine gaming. The biggest draw is that people are desperate for new job possibilities in the state. They believe the sheer number of jobs is going to turn their economies around more quickly. At minimum they are hoping that it will push individual finances to a better state. The unemployment rate in the state is high- still lingering at 10.6%, which is considerably higher than the nationwide average. Hopefully with the new casino, things will finally start to change and the unemployment rate will return to a manageable level.

The state of Ohio is in the midst of serious debates over online gambling. Governor Steve Strickland is leading the legislators of the state to allow racetracks with slots, or racinos, to be established. It’s been a few years now that gambling and racinos in particular have been up for debate. The Governor is well aware of the struggling budget within the state and gambling is set to bring in the necessary funds to overcome. There are few other options in at state’s disposals that would bring in millions of tax-revenue dollars. Though legislators believe legalizing gambling, racinos to be exact, is the most reliable way to bring in money, there are other entities within the state that disagree.

Namely LetOhioVote is an organization that is petitioning for state legislators to allow the voting public to decide on the issue of legalized gambling. They want the issue to be on the November ballot and decided by the people. Organizers of the group firmly asserted that they have no opinion as to whether or not gambling should be legalized or not—that argument is not a part of their agenda. Rather, their only concern is that the people are given the proper information to make an informed decision. They want to be sure that politicians are not painting a more positive picture of the gambling issue in an effort to bring in millions of tax-revenue dollars. There is a repercussion of having gambling facilities and online gambling legalization. Some experts are citing the increase in congestion from traffic if land-based casinos are built and other are noting the increase in gambling addictions to deal with. These are just a few issues to deal with for the state and any other state that brings gambling into its legislature.

LetOhioVote is campaigning hard for the change to be put into the hands of the public. Legislators would have preferred to pass the issue and collect on funds. Now, it is in the hands of the voting public whether or not gambling will be a staple in the finances of the state. Within the next few months the issues should be sorted out because the voting public will have spoken.

Cordish Cos is a casino development company that has been around for a while now and has gained respect in the world of gaming as a leader. Now the company is planning on building a slot machine parlor in Anne Arundel County of Maryland. The group sees the move as a lucrative one that will help the state to recover from the former recession.

Like with most other decisions on gambling though, there is another side. Cordish Cos has a strong opponent trying to block its move to build the casino. Earlier last month opponents began gathering signatures to take the slots issue up to a November vote later this year. They want the people to be able to make the decision on gambling and they want the adequate time inform the public of what the new pending casino development will mean to the neighboring communities. Since that time, 19,000 signatures have already been gathered to give support to the opposition. If the votes are approved then they are enough to bring the issue to referendum. However, Cordish Cos is not taking it lying down.

The company is now fighting back against the signatures and filing a lawsuit to make the names invalid due to the method of collections used to get them. Cordish Cos issued a statement citing the names as questionable because anyone could have made the names up. They don’t come along with any type of verification or proof. The lawsuit is heading to the Maryland courthouse and Cordish Cos is hoping its position will negate the signatures, thus eliminating the issue off of the 2010 November ballot. They don’t want the opposition to have time to advertise and petition for the blocking of their plans. Recent polls however are showing that Cordish Cos may not have much to worry about. Residents in the Anne Arundel area are showing a growing excitement over the casino facility coming to their area. There is a lot of support for the construction and most likely even if a vote is taken on the 2010 ballot, it will ultimately approve the creation of the casino for the area.

Alabama is a state that has long been in the midst of debates over gambling and now bingo, namely, is up to the chopping block. Governor Bob Riley has been a force against gambling since the issue first arose a few years ago. He has consistently stood against it and pined for legislation to ban it within the state’s borders. Now he is taking aim at the state’s electronic bingo machines because they are an offshoot of slot machines, which are illegal within the state. So far the Governor has created a task force that is set to block all bingo machine gaming. The group must police the state and has already closed down over thirty gambling halls and left a few hundred people out of their jobs. Many of those closings happened in low-income, black areas and that is causing tension.

Black leaders are now issuing complaints about the loss of jobs in particular. They see the economy as still a harrowing one where jobs cannot be eliminated. They are also citing the losee of tax revenue from gambling as a reason why the governor should stop his adamant moves to thwart it altogether. Former state Senator George Clay is taking notice of the issue and citing the 1950s move to prevent desegregation of schools by shutting down the Macon County economy. He states that the moves Riley is making are reminiscent of the illegal moves made over a half-a-century ago.

John Tyson is the task force commander and he insists that this is not a repeat of the former incident. The one happening now does not prey on the innocent, as Tyson stated. Despite his argument, many are seeing a correlation between incidents since the communities involved are losing so much in the process. They claim that the governor is targeting low-income neighborhoods and they have no other reasonable replacement activities for jobs or revenue. Various individuals within the community are garnering help from political figures to stand against the governor’s move. They want to create a support system for laid-off bingo hall workers and a referendum vote to reopen the halls.

Ohio is still working hard to sort out their slots issues. Governor Stickland is suporting the postponement of a budgeted reduction in income taxes that came into effect on September 30th. The Governor is stating the postponement is the best option for the state as they try to figure out the $851 million deficit in educational funding. The shortfall in funds is a difficult one to manage and Strickland was hoping to use revenues from slots as a way to close the gap on teh huge cost to the state. Unfortunately the Ohio Supreme Court just decided that to use slots in the state as funding there must be an official voter referendum. In other words, the people need to decide if this is acceptable and make the decision for their state.

Though slots were approved by the Governor, now things are up in the air until the referendum vote decides the outcome. One of the organizations petitioning for the vote was LetOhioVote.org. This is a group that, just like their name implies, is trying to let the state citizens vote on whether or not they believe that slot machine revenues are a desired way of funding government programs, education and other funding needed to close the gap on the huge deficit in the budget. LetOhioVote.org has made headlines as of late due to their active campaigning for signatures that would secure the decision for the state to let people decide on the issue.

In 2005, legislation approved a lowering of personal income tax rates by 4.2% each year from 2005 throughout 2009 in the state. This means that a family that earned, say $50,000, the delay in the income tax reduction play would produce a tax bill approximately $80 more than they normally would have paid. Strickland is hoping that the income tax change is a more reasonable action than laying off teachers or suspending educational programs.  Without slots revenue, Stickland said that the satate funding would have to be decreased by 10% and in two years the total cuts would add up to approximately $37.9 million.  It will most likely be an issue that will be settled by the people of the state when the referendum is voted on in 2010.

Georgia’s “Special Equine Study Committee” voted this morning to include a referendum for voters to decide on legalizing horse racing in the state. It would also, in turn, legalize gambling on those races. As of this time, thirty-two states have at least one horse racing track and many have off-track betting parlors. Georgia is looking to capitalize on the gambling issue by allowing it into the state’s legislature.

The debate over legalizing gambling is raging in the US. States, one by one, are working to come up with legislation that legalizes and regulates gambling for the purpose of the huge tax revenue dollars available.  The recession wreaked havoc on economies and left states with the difficult task of overcoming huge deficits. Each state has a long list of projects it is trying to fund, with no reasonable way of funding it.  For this reason, almost every state is looking to the billions of dollars in gambling and looking for citizen support in terms of finding laws to bring it into the mix.  Of course there are proponents who believe that increasing casinos, race tracks and other gambling locations will create jobs and bring in money to the economy.  On the other hand there are critics who believe that increased and legalization of gambling will surely bring in other corrupt activities and crime to the areas. They also worry that making gambling legal will inevitably increase the number of addictions.

Overall, legislators are looking to push for gambling’s legalization and regulation. Though there are societal concerns such as addiction and crime, many believe that the amount of money available is too much to deny.  They believe that if the proper safeguards are built into the system it can work and not jeopardize American citizens.  Only time will tell if the plan works, but due to the huge tax dollars potentially available, most states and legislators will put their best efforts into legalizing and regulating gambling.  As of the latest poles in Georgia, the decision was split at about 50/50. It may come down to which side has the most advertising dollars to sway the voting public.