Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Select your timezone:
Morgan Stanley lowered its estimate for the US Internet gambling market to $3.5 billion by 2017, down from a previous forecast of $5 billion.
The firm cited worse-than-expected technical issues but said it is optimistic about the new industry’s long-term prospects. It forecast an $8 billion market by 2020, versus its initial $9.3 billion estimate.
“We are lowering our estimates to better reflect the insights we have gained following the first few months of operations in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware,’’ the company wrote.
It also lowered its first full-year estimate of New Jersey’s Internet gambling revenue from $541 million to $203 million, citing continuing issues with 6 technology designed to ensure that players are within New Jersey’s borders, and payment-processing options for players.
Morgan Stanley said it sees the possibility of California and Illinois legalizing Internet gambling this year. But it does not expect Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Ohio to do so.
Firm cuts US online gambling estimate 30 percent - Business - The Boston Globe
The firm cited worse-than-expected technical issues but said it is optimistic about the new industry’s long-term prospects. It forecast an $8 billion market by 2020, versus its initial $9.3 billion estimate.
“We are lowering our estimates to better reflect the insights we have gained following the first few months of operations in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware,’’ the company wrote.
It also lowered its first full-year estimate of New Jersey’s Internet gambling revenue from $541 million to $203 million, citing continuing issues with 6 technology designed to ensure that players are within New Jersey’s borders, and payment-processing options for players.
Morgan Stanley said it sees the possibility of California and Illinois legalizing Internet gambling this year. But it does not expect Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Ohio to do so.
Firm cuts US online gambling estimate 30 percent - Business - The Boston Globe
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Capitol Hill conservatives are bracing for a fight they do not want to fight—the push by Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson to legislate a federal ban online gambling.
The fight begins as soon as companion bills are filed in each chamber before the end of the week by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R.-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R.-Utah).
The bills were written by the staff of the Coalition to Stop Online Gambling, the advocacy group funded by Adelson, who has pledged to “spend whatever it takes” to see the legislation passed.
What gives this fight the “#awkward” is the huge give and the huge ask.
The Give: In the 2012 election cycle, Adelson, the chairman and CEO of the $14 billion-a-year Las Vegas Sands conglomerate, gave tens of millions of dollars to GOP presidential candidates former speaker Newton L. “Newt” Gingrich and former Massachusetts governor W. Mitt Romney, in addition to other candidates and the Republican Party. He spent $150 million to defeat President Obama, including giving almost $40 million to Karl Rove and his American Crossroads project.
The Ask: As states like New Jersey, where it is now legal, and Massachusetts, where there is a move to legalize online gaming, Adelson is convinced that online gambling competes with his brick-and-mortar poker rooms. To this end, he is calling on the Congress, and specifically his Republican friends, to outlaw his competition.
The ask has put Republicans in a precarious situation where they are forced to choose between philosophical principles, like federalism, and their opposition to crony capitalism against the obligation to hear out and support Adelson.
Texas Gov. J. Richard “Rick” Perry, for instance, was once one of the leading voices for federalism. But, he appeared to be balancing other priorities when he released his March 24 letter asking Congress to restrict his own state from emulating what New Jersey and others have done or are doing.
The jury was still out when in 2011, Conor Friedersdorf called Perry a “Tenth Amendment turncoat” in The Atlantic. Now we see the verdict vindicates Friedersdorf.
The feeling on Capitol Hill is that the bills will not pass, which sets up the situation, where Republicans take Adelson’s money with their fingers crossed.
The fear is that if enough Republicans sign up for the Adelson gravy train, the bills might reach an irreversible point of no return, where they cannot be turned back
Graham, in a primary fight against Tea Party candidates, has suddenly become interested in a federal solution.
Freedom Works’ Julie Borowski wrote: “Surprise, surprise. Adelson and his wife hosted a Graham fundraiser last year. According to Politico: ‘Adelson has not been a long-time Graham supporter, but in 2013 he and his wife Miriam — who have spread their money widely among Republicans — cut checks for $15,600 in campaign contributions to Graham.’”
Interestingly, Graham is without his fellow members of the new Three Amigos. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.-N.H.), representing the “Live Free or Die” state, has so far stepped away from supporting the Graham project.
State leaders in the Granite State recently opted against allowing gambling in the state, a state prerogative that could be threatened by legislation being pushed by Adelson.
In interfering with states’ rights and establishing federal supremacy to forbid online gambling Congress would also inherently be grant the power prevent states from outlawing the same activities when circumstances or administrations change.
As for the other amigo, Sen. John S. McCain III (R.-Ariz.), one doubts he will join Graham—especially after he was caught playing online poker on his iPhone during a three-hour hearing on whether or not to bomb Syria in September. As for the other amigo, Sen. John S. McCain III (R.-Ariz.), one doubts he will join Graham—especially after he was caught playing online poker on his iPhone during a three-hour hearing on whether or not to bomb Syria in September.
Four years ago, Graham was vocal opposing plans by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) to legalize online gambling. “It appears Majority Leader Harry Reid is searching for a way to expand internet gambling in the United States. I oppose any federal legislation that would force South Carolina to accept legalized gaming.”
Then, Graham was standing up for federalism. “Ten years ago, South Carolina eliminated video poker. Those days are well behind us, and we must be vigilant in opposing any last-minute efforts in Washington aimed at forcing gambling on South Carolina.”
Today, Graham is on the other side, as states, such as Deleware and California, have bills in their legislatures that would legal online gambling inside their state’s borders.
In 2010, Graham was fighting the overreach of the federal government into the affairs of South Carolina. Today, he is the lead sponsor of the overreach bill.
In the House, Chaffetz has to somehow square the circle of the House’s leading libertarian leading the charge for the most brutal form of government intervention in the economy.
Of course, what is really going on is the raw exercise of power politics, and in an election year shaping up as a mid-term landslide for Republicans, one of the biggest supporters of the party is setting it up for fratricide.
Online gambling ban bills drop this week | Human Events
The fight begins as soon as companion bills are filed in each chamber before the end of the week by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R.-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R.-Utah).
The bills were written by the staff of the Coalition to Stop Online Gambling, the advocacy group funded by Adelson, who has pledged to “spend whatever it takes” to see the legislation passed.
What gives this fight the “#awkward” is the huge give and the huge ask.
The Give: In the 2012 election cycle, Adelson, the chairman and CEO of the $14 billion-a-year Las Vegas Sands conglomerate, gave tens of millions of dollars to GOP presidential candidates former speaker Newton L. “Newt” Gingrich and former Massachusetts governor W. Mitt Romney, in addition to other candidates and the Republican Party. He spent $150 million to defeat President Obama, including giving almost $40 million to Karl Rove and his American Crossroads project.
The Ask: As states like New Jersey, where it is now legal, and Massachusetts, where there is a move to legalize online gaming, Adelson is convinced that online gambling competes with his brick-and-mortar poker rooms. To this end, he is calling on the Congress, and specifically his Republican friends, to outlaw his competition.
The ask has put Republicans in a precarious situation where they are forced to choose between philosophical principles, like federalism, and their opposition to crony capitalism against the obligation to hear out and support Adelson.
Texas Gov. J. Richard “Rick” Perry, for instance, was once one of the leading voices for federalism. But, he appeared to be balancing other priorities when he released his March 24 letter asking Congress to restrict his own state from emulating what New Jersey and others have done or are doing.
The jury was still out when in 2011, Conor Friedersdorf called Perry a “Tenth Amendment turncoat” in The Atlantic. Now we see the verdict vindicates Friedersdorf.
The feeling on Capitol Hill is that the bills will not pass, which sets up the situation, where Republicans take Adelson’s money with their fingers crossed.
The fear is that if enough Republicans sign up for the Adelson gravy train, the bills might reach an irreversible point of no return, where they cannot be turned back
Graham, in a primary fight against Tea Party candidates, has suddenly become interested in a federal solution.
Freedom Works’ Julie Borowski wrote: “Surprise, surprise. Adelson and his wife hosted a Graham fundraiser last year. According to Politico: ‘Adelson has not been a long-time Graham supporter, but in 2013 he and his wife Miriam — who have spread their money widely among Republicans — cut checks for $15,600 in campaign contributions to Graham.’”
Interestingly, Graham is without his fellow members of the new Three Amigos. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.-N.H.), representing the “Live Free or Die” state, has so far stepped away from supporting the Graham project.
State leaders in the Granite State recently opted against allowing gambling in the state, a state prerogative that could be threatened by legislation being pushed by Adelson.
In interfering with states’ rights and establishing federal supremacy to forbid online gambling Congress would also inherently be grant the power prevent states from outlawing the same activities when circumstances or administrations change.
As for the other amigo, Sen. John S. McCain III (R.-Ariz.), one doubts he will join Graham—especially after he was caught playing online poker on his iPhone during a three-hour hearing on whether or not to bomb Syria in September. As for the other amigo, Sen. John S. McCain III (R.-Ariz.), one doubts he will join Graham—especially after he was caught playing online poker on his iPhone during a three-hour hearing on whether or not to bomb Syria in September.
Four years ago, Graham was vocal opposing plans by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) to legalize online gambling. “It appears Majority Leader Harry Reid is searching for a way to expand internet gambling in the United States. I oppose any federal legislation that would force South Carolina to accept legalized gaming.”
Then, Graham was standing up for federalism. “Ten years ago, South Carolina eliminated video poker. Those days are well behind us, and we must be vigilant in opposing any last-minute efforts in Washington aimed at forcing gambling on South Carolina.”
Today, Graham is on the other side, as states, such as Deleware and California, have bills in their legislatures that would legal online gambling inside their state’s borders.
In 2010, Graham was fighting the overreach of the federal government into the affairs of South Carolina. Today, he is the lead sponsor of the overreach bill.
In the House, Chaffetz has to somehow square the circle of the House’s leading libertarian leading the charge for the most brutal form of government intervention in the economy.
Of course, what is really going on is the raw exercise of power politics, and in an election year shaping up as a mid-term landslide for Republicans, one of the biggest supporters of the party is setting it up for fratricide.
Online gambling ban bills drop this week | Human Events
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
A federal online gambling ban backed by Sheldon Adelson would prohibit the popular Powerball and Mega Millions lottery games.
That’s according to a letter from the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) calling on Congress to reject the Internet Gambling Control Act, colloquially known as the “Wire Act fix.”
The DGA warns that IGCA “would financially crush state funded government services.”
Read the letter here.
How does the DGA draw the line from Adelson’s Wire Act “fix” to the end of Powerball and Mega Millions? They argue that IGCA would expand the scope of the Wire Act to the point that multi-state lottery would be included.
From the letter:
This Bill would amend the “Wire Act” (18 U.S.C. §§ 1081 and 1084.5) to define “sporting event or contest” so broadly that it would prohibit all internet, mobile and telephonic gaming in the United States with the exception of horse racing and participation in fantasy sports tournaments as set forth in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (“UIGEA”). As such, the Wire Act would apply to most forms of gaming and would ban the use of the internet for the transmission of bets and wagers. Since the internet is the means by which lottery systems transmit bets and wagers, this would prohibit the continuation of lottery operations in 47 U.S. jurisdictions.
The result, according to the DGA, would be a “severe and disastrous impact on state governments” who would stand to lose some $20 billion in lottery revenue.
The DGA letter also takes issue with the states’ rights implications of IGCA, noting that “that gaming regulation is a right that has historically been ceded to the states,” and that IGCA would roll back various forms of regulated online gambling existing in 11 states.
Adelson's Online Gambling Bill Would Outlaw Powerball, Mega Millions
That’s according to a letter from the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) calling on Congress to reject the Internet Gambling Control Act, colloquially known as the “Wire Act fix.”
The DGA warns that IGCA “would financially crush state funded government services.”
Read the letter here.
How does the DGA draw the line from Adelson’s Wire Act “fix” to the end of Powerball and Mega Millions? They argue that IGCA would expand the scope of the Wire Act to the point that multi-state lottery would be included.
From the letter:
This Bill would amend the “Wire Act” (18 U.S.C. §§ 1081 and 1084.5) to define “sporting event or contest” so broadly that it would prohibit all internet, mobile and telephonic gaming in the United States with the exception of horse racing and participation in fantasy sports tournaments as set forth in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (“UIGEA”). As such, the Wire Act would apply to most forms of gaming and would ban the use of the internet for the transmission of bets and wagers. Since the internet is the means by which lottery systems transmit bets and wagers, this would prohibit the continuation of lottery operations in 47 U.S. jurisdictions.
The result, according to the DGA, would be a “severe and disastrous impact on state governments” who would stand to lose some $20 billion in lottery revenue.
The DGA letter also takes issue with the states’ rights implications of IGCA, noting that “that gaming regulation is a right that has historically been ceded to the states,” and that IGCA would roll back various forms of regulated online gambling existing in 11 states.
Adelson's Online Gambling Bill Would Outlaw Powerball, Mega Millions
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and husband Chris Martin, the lead singer of alt-rock band Coldplay, said on Tuesday they are separating after 10 years of marriage.
"It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate," the couple said on Paltrow's lifestyle website, Goop.com, in a post entitled "Conscious Uncoupling."
"We have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate. We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been," they added.
Paltrow, 41, who won a Best Actress Academy Award for "Shakespeare in Love," and British singer Martin, 37, were married in December 2003, and have two children, Apple and Moses. The notoriously private couple, who avoid being photographed together in public, will "consciously uncouple and coparent" their children, the couple said.
"It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate," the couple said on Paltrow's lifestyle website, Goop.com, in a post entitled "Conscious Uncoupling."
"We have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate. We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been," they added.
Paltrow, 41, who won a Best Actress Academy Award for "Shakespeare in Love," and British singer Martin, 37, were married in December 2003, and have two children, Apple and Moses. The notoriously private couple, who avoid being photographed together in public, will "consciously uncouple and coparent" their children, the couple said.
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Manne wrote:
Hello john and welcome to ixgames Online Bingo Reviews - Bingo Games - Download Bingo Software
Hi........john,
How are you? I am also new member in this forum.. I love to play Casino so i here for getting information about Casino or other new games. I hope so i will get amazing information via this forum...
How are you? I am also new member in this forum.. I love to play Casino so i here for getting information about Casino or other new games. I hope so i will get amazing information via this forum...
Join:
2014/03/24
Messages:
4
New Jersey's recently adopted law allowing online gambling may already be in jeopardy after lawmakers in both houses of Congress introduced legislation today that would ban gambling on the internet.
The bill, dubbed the "Restoration of America's Wire Act" has a strong supporter in casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who coincidentally will host Gov. Chris Christie at the annual Republican Jewish Coalition forum later this week. Indeed, according to reports in The Hill, lobbyists for Sands, which Adelson owns, wrote one version of the bill.
The legislation, introduced with bi-partisan support in both houses, would outlaw online gambling and contains no grandfather for the three states - New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada - that already allow online gaming.
The bill's main sponsor in the upper chamber, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham said today that the Justice Department went too far when it claimed the existing law only applied to sports betting.
"This is yet another example of the Holder Justice Department and Obama Administration ignoring the law," said Graham, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "In 1999, South Carolina outlawed video poker and removed over 33,000 video poker machines from within its borders. Now, because of the Obama Administration's decision, virtually any cell phone or computer can again become a video poker machine. It's simply not right."
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was quick to condemn the bill, which would end the state's as yet unrealized hopes of a financial windfall from online gambling.
"Blanket prohibition of internet gaming will empower black market operators at the expense of responsible states like New Jersey which have invested in creating a secure internet gaming structure," Menendez said in a statement. "This bill would have the perverse effect of putting millions of American poker players at risk while doing nothing to prevent minors from playing online, combat fraud or crack down on other illegal activities."
Christie has long counted on internet gambling to bolster the state's budget, however, initial revenue projections from online gaming, which went into effect in November, were vastly overstated.
The governor put the first year revenue from online gambling at $180 million, but the projection was revised well downward to $34 million.
"We were told by industry at the time that the introduction of online gaming would help energize Atlantic City's ongoing recovery," state Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff said last month. "We're pretty bullish on this in the medium-to-long term. But clearly, this hasn't met our expectations for the first fiscal year."
The administration expects revenues to continue to grow propping up both Atlantic City's fortune and the state budget.
A spokesman for the governor did not return an email for comment.
Online gambling could already be in jeopardy | NJ-com
The bill, dubbed the "Restoration of America's Wire Act" has a strong supporter in casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who coincidentally will host Gov. Chris Christie at the annual Republican Jewish Coalition forum later this week. Indeed, according to reports in The Hill, lobbyists for Sands, which Adelson owns, wrote one version of the bill.
The legislation, introduced with bi-partisan support in both houses, would outlaw online gambling and contains no grandfather for the three states - New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada - that already allow online gaming.
The bill's main sponsor in the upper chamber, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham said today that the Justice Department went too far when it claimed the existing law only applied to sports betting.
"This is yet another example of the Holder Justice Department and Obama Administration ignoring the law," said Graham, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "In 1999, South Carolina outlawed video poker and removed over 33,000 video poker machines from within its borders. Now, because of the Obama Administration's decision, virtually any cell phone or computer can again become a video poker machine. It's simply not right."
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was quick to condemn the bill, which would end the state's as yet unrealized hopes of a financial windfall from online gambling.
"Blanket prohibition of internet gaming will empower black market operators at the expense of responsible states like New Jersey which have invested in creating a secure internet gaming structure," Menendez said in a statement. "This bill would have the perverse effect of putting millions of American poker players at risk while doing nothing to prevent minors from playing online, combat fraud or crack down on other illegal activities."
Christie has long counted on internet gambling to bolster the state's budget, however, initial revenue projections from online gaming, which went into effect in November, were vastly overstated.
The governor put the first year revenue from online gambling at $180 million, but the projection was revised well downward to $34 million.
"We were told by industry at the time that the introduction of online gaming would help energize Atlantic City's ongoing recovery," state Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff said last month. "We're pretty bullish on this in the medium-to-long term. But clearly, this hasn't met our expectations for the first fiscal year."
The administration expects revenues to continue to grow propping up both Atlantic City's fortune and the state budget.
A spokesman for the governor did not return an email for comment.
Online gambling could already be in jeopardy | NJ-com
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
A group of Democratic governors is opposing a Republican bill that would prohibit online gambling.
"This bill has a severe and disastrous impact on state governments and ... is unworkable and it must be defeated," the Democratic Governors Association wrote in a letter to Congressional leadership on Wednesday.
The bill — with ties to an anti-online gambling push from GOP mega-donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson — from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) would reverse a 2011 Department of Justice ruling that said the federal Wire Act prohibits only online sports betting. Since that ruling, three states — Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware — have legalized online gambling within their borders, and a handful more are considering following suit.
In its letter, the Democratic Governors Association said the bill from Graham and Chaffetz would intrude on states' rights.
"Some states have chosen not to allow and regulate gaming; and for the many states that do allow it, gaming and lotteries are critical to producing the revenue needed to fund important state and local governmental services, such as public education," the group wrote.
According to the letter, the language in the bill would also ban "traditional lottery draw games, including Mega Millions and Powerball."
The bill "would financially crush state funded government services," the group wrote, and the estimated $20 billion loss in lottery revenue "does not even include the loss of actual and future revenues derived from legal and regulated internet gaming and lottery."
In its letter to congressional leadership, the Democratic governors as for "strong consideration to the importance of preserving these state rights."
Read more: Democratic governors oppose online gambling ban | TheHill
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
"This bill has a severe and disastrous impact on state governments and ... is unworkable and it must be defeated," the Democratic Governors Association wrote in a letter to Congressional leadership on Wednesday.
The bill — with ties to an anti-online gambling push from GOP mega-donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson — from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) would reverse a 2011 Department of Justice ruling that said the federal Wire Act prohibits only online sports betting. Since that ruling, three states — Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware — have legalized online gambling within their borders, and a handful more are considering following suit.
In its letter, the Democratic Governors Association said the bill from Graham and Chaffetz would intrude on states' rights.
"Some states have chosen not to allow and regulate gaming; and for the many states that do allow it, gaming and lotteries are critical to producing the revenue needed to fund important state and local governmental services, such as public education," the group wrote.
According to the letter, the language in the bill would also ban "traditional lottery draw games, including Mega Millions and Powerball."
The bill "would financially crush state funded government services," the group wrote, and the estimated $20 billion loss in lottery revenue "does not even include the loss of actual and future revenues derived from legal and regulated internet gaming and lottery."
In its letter to congressional leadership, the Democratic governors as for "strong consideration to the importance of preserving these state rights."
Read more: Democratic governors oppose online gambling ban | TheHill
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday introduced legislation that seeks to prohibit online gambling, an issue that could grow more in demand as Internet use expands.
The bill calls for reversing a 2011 Department of Justice ruling that determined that the federal government's Wire Act prohibits only the act of online sports betting.
Since the decision came out, three states - Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey - have opted to legalize online gambling, but only within their state borders. As many as 10 other states are said to be considering it.
Graham said the bill, if passed, would return the interpretation to the pre-2011 landscape, contending that the Justice Department and Obama Administration had overstepped their bounds for an issue that should have been decided by Congress.
"In 1999, South Carolina outlawed video poker and removed over 33,000 video poker machines from within its borders," said Graham, R-S.C. "Now, because of the Obama Administration's decision, virtually any cell phone or computer can again become a video poker machine. It's simply not right."
The bill was introduced jointly with U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican. It has other supporters as well.
Critics say the effort is something favored by casino businessman Sheldon Adelson, a strong opponent of online gambling and heavy political giver. The website Politico has reported Adelson and his wife last year were campaign donors to Graham.
Two of Graham's GOP primary opponents took differing views of what was being done. Spartanburg state Sen. Lee Bright said the bill wasn't so much about protecting states as it was helping casino operators who are threatened by online gaming.
"He can't raise enough money" for his re-election, Bright said of Graham.
Campaign filings show Graham has more than $7 million on hand for the election.
Added Orangeburg attorney Bill Connor, "Gambling is traditionally an issue that each state decides for itself. It shouldn't be a federal issue, and I don't like movements to make it one. I will be supportive of any law that continues to empower states to make this decision, and as a South Carolinian, I oppose legalization in this state."
The federal legislation also comes as gambling remains an unsettled issue in South Carolina. This week in the S.C. Legislature, for example, state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, warned that if legislators block his bill aimed at allowing retirees to legally play bridge, he'd sue to get South Carolina's centuries-old antigambling law thrown out altogether.
The fight represents the latest attempt to change the state's 1802 antigambling laws that, if read literally, ban any game with cards or dice, including kitchen table poker.
Leaders from several states have also written letters indicating their concerns about the Wire Act interpretation, including Gov. Nikki Haley.
In a note to members of Congress, Haley said gambling, when done in the virtual world, means states lose the ability to determine whether the activity should be available to residents, and under what conditions.
"This seriously compromises the ability of states to control gambling within its borders," she said.
Graham offers anti-Internet gambling bill – The Post and Courier
The bill calls for reversing a 2011 Department of Justice ruling that determined that the federal government's Wire Act prohibits only the act of online sports betting.
Since the decision came out, three states - Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey - have opted to legalize online gambling, but only within their state borders. As many as 10 other states are said to be considering it.
Graham said the bill, if passed, would return the interpretation to the pre-2011 landscape, contending that the Justice Department and Obama Administration had overstepped their bounds for an issue that should have been decided by Congress.
"In 1999, South Carolina outlawed video poker and removed over 33,000 video poker machines from within its borders," said Graham, R-S.C. "Now, because of the Obama Administration's decision, virtually any cell phone or computer can again become a video poker machine. It's simply not right."
The bill was introduced jointly with U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican. It has other supporters as well.
Critics say the effort is something favored by casino businessman Sheldon Adelson, a strong opponent of online gambling and heavy political giver. The website Politico has reported Adelson and his wife last year were campaign donors to Graham.
Two of Graham's GOP primary opponents took differing views of what was being done. Spartanburg state Sen. Lee Bright said the bill wasn't so much about protecting states as it was helping casino operators who are threatened by online gaming.
"He can't raise enough money" for his re-election, Bright said of Graham.
Campaign filings show Graham has more than $7 million on hand for the election.
Added Orangeburg attorney Bill Connor, "Gambling is traditionally an issue that each state decides for itself. It shouldn't be a federal issue, and I don't like movements to make it one. I will be supportive of any law that continues to empower states to make this decision, and as a South Carolinian, I oppose legalization in this state."
The federal legislation also comes as gambling remains an unsettled issue in South Carolina. This week in the S.C. Legislature, for example, state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, warned that if legislators block his bill aimed at allowing retirees to legally play bridge, he'd sue to get South Carolina's centuries-old antigambling law thrown out altogether.
The fight represents the latest attempt to change the state's 1802 antigambling laws that, if read literally, ban any game with cards or dice, including kitchen table poker.
Leaders from several states have also written letters indicating their concerns about the Wire Act interpretation, including Gov. Nikki Haley.
In a note to members of Congress, Haley said gambling, when done in the virtual world, means states lose the ability to determine whether the activity should be available to residents, and under what conditions.
"This seriously compromises the ability of states to control gambling within its borders," she said.
Graham offers anti-Internet gambling bill – The Post and Courier
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Beijing - More than 10 tigers have been killed as “visual feasts” to entertain officials and rich businessmen in a Chinese city, state media reported.
Police in Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong seized a freshly slaughtered tiger and multiple tiger products in a raid this month, said the Nanfang Daily, the mouthpiece of the provincial Communist Party.
Local officials and successful businesspeople gathered to watch the tigers being killed as “eye-openers” to show off their social stature, it said.
Video footage of a killing two years ago showed the tiger, kept in an iron cage, having an electrified iron mass prodded into its mouth with a wooden stick and passing out after being electrocuted for more than 10 seconds, the paper said.
An experienced cattle or pig slaughterer is normally hired to butcher the carcass, it said, adding that tiger bones sold for an average of 14 000 yuan (about R23 000) a kilogram while the meat fetched 1 000 yuan a kilogramme.
Police said a butcher - who jumped to his death while trying to escape arrest in a raid - had killed more than 10 animals, the report on Wednesday added.
“The tigers were probably anaesthetised for transport. But buyers would check them to make sure that they were alive before the killing,” it quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Most buyers of the meat and bones were business owners who would then give them to officials as gifts, the paper said.
Tiger bones have long been an ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine, supposedly for a capacity to strengthen the human body, and while they have been removed from its official ingredient list the belief persists among some.
Decades of trafficking and habitat destruction have slashed the roaming big cat's numbers from 100 000 a century ago to approximately 3 000, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species, where it is classed as endangered. - AFP
Police in Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong seized a freshly slaughtered tiger and multiple tiger products in a raid this month, said the Nanfang Daily, the mouthpiece of the provincial Communist Party.
Local officials and successful businesspeople gathered to watch the tigers being killed as “eye-openers” to show off their social stature, it said.
Video footage of a killing two years ago showed the tiger, kept in an iron cage, having an electrified iron mass prodded into its mouth with a wooden stick and passing out after being electrocuted for more than 10 seconds, the paper said.
An experienced cattle or pig slaughterer is normally hired to butcher the carcass, it said, adding that tiger bones sold for an average of 14 000 yuan (about R23 000) a kilogram while the meat fetched 1 000 yuan a kilogramme.
Police said a butcher - who jumped to his death while trying to escape arrest in a raid - had killed more than 10 animals, the report on Wednesday added.
“The tigers were probably anaesthetised for transport. But buyers would check them to make sure that they were alive before the killing,” it quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Most buyers of the meat and bones were business owners who would then give them to officials as gifts, the paper said.
Tiger bones have long been an ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine, supposedly for a capacity to strengthen the human body, and while they have been removed from its official ingredient list the belief persists among some.
Decades of trafficking and habitat destruction have slashed the roaming big cat's numbers from 100 000 a century ago to approximately 3 000, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species, where it is classed as endangered. - AFP
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Three Republican governors who weren't invited to GOP super donor Sheldon Adelson's political gathering in Las Vegas this week are nonetheless trumpeting their agreement with him against Internet gambling.
Govs. Rick Perry of Texas and Nikki Haley of South Carolina have submitted letters in recent days to congressional leaders stating that gambling in the virtual world compromises the ability of states to control gambling within their borders. Weeks earlier, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana wrote that he would do everything he could to stop Internet gambling from spreading in his state.
Each of the governors' missives is highlighted on the website for the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, an advocacy group that Adelson, an 80-year-old casino magnate, helped bankroll.
The trio has something else in common: All are possible candidates in the 2016 presidential election. And as it happens, Adelson is casting for a presidential candidate on whom to shower his millions of dollars in campaign cash. In 2012, Adelson almost single-handedly bankrolled the group behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Two years before the next presidential election, he invited other prospective 2016 candidates to his Venetian resort and casino for an event hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition. The guests included former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
"I'm going to see him tonight for sure," Bush said of Adelson as he hurried from an engagement at a Las Vegas school on Thursday. He was scheduled to speak at an evening event for GOP donors, none more prolific than Adelson.
Meanwhile, the three governors made very public their positions on Internet gambling in a way Adelson is likely to know about them.
The letters from Perry, Haley and Jindal preceded the introduction Wednesday of legislation in both chambers of Congress to ban most forms of online gambling. In December 2011, the Justice Department said that only sports betting is barred by a federal law known as the Wire Act, reversing years of precedence. So far, only Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada have established Internet gambling since that opinion was released. California, Mississippi and others are considering joining them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
"Congress needs to step in now and call a timeout," Perry and Haley wrote in their letters.
"Allowing Internet gaming to invade the homes of every American family, and to be piped into our dens, living rooms, workplaces and even our kids' bedrooms and dorm rooms, is a major decision," they added. "We must carefully examine the short- and long-term social and economic consequences before Internet gambling spreads."
Jindal beat Perry and Haley to the punch last month with an opinion piece saying "that putting a casino in the pocket of practically every American will exploit society's most vulnerable, threatening to saddle the poor and disadvantaged with spiraling debt."
A spokeswoman for Perry said the governor has not discussed Internet gambling with Adelson.
"Gov. Perry has long been opposed to expanding the footprint of any gambling in Texas," the governor's spokeswoman, Lucy Nashed, said in an email.
Haley still has an election for governor to get through this year before talking presidential politics. Her staff pointed out previous times she had voiced opposition to gambling.
"Gov. Haley has long opposed expanding gambling of any kind in South Carolina and this effort is no different," spokesman Doug Mayer said. "This is about the Obama administration reinterpreting decades' worth of legal precedent, and South Carolinians deserve to have a change of this magnitude debated and decided by their elected representatives - not forced upon them by a lawyer."
GOP governors back Adelson on online gambling - Houston Chronicle
Govs. Rick Perry of Texas and Nikki Haley of South Carolina have submitted letters in recent days to congressional leaders stating that gambling in the virtual world compromises the ability of states to control gambling within their borders. Weeks earlier, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana wrote that he would do everything he could to stop Internet gambling from spreading in his state.
Each of the governors' missives is highlighted on the website for the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, an advocacy group that Adelson, an 80-year-old casino magnate, helped bankroll.
The trio has something else in common: All are possible candidates in the 2016 presidential election. And as it happens, Adelson is casting for a presidential candidate on whom to shower his millions of dollars in campaign cash. In 2012, Adelson almost single-handedly bankrolled the group behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Two years before the next presidential election, he invited other prospective 2016 candidates to his Venetian resort and casino for an event hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition. The guests included former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
"I'm going to see him tonight for sure," Bush said of Adelson as he hurried from an engagement at a Las Vegas school on Thursday. He was scheduled to speak at an evening event for GOP donors, none more prolific than Adelson.
Meanwhile, the three governors made very public their positions on Internet gambling in a way Adelson is likely to know about them.
The letters from Perry, Haley and Jindal preceded the introduction Wednesday of legislation in both chambers of Congress to ban most forms of online gambling. In December 2011, the Justice Department said that only sports betting is barred by a federal law known as the Wire Act, reversing years of precedence. So far, only Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada have established Internet gambling since that opinion was released. California, Mississippi and others are considering joining them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
"Congress needs to step in now and call a timeout," Perry and Haley wrote in their letters.
"Allowing Internet gaming to invade the homes of every American family, and to be piped into our dens, living rooms, workplaces and even our kids' bedrooms and dorm rooms, is a major decision," they added. "We must carefully examine the short- and long-term social and economic consequences before Internet gambling spreads."
Jindal beat Perry and Haley to the punch last month with an opinion piece saying "that putting a casino in the pocket of practically every American will exploit society's most vulnerable, threatening to saddle the poor and disadvantaged with spiraling debt."
A spokeswoman for Perry said the governor has not discussed Internet gambling with Adelson.
"Gov. Perry has long been opposed to expanding the footprint of any gambling in Texas," the governor's spokeswoman, Lucy Nashed, said in an email.
Haley still has an election for governor to get through this year before talking presidential politics. Her staff pointed out previous times she had voiced opposition to gambling.
"Gov. Haley has long opposed expanding gambling of any kind in South Carolina and this effort is no different," spokesman Doug Mayer said. "This is about the Obama administration reinterpreting decades' worth of legal precedent, and South Carolinians deserve to have a change of this magnitude debated and decided by their elected representatives - not forced upon them by a lawyer."
GOP governors back Adelson on online gambling - Houston Chronicle
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
A new hand started Wednesday in the high-stakes battle over online gambling.
The fight involves some of the nation’s most powerful figures, including Las Vegas casino mogul and major GOP contributor Sheldon Adelson, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other assorted characters who don’t line up neatly along partisan lines.
After lawmakers unveiled legislation Wednesday to revive a ban on Internet gambling, Sen. Dean Heller didn’t immediately bash it.
The Nevada Republican said he was still reviewing the bill, but said it seemed like “a reasonable first step.” Heller has found common ground with Reid, the Silver State’s senior Democratic senator, in seeking to allow for legal online poker in Nevada and other states that so choose, while otherwise bringing back prohibitions under the Wire Act that were upended in 2011, when the Justice Department reinterpreted the law’s gaming ban to allow states to deploy a wide variety of games.
Both sides seem to want to get out of the regulatory no man’s land created by the 2011 reinterpretation.
“This is about really the wild, wild west on the Internet and restoring the Wire Act so that there is authority to address crime that occurs with regard to Internet gambling,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who is a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the prohibition being spearheaded by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
“To just have an individual … in the bowels of the Department of Justice unilaterally making this change, we believe it’s wrong,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who is spearheading the House companion effort.
When asked if the Graham bill would compete with a poker measure, Heller said “not necessarily.”
But, how could that be? Perhaps because while Graham and his House GOP counterpart Chaffetz insist they would oppose efforts to amend their bill with a poker carve-out, they seemed to invite the debate.
“There are those that would argue that Internet gambling should happen in a broad stroke. Some believe that Internet gambling should happen just for poker,” Chaffetz said. “If there is a case that people want to make for online gambling, they need to come to the Congress.
“The Congress could, or should, debate this and then perhaps that piece of legislation would ultimately pass,” Chaffetz said, adding, “I personally would be against that.”
As the man in charge of Senate floor operations, Reid might be able to devise a process to rig the game so that an amendment to provide a poker exemption would have to be adopted to move forward. As for the more prohibitive bill unveiled Wednesday, Graham insists he isn’t doing the bidding of Adelson in proposing the change.
“I would say that Sheldon has aligned himself with most Baptists in South Carolina,” the Republican senator said.
“South Carolina rolled back video poker gambling,” Graham said. “We banned video poker. If this interpretation holds, every cellphone is a video poker terminal. I’m on solid footing in South Carolina with people I represent. The fact that Sheldon is on board is a good thing, but I’m doing this because this is what my governor, my attorney general has suggested I do and what I think I should do.”
There’s bipartisan support for the bill in each chamber, and whenever the debate comes, the efforts won’t fall neatly on partisan lines. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was among the lawmakers at Wednesday’s rollout and Graham has the backing of longtime online gaming opponent Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
“Internet gambling has been a longstanding position of mine and I’m happy to be on [Graham's] bill,” Feinstein said.
Gabbard’s involvement should be no surprise, either, since Hawaii and Utah both have gambling prohibitions.
Online Gambling Foes Raise the Stakes | The World's Greatest Deliberative Body
The fight involves some of the nation’s most powerful figures, including Las Vegas casino mogul and major GOP contributor Sheldon Adelson, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other assorted characters who don’t line up neatly along partisan lines.
After lawmakers unveiled legislation Wednesday to revive a ban on Internet gambling, Sen. Dean Heller didn’t immediately bash it.
The Nevada Republican said he was still reviewing the bill, but said it seemed like “a reasonable first step.” Heller has found common ground with Reid, the Silver State’s senior Democratic senator, in seeking to allow for legal online poker in Nevada and other states that so choose, while otherwise bringing back prohibitions under the Wire Act that were upended in 2011, when the Justice Department reinterpreted the law’s gaming ban to allow states to deploy a wide variety of games.
Both sides seem to want to get out of the regulatory no man’s land created by the 2011 reinterpretation.
“This is about really the wild, wild west on the Internet and restoring the Wire Act so that there is authority to address crime that occurs with regard to Internet gambling,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who is a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the prohibition being spearheaded by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
“To just have an individual … in the bowels of the Department of Justice unilaterally making this change, we believe it’s wrong,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who is spearheading the House companion effort.
When asked if the Graham bill would compete with a poker measure, Heller said “not necessarily.”
But, how could that be? Perhaps because while Graham and his House GOP counterpart Chaffetz insist they would oppose efforts to amend their bill with a poker carve-out, they seemed to invite the debate.
“There are those that would argue that Internet gambling should happen in a broad stroke. Some believe that Internet gambling should happen just for poker,” Chaffetz said. “If there is a case that people want to make for online gambling, they need to come to the Congress.
“The Congress could, or should, debate this and then perhaps that piece of legislation would ultimately pass,” Chaffetz said, adding, “I personally would be against that.”
As the man in charge of Senate floor operations, Reid might be able to devise a process to rig the game so that an amendment to provide a poker exemption would have to be adopted to move forward. As for the more prohibitive bill unveiled Wednesday, Graham insists he isn’t doing the bidding of Adelson in proposing the change.
“I would say that Sheldon has aligned himself with most Baptists in South Carolina,” the Republican senator said.
“South Carolina rolled back video poker gambling,” Graham said. “We banned video poker. If this interpretation holds, every cellphone is a video poker terminal. I’m on solid footing in South Carolina with people I represent. The fact that Sheldon is on board is a good thing, but I’m doing this because this is what my governor, my attorney general has suggested I do and what I think I should do.”
There’s bipartisan support for the bill in each chamber, and whenever the debate comes, the efforts won’t fall neatly on partisan lines. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was among the lawmakers at Wednesday’s rollout and Graham has the backing of longtime online gaming opponent Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
“Internet gambling has been a longstanding position of mine and I’m happy to be on [Graham's] bill,” Feinstein said.
Gabbard’s involvement should be no surprise, either, since Hawaii and Utah both have gambling prohibitions.
Online Gambling Foes Raise the Stakes | The World's Greatest Deliberative Body
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Lawmakers from both parties introduced legislation in the House and Senate on Wednesday aimed at banning online gambling, setting the stage for an uncertain battle in Congress.
The measures are aimed at reversing a 2011 decision by Attorney General Eric Holder that a 1961 law used in recent years to curb Internet gaming only barred sports betting. The bills introduced Wednesday would broaden the prohibition to where it stood before Holder’s ruling.
Three states have legalized online gaming since the Justice Department’s 2011 ruling: Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware. Others have been considering doing so in an effort to find lucrative new sources of revenue.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chief Senate sponsor, is running for re-election this year and has been seeking to shore up conservative support for the June GOP primary. The House version is sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. Both sponsor’s states have histories of curbing gambling.
Graham said that because of the Justice Department decision, “Virtually any cellphone or computer can again become a video poker machine. It’s simply not right.”
Chaffetz said restoring the earlier interpretation of the 1961 law would be “putting the genie back in the bottle.”
Each bill has co-sponsors from both parties, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who controls his chamber’s agenda, has supported legalizing online poker.
Nevada’s other senator, Republican Dean Heller, favors Internet poker in Nevada and wants to let states decide whether to permit poker online. He also thinks a major expansion of online gambling would be “bad for Nevada and for the country,” Heller spokeswoman Chandler Smith said.
Sheldon Adelson, a major financial backer of GOP candidates and a casino owner, has said he will spend money to try halting online gambling.
Congress To Consider Ban On Online Gaming « CBS Las Vegas
The measures are aimed at reversing a 2011 decision by Attorney General Eric Holder that a 1961 law used in recent years to curb Internet gaming only barred sports betting. The bills introduced Wednesday would broaden the prohibition to where it stood before Holder’s ruling.
Three states have legalized online gaming since the Justice Department’s 2011 ruling: Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware. Others have been considering doing so in an effort to find lucrative new sources of revenue.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the chief Senate sponsor, is running for re-election this year and has been seeking to shore up conservative support for the June GOP primary. The House version is sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. Both sponsor’s states have histories of curbing gambling.
Graham said that because of the Justice Department decision, “Virtually any cellphone or computer can again become a video poker machine. It’s simply not right.”
Chaffetz said restoring the earlier interpretation of the 1961 law would be “putting the genie back in the bottle.”
Each bill has co-sponsors from both parties, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who controls his chamber’s agenda, has supported legalizing online poker.
Nevada’s other senator, Republican Dean Heller, favors Internet poker in Nevada and wants to let states decide whether to permit poker online. He also thinks a major expansion of online gambling would be “bad for Nevada and for the country,” Heller spokeswoman Chandler Smith said.
Sheldon Adelson, a major financial backer of GOP candidates and a casino owner, has said he will spend money to try halting online gambling.
Congress To Consider Ban On Online Gaming « CBS Las Vegas
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Adrian Matejka, who taught creative writing at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville from 2007 to 2012, has received an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for his last poetry collection, "The Big Smoke."
The poet earned his MFA at SIUE and wrote much of "The Big Smoke" while living in Edwardsville; he now teaches at Indiana University.
The awards, which recognize literature that "confronts racism and examines diversity," were announced Wednesday by the Cleveland Foundation in Ohio, which also said in a press release that five of its past winners went on to win Nobel prizes: Nadine Gordimer, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka and Derek Walcott.
“The 2014 Anisfield-Wolf winners are exemplars who broaden our vision of race and diversity,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of the jury. “This year, there is exceptional writing about the moral complexity of Israel, a transporting first novel set in war-torn Chechnya and a collection of poems on the myth and unapologetic masculinity of the first African-American heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson.”
Anthony Marra's "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" received the fiction prize and Israeli columnist Ari Shavit's "My Promised Land" was honored for nonfiction. Lifetime achievement awards were given to Guyanese author Sir Wilson Harris and Caribbean writer George Lamming.
The poet earned his MFA at SIUE and wrote much of "The Big Smoke" while living in Edwardsville; he now teaches at Indiana University.
The awards, which recognize literature that "confronts racism and examines diversity," were announced Wednesday by the Cleveland Foundation in Ohio, which also said in a press release that five of its past winners went on to win Nobel prizes: Nadine Gordimer, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka and Derek Walcott.
“The 2014 Anisfield-Wolf winners are exemplars who broaden our vision of race and diversity,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of the jury. “This year, there is exceptional writing about the moral complexity of Israel, a transporting first novel set in war-torn Chechnya and a collection of poems on the myth and unapologetic masculinity of the first African-American heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson.”
Anthony Marra's "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" received the fiction prize and Israeli columnist Ari Shavit's "My Promised Land" was honored for nonfiction. Lifetime achievement awards were given to Guyanese author Sir Wilson Harris and Caribbean writer George Lamming.
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's offensive against Internet gambling has reached Congress, where politicians on both sides of the aisle are co-sponsoring the Restoration of America's Wire Act, which seeks to reverse a 2011 Justice Department decision to allow online gaming, according to The New York Times.
The issue is causing internal strife within both the casino industry and Washington, while shining a light on the massive amounts of money at play.
The 80-year-old Adelson, chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., is one of the world’s richest men with an estimated fortune of $38 billion. He reportedly spent $90 million to defeat President Obama, according to Reuters.
Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling wants to ban online gambling, arguing that it "targets the young, the poor and the elderly where they live" and "crosses the line of responsible gaming by bringing gambling into our living rooms and onto our smartphones, tablets and home computers 24 hours a day without necessary protections."
On Wednesday, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, both Republicans, introduced legislation to reinstate the Wire Act, which long prohibited interstate gambling. The bill has more than a dozen co-sponsors, including Republicans and Democrats.
While the proposed legislation would outlaw online gambling, horse racing would be excluded.
Caesars Entertainment Corp., MGM Resorts International and other casinos are combating Adelson and his group, arguing that online gambling is an additional revenue source. They also maintain a federal ban on online gambling violates states’ rights, an argument Republicans used against Obamacare, the Times reported. Betting equipment and software firms are also in this camp as are online poker companies.
They have formed the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection and have enlisted the services of two former House Republicans, Michael G. Oxley of Ohio and Mary Bono of California, as well as former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, also a Republican, and Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager.
According to Reuters, Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware allow some forms of Internet gambling, while several other states are considering it. Four states — New Jersey, Delaware, Georgia and Illinois — sell online lottery tickets, while several Native American-owned casinos plan to enter the online market soon.
More than $50 million was spent on lobbying in New Jersey to pass the Garden State’s 2013 decision to legalize some forms of Internet gaming, according to the Times.
Investment banking firm Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2020 online gambling could be worth $8 billion a year, a figure that represents some 12 percent of current gambling revenues at both commercial and Native American casinos, according to the Times.
The issue may be at play in the 2016 presidential race.
At this week’s Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, Adelson invited former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie – whose state permits online gambling– Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to attend. Bush and Christie may run for president in 2016.
Not on the invite list but in Adelson’s camp on the issue are other Republican governors: Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Rick Perry of Texas and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal. Perry and Jindal are also potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates.
Haley and Perry have submitted letters to congressional leaders, writing that online gambling strips states of their ability to control gambling, while Jindal has promised to stop Internet gambling in the Bayou State, according to The Associated Press.
The issue is causing internal strife within both the casino industry and Washington, while shining a light on the massive amounts of money at play.
The 80-year-old Adelson, chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., is one of the world’s richest men with an estimated fortune of $38 billion. He reportedly spent $90 million to defeat President Obama, according to Reuters.
Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling wants to ban online gambling, arguing that it "targets the young, the poor and the elderly where they live" and "crosses the line of responsible gaming by bringing gambling into our living rooms and onto our smartphones, tablets and home computers 24 hours a day without necessary protections."
On Wednesday, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, both Republicans, introduced legislation to reinstate the Wire Act, which long prohibited interstate gambling. The bill has more than a dozen co-sponsors, including Republicans and Democrats.
While the proposed legislation would outlaw online gambling, horse racing would be excluded.
Caesars Entertainment Corp., MGM Resorts International and other casinos are combating Adelson and his group, arguing that online gambling is an additional revenue source. They also maintain a federal ban on online gambling violates states’ rights, an argument Republicans used against Obamacare, the Times reported. Betting equipment and software firms are also in this camp as are online poker companies.
They have formed the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection and have enlisted the services of two former House Republicans, Michael G. Oxley of Ohio and Mary Bono of California, as well as former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, also a Republican, and Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager.
According to Reuters, Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware allow some forms of Internet gambling, while several other states are considering it. Four states — New Jersey, Delaware, Georgia and Illinois — sell online lottery tickets, while several Native American-owned casinos plan to enter the online market soon.
More than $50 million was spent on lobbying in New Jersey to pass the Garden State’s 2013 decision to legalize some forms of Internet gaming, according to the Times.
Investment banking firm Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2020 online gambling could be worth $8 billion a year, a figure that represents some 12 percent of current gambling revenues at both commercial and Native American casinos, according to the Times.
The issue may be at play in the 2016 presidential race.
At this week’s Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, Adelson invited former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie – whose state permits online gambling– Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to attend. Bush and Christie may run for president in 2016.
Not on the invite list but in Adelson’s camp on the issue are other Republican governors: Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Rick Perry of Texas and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal. Perry and Jindal are also potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates.
Haley and Perry have submitted letters to congressional leaders, writing that online gambling strips states of their ability to control gambling, while Jindal has promised to stop Internet gambling in the Bayou State, according to The Associated Press.
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Tami Neilson knows how to get a crowd hooting. Even at six months pregnant, she's all about the risque, yet slightly goofy live banter, and knows make a simple line up of guitar, banjo, double bass, and vocals seem as lively, modern, and sexy as anything else out there. That's not to say she needs the stage banter to impress anyone though - her voice alone will stop you in your tracks, so powerful and full of colour is it.
Her knack for both singing and entertaining probably has a lot to do with the fact she's been practicing for decades. Her parents Ron and Betty packed up Tami, age 12, and her younger brothers in their mobile home, and took them on tour, performing across their home country Canada, and the US, for 10 years.
They opened for the likes of Johnny Cash, earned themselves comparisons with the Osmonds, and though it wasn't particularly "sex, drugs, and rock n roll", they did have a great life making music.
So it was a bit of a shock to the system when she first moved to New Zealand nine years ago (having fallen for a Kiwi man, now her husband), and found that country was a bit of a dirty word here.
"It was almost like country music had skipped an entire generation here. Most of the people in the beginning that came to my gigs, it was like a sea of white hair. And don't get me wrong, they're a wonderful audience, and they're loyal fans, but I was just kind of like, 'Where is everybody my age?"'
Various people even tried to convince her that perhaps she should try a different style.
"The number of times I would have people in the industry say to me, 'Why don't you just switch genres? You could sing anything' But the thing is, the minute that you're not true to yourself, your integrity as an artist will be questioned immediately. Country was my roots, what I've done my whole life, so I'm sorry, but I'm a honky white girl, and I will never be able to do what Ladi6 does," she laughs.
Fortunately what was a niche country scene has burgeoned in intervening years, and found a younger audience as the genre has diversified. Through events like the Gunslingers Ball in Auckland, and a great deal of talent coming out of Lyttelton, we've been introduced to a whole new generation and there's been a blurring of lines between country, blues, rockabilly, and soul.
The divisions are no longer clear-cut, country is no longer dismissed as cheesy, and Neilson has certainly had something to do with that.
Having won the Tui for Best Country Album, for each of her previous three solo releases (Red Dirt Angel, 2009; The Kitchen Table Sessions Vol I, 2010; Kitchen Table Sessions Vol II, 2012), contributed to two volumes of Sad But True: The Secret History of Country Music Songwriting, and co-headlined two successful Grand Old Hayride national tours in the past year, she's been getting her name out there, even if it can be hard to shrug off the assumptions that come with the country label.
"It's easy to assume what my music sounds like without listening to it, or understanding the scope of what you can do with country, and how many subgenres, and flavours, and nuances can be under that one word, like both Wanda Jackson and Roy Orbison."
Fortunately some have heard those nuances, and she has received funding for two singles from NZ On Air, which means unlike in past years when she's returned to Canada to record with her family ("They do it all for free"), she was able to record her latest album Dynamite in New Zealand, with her newfound family.
"It was really great to be able to record with people like Dave Khan who has been in my band for four years now, and also the boys, Marlon and Delaney, and Ben Woolley. I sort of traded my Canadian family for my new New Zealand music family. They're my musical brothers, those guys."
The result is her best album yet.
"You sort of set yourself these goalposts I suppose, and I felt that the three distinct ones for me this time were country, rockabilly, and soul. There's some more traditional country sounding songs, but then there's a song like Walk which is very soul driven- like my inspiration for that was Big Mama Thornton.
"It might seem strange to think of Big Mama and Hank Williams on the same album, but I guess the idea of the Sun Records repertoire was what I had in my head - you know Johnny Cash and Elvis and Roy and Carl Perkins, and Howlin' Wolf were all under the same label.
"I was paying homage to an era of music that I love, and I love a lot of different genres in that era."
Surprisingly, for an album of such breadth, several of the songs were written extremely quickly. Texas, which is a song for her two year old son Charlie, was written in an evening (though she'd been singing the chorus to Charlie since he was born); Running To You, Honey Girl, and the title track were all written with Delaney Davidson, as they were in the studio recording; and good old cheating song Whiskey and Kisses was written on the back of a sick bag during a flight to Lyttelton.
"That song is definitely me making the effort to write from a perspective that wasn't necessarily my own, just because it makes you grow as a writer. But I was also inspired because I'd recently opened for Emmylou Harris, and she has some of the best cheating songs around. Plus, myself being A, not a drinker, and B, not a cheater, when else will I get to be a cheating whiskey drinker?"
The album was recorded over five days, right after she'd finished the second Grand Old Hayride tour with Davidson (who also produced), Williams, Khan, Woolley, plus Joe McCallum on drums and Red McKelvie on steel guitar, because she knew they would've had several weeks to get the songs under their fingers and have all the arrangements and harmonies worked out.
"Because we wanted to record in that 50s and 60s style, where everyone was in the same room, and it was all live off the floor, no overdubs, everybody had to get the take right, I knew that if we were fresh
Her knack for both singing and entertaining probably has a lot to do with the fact she's been practicing for decades. Her parents Ron and Betty packed up Tami, age 12, and her younger brothers in their mobile home, and took them on tour, performing across their home country Canada, and the US, for 10 years.
They opened for the likes of Johnny Cash, earned themselves comparisons with the Osmonds, and though it wasn't particularly "sex, drugs, and rock n roll", they did have a great life making music.
So it was a bit of a shock to the system when she first moved to New Zealand nine years ago (having fallen for a Kiwi man, now her husband), and found that country was a bit of a dirty word here.
"It was almost like country music had skipped an entire generation here. Most of the people in the beginning that came to my gigs, it was like a sea of white hair. And don't get me wrong, they're a wonderful audience, and they're loyal fans, but I was just kind of like, 'Where is everybody my age?"'
Various people even tried to convince her that perhaps she should try a different style.
"The number of times I would have people in the industry say to me, 'Why don't you just switch genres? You could sing anything' But the thing is, the minute that you're not true to yourself, your integrity as an artist will be questioned immediately. Country was my roots, what I've done my whole life, so I'm sorry, but I'm a honky white girl, and I will never be able to do what Ladi6 does," she laughs.
Fortunately what was a niche country scene has burgeoned in intervening years, and found a younger audience as the genre has diversified. Through events like the Gunslingers Ball in Auckland, and a great deal of talent coming out of Lyttelton, we've been introduced to a whole new generation and there's been a blurring of lines between country, blues, rockabilly, and soul.
The divisions are no longer clear-cut, country is no longer dismissed as cheesy, and Neilson has certainly had something to do with that.
Having won the Tui for Best Country Album, for each of her previous three solo releases (Red Dirt Angel, 2009; The Kitchen Table Sessions Vol I, 2010; Kitchen Table Sessions Vol II, 2012), contributed to two volumes of Sad But True: The Secret History of Country Music Songwriting, and co-headlined two successful Grand Old Hayride national tours in the past year, she's been getting her name out there, even if it can be hard to shrug off the assumptions that come with the country label.
"It's easy to assume what my music sounds like without listening to it, or understanding the scope of what you can do with country, and how many subgenres, and flavours, and nuances can be under that one word, like both Wanda Jackson and Roy Orbison."
Fortunately some have heard those nuances, and she has received funding for two singles from NZ On Air, which means unlike in past years when she's returned to Canada to record with her family ("They do it all for free"), she was able to record her latest album Dynamite in New Zealand, with her newfound family.
"It was really great to be able to record with people like Dave Khan who has been in my band for four years now, and also the boys, Marlon and Delaney, and Ben Woolley. I sort of traded my Canadian family for my new New Zealand music family. They're my musical brothers, those guys."
The result is her best album yet.
"You sort of set yourself these goalposts I suppose, and I felt that the three distinct ones for me this time were country, rockabilly, and soul. There's some more traditional country sounding songs, but then there's a song like Walk which is very soul driven- like my inspiration for that was Big Mama Thornton.
"It might seem strange to think of Big Mama and Hank Williams on the same album, but I guess the idea of the Sun Records repertoire was what I had in my head - you know Johnny Cash and Elvis and Roy and Carl Perkins, and Howlin' Wolf were all under the same label.
"I was paying homage to an era of music that I love, and I love a lot of different genres in that era."
Surprisingly, for an album of such breadth, several of the songs were written extremely quickly. Texas, which is a song for her two year old son Charlie, was written in an evening (though she'd been singing the chorus to Charlie since he was born); Running To You, Honey Girl, and the title track were all written with Delaney Davidson, as they were in the studio recording; and good old cheating song Whiskey and Kisses was written on the back of a sick bag during a flight to Lyttelton.
"That song is definitely me making the effort to write from a perspective that wasn't necessarily my own, just because it makes you grow as a writer. But I was also inspired because I'd recently opened for Emmylou Harris, and she has some of the best cheating songs around. Plus, myself being A, not a drinker, and B, not a cheater, when else will I get to be a cheating whiskey drinker?"
The album was recorded over five days, right after she'd finished the second Grand Old Hayride tour with Davidson (who also produced), Williams, Khan, Woolley, plus Joe McCallum on drums and Red McKelvie on steel guitar, because she knew they would've had several weeks to get the songs under their fingers and have all the arrangements and harmonies worked out.
"Because we wanted to record in that 50s and 60s style, where everyone was in the same room, and it was all live off the floor, no overdubs, everybody had to get the take right, I knew that if we were fresh
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
New Jersey’s new online gambling industry may get the kibosh before it even gets off firmly established.
New legislation introduced in Congress — and backed by a major GOP donor — would restore a federal ban on Internet gambling that was upended by a legal opinion issued in December 2011 by the Justice Department.
In that opinion, the Justice Department said the Wire Act of 1961 bars only online sports betting.
The legislation, introduced last week by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California would reimpose a long-standing interpretation of the Wire Act that holds it also outlaws online gambling.
“It’s not just about gaming; it’s about the process,” Graham said at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol last week. “The attorney general’s office, in my view, made a huge legal misstep here.”
Three states — Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware — allow some type of online gaming, and many others are considering it.
Graham contends Congress, not the Justice Department, should have the final say on whether betting online is legal.
His bill has bipartisan support in the House and Senate, especially from lawmakers in states that already outlaw gambling. It’s opposed by senators in states like New Jersey that allow such gambling.
“Blanket prohibition of Internet gaming will empower black-market operators at the expense of responsible states like New Jersey, which have invested in creating a secure Internet gaming structure,” Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey said.
A spokeswoman for New Jersey’s other senator, Democrat Cory Booker, said Booker feels the same way.
“Sen. Booker opposes this legislation because it would drive Internet gambling underground, where there are no protections for consumers and no measures to prevent minors from taking part,” Monique Waters said.
New Jersey passed legislation just last year to legalize online gambling. Since Gov. Chris Christie signed it into law in November, several Atlantic City casinos have begun offering online betting.
The endeavor hasn’t raked in big bucks. New Jersey casinos reported making $27.2 million from online gambling from November through February, far less than the $1.2 billion the Christie administration had projected they would make by July.
Early problems with billing and the technology that ensures players are within the state’s borders contributed to the lackluster profits. Still, the venture is expected to grow into a reliable revenue stream for Atlantic City casinos that have struggled financially.
The legislation, introduced last Wednesday, would not grandfather in Nevada, New Jersey or Delaware, meaning all online gambling infrastructure in those states would be outlawed.
It’s supported by Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire who heads the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and is a top donor to Republican campaigns.
Graham denied allegations that the bill is a favor to Adelson, who has donated to Graham’s re-election campaign. He said South Carolina’s ban on video poker is a sign the state opposes turning “every cell phone into a video poker terminal.”
“I’m on solid footing in South Carolina with the people that I represent, and the fact that Sheldon is on board is a good thing,” Graham said.
The bill faces opposition from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat who supports online gambling, and the Democratic Governors Association, which says the proposal would endanger state revenue from Internet lottery sales and infringe on states’ rights.
A House version of the bill was to be introduced by Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah.
www-dailyrecord-com/article/20140331/NJNEWS10/303310010/Federal-bill-would-put-end-states-online-betting
New legislation introduced in Congress — and backed by a major GOP donor — would restore a federal ban on Internet gambling that was upended by a legal opinion issued in December 2011 by the Justice Department.
In that opinion, the Justice Department said the Wire Act of 1961 bars only online sports betting.
The legislation, introduced last week by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California would reimpose a long-standing interpretation of the Wire Act that holds it also outlaws online gambling.
“It’s not just about gaming; it’s about the process,” Graham said at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol last week. “The attorney general’s office, in my view, made a huge legal misstep here.”
Three states — Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware — allow some type of online gaming, and many others are considering it.
Graham contends Congress, not the Justice Department, should have the final say on whether betting online is legal.
His bill has bipartisan support in the House and Senate, especially from lawmakers in states that already outlaw gambling. It’s opposed by senators in states like New Jersey that allow such gambling.
“Blanket prohibition of Internet gaming will empower black-market operators at the expense of responsible states like New Jersey, which have invested in creating a secure Internet gaming structure,” Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey said.
A spokeswoman for New Jersey’s other senator, Democrat Cory Booker, said Booker feels the same way.
“Sen. Booker opposes this legislation because it would drive Internet gambling underground, where there are no protections for consumers and no measures to prevent minors from taking part,” Monique Waters said.
New Jersey passed legislation just last year to legalize online gambling. Since Gov. Chris Christie signed it into law in November, several Atlantic City casinos have begun offering online betting.
The endeavor hasn’t raked in big bucks. New Jersey casinos reported making $27.2 million from online gambling from November through February, far less than the $1.2 billion the Christie administration had projected they would make by July.
Early problems with billing and the technology that ensures players are within the state’s borders contributed to the lackluster profits. Still, the venture is expected to grow into a reliable revenue stream for Atlantic City casinos that have struggled financially.
The legislation, introduced last Wednesday, would not grandfather in Nevada, New Jersey or Delaware, meaning all online gambling infrastructure in those states would be outlawed.
It’s supported by Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire who heads the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and is a top donor to Republican campaigns.
Graham denied allegations that the bill is a favor to Adelson, who has donated to Graham’s re-election campaign. He said South Carolina’s ban on video poker is a sign the state opposes turning “every cell phone into a video poker terminal.”
“I’m on solid footing in South Carolina with the people that I represent, and the fact that Sheldon is on board is a good thing,” Graham said.
The bill faces opposition from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat who supports online gambling, and the Democratic Governors Association, which says the proposal would endanger state revenue from Internet lottery sales and infringe on states’ rights.
A House version of the bill was to be introduced by Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah.
www-dailyrecord-com/article/20140331/NJNEWS10/303310010/Federal-bill-would-put-end-states-online-betting
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
An initiative to roll back state-regulated online poker has officially been introduced by Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina and Republican US Congressman Jason Chaffetz out of Utah. In draft form, the bill had been deemed the Internet Gambling Control Act, but has since been renamed the much more intimidating name, the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, also called RAWA.
It is not a surprise to many that the bill is suspected to be heavily backed by Sheldon Adelson, arguably the world’s biggest (and richest) opponent to online gambling regulations in the US. The billionaire casino tycoon has made it his life’s mission over the past six plus months to put a stop to state-regulated online gambling, banning any online gambling at the federal level.
An Adelson lobbyist was identified early on as an author of an early draft of the bill, and it is very similar to the goals and policies set forth by Adelson’s campaign, the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling.
Co-sponsors of the House and Senate versions of the bill, which appear to be identical, are Senators Kelly Ayotte, Mike Lee, and Dianne Feinstein in the Senate, and in the House, Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, Jim Matheson, Jim Jordan, Tulsi Gabbard, Trent Franks, James Lankford, Frank Wolf, and Lamar Smith.
The RAWA also doesn’t make any exclusions for existing states that have passed state-regulated online gambling, which thus far include Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey, and California is close on their heels.
The Las Vegas Review Journal claims that these states “would need to come to Congress for permission to continue that arrangement” if the bill passes.
However, there is a clause in the RAWA that offers a partial exemption for in-person and computer-generated retail state lotto sales. Furthermore, the bill excludes horse racing, fantasy sports, insurance, securities, and other forms of betting.
At the same time, online poker proponents Senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller of Nevada are working on their own bill to rework the Wire Act that would include a carve out for online poker, in a similar way that fantasy sports were omitted from the UIGEA. Therefore, it may mean a compromised bill would need to be drafted before Senator Reid would vote to pass it.
Heller says, “Get the bill out there first, take a look at it, see what it does.”
On the other hand, Graham said to the Las Vegas Sun, “If you want to have a poker exception, offer an amendment and see if it will pass.”
Federal Anti-Internet Gambling Bill on the Floor
It is not a surprise to many that the bill is suspected to be heavily backed by Sheldon Adelson, arguably the world’s biggest (and richest) opponent to online gambling regulations in the US. The billionaire casino tycoon has made it his life’s mission over the past six plus months to put a stop to state-regulated online gambling, banning any online gambling at the federal level.
An Adelson lobbyist was identified early on as an author of an early draft of the bill, and it is very similar to the goals and policies set forth by Adelson’s campaign, the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling.
Co-sponsors of the House and Senate versions of the bill, which appear to be identical, are Senators Kelly Ayotte, Mike Lee, and Dianne Feinstein in the Senate, and in the House, Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, Jim Matheson, Jim Jordan, Tulsi Gabbard, Trent Franks, James Lankford, Frank Wolf, and Lamar Smith.
The RAWA also doesn’t make any exclusions for existing states that have passed state-regulated online gambling, which thus far include Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey, and California is close on their heels.
The Las Vegas Review Journal claims that these states “would need to come to Congress for permission to continue that arrangement” if the bill passes.
However, there is a clause in the RAWA that offers a partial exemption for in-person and computer-generated retail state lotto sales. Furthermore, the bill excludes horse racing, fantasy sports, insurance, securities, and other forms of betting.
At the same time, online poker proponents Senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller of Nevada are working on their own bill to rework the Wire Act that would include a carve out for online poker, in a similar way that fantasy sports were omitted from the UIGEA. Therefore, it may mean a compromised bill would need to be drafted before Senator Reid would vote to pass it.
Heller says, “Get the bill out there first, take a look at it, see what it does.”
On the other hand, Graham said to the Las Vegas Sun, “If you want to have a poker exception, offer an amendment and see if it will pass.”
Federal Anti-Internet Gambling Bill on the Floor
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS DETAILS ABOUT THE SERIES FINALE OF "HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER." CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Fans who spent nine seasons with Ted, Robin, Marshall, Lily and Barney finally got the whole story of how Ted met his kids' mother in the series finale Monday night.
Many weren't thrilled.
As someone who hasn't watched "How I Met Your Mother" regularly since the third season or so and wasn't particularly invested in the answer to the big question, I found much of the episode cute and even touching.
But some story line twists clearly betrayed viewers' commitment. To wit: After a whole season spent leading up to the wedding of Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders), we learned halfway through the one-hour episode that they divorced after three years.
The episode flashed back and forward, filling in what happened to the gang over the years. After the divorce, Robin disappeared from the group. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) had a third child and moved out of their iconic Manhattan apartment. Marshall finally made judge.
And Ted met the mother (Cristin Milioti), the girl with the yellow umbrella, whose name those who stuck it out to the end learned was Tracy. They were planning their wedding when she found out she was pregnant; they went on to have two kids and spend seven years together before finally saying "I do."
Meanwhile, Barney, after vowing he'd never change, met the woman of his dreams -- his infant daughter, born after a one-night stand.
I wonder how irritated fans would have been if the series had ended sweetly with Ted marrying Tracy, who took a group photo of the gang, including Robin, back together.
But that's not how it ended. Instead, we saw an older Ted talking to the kids about his enduring love for their mother, "even when she got sick."
Predictions that A. the mother was dead; or B. Ted was dying (or had Alzheimer's) were proven at least half true when we learned that Ted's wife had died. The kids weren't sad, it turned out, because that happened six years before the final scene.
"And that, kids, is how I met your mother," Ted said to conclude his story.
"That's it?" his daughter asked, adding, "No, I don't buy it. That is not the reason you made us listen to this. You made us sit down and listen to this story about how you met my mom, and yet mom is hardly in the story. No, this is a story about how you're totally in love with Aunt Robin."
Oh, yes, "How I Met Your Mother" went there, coming full-circle to Ted's thwarted love for Robin while "throwing the mother under the bus," as one viewer complained.
"Making a big deal about the mother, then killing her off as not a big deal, seemed harsh," complained Dawn Piehl of St. Louis.
A "waste of nine years," said Lindsey Vehlewald, who watched with Piehl. "Knew it was coming, but it was wholly unnecessary. Cheap ending. Undid series."
Vehlewald added: "It was the cheapest possible way to get everyone what they wanted."
"The one scene where Ted met 'the mother' was a great scene" said Charles Hinderliter, the third member of the viewing party. (Learning they were watching, I solicited their reactions via Twitter.)
"If it had ended there, it would have been perfect," Vehlewald concurred.
Now, it's your turn. What did you think of the finale? Was it what you had hoped for after nine seasons?
Fans who spent nine seasons with Ted, Robin, Marshall, Lily and Barney finally got the whole story of how Ted met his kids' mother in the series finale Monday night.
Many weren't thrilled.
As someone who hasn't watched "How I Met Your Mother" regularly since the third season or so and wasn't particularly invested in the answer to the big question, I found much of the episode cute and even touching.
But some story line twists clearly betrayed viewers' commitment. To wit: After a whole season spent leading up to the wedding of Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders), we learned halfway through the one-hour episode that they divorced after three years.
The episode flashed back and forward, filling in what happened to the gang over the years. After the divorce, Robin disappeared from the group. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) had a third child and moved out of their iconic Manhattan apartment. Marshall finally made judge.
And Ted met the mother (Cristin Milioti), the girl with the yellow umbrella, whose name those who stuck it out to the end learned was Tracy. They were planning their wedding when she found out she was pregnant; they went on to have two kids and spend seven years together before finally saying "I do."
Meanwhile, Barney, after vowing he'd never change, met the woman of his dreams -- his infant daughter, born after a one-night stand.
I wonder how irritated fans would have been if the series had ended sweetly with Ted marrying Tracy, who took a group photo of the gang, including Robin, back together.
But that's not how it ended. Instead, we saw an older Ted talking to the kids about his enduring love for their mother, "even when she got sick."
Predictions that A. the mother was dead; or B. Ted was dying (or had Alzheimer's) were proven at least half true when we learned that Ted's wife had died. The kids weren't sad, it turned out, because that happened six years before the final scene.
"And that, kids, is how I met your mother," Ted said to conclude his story.
"That's it?" his daughter asked, adding, "No, I don't buy it. That is not the reason you made us listen to this. You made us sit down and listen to this story about how you met my mom, and yet mom is hardly in the story. No, this is a story about how you're totally in love with Aunt Robin."
Oh, yes, "How I Met Your Mother" went there, coming full-circle to Ted's thwarted love for Robin while "throwing the mother under the bus," as one viewer complained.
"Making a big deal about the mother, then killing her off as not a big deal, seemed harsh," complained Dawn Piehl of St. Louis.
A "waste of nine years," said Lindsey Vehlewald, who watched with Piehl. "Knew it was coming, but it was wholly unnecessary. Cheap ending. Undid series."
Vehlewald added: "It was the cheapest possible way to get everyone what they wanted."
"The one scene where Ted met 'the mother' was a great scene" said Charles Hinderliter, the third member of the viewing party. (Learning they were watching, I solicited their reactions via Twitter.)
"If it had ended there, it would have been perfect," Vehlewald concurred.
Now, it's your turn. What did you think of the finale? Was it what you had hoped for after nine seasons?
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
When it comes to raising revenue for the state, Internet gambling has been a bust.
Online gambling has failed to generate most of the tax revenue that it had been anticipated to this year, accounting for roughly half of a downward adjustment to the annual state budget.
New Jersey is now projected to end the fiscal year in June with less revenue than expected, the third straight year Gov. Chris Christie's administration overestimated revenue collections on which the state budget is based. The administration reduced its revenue forecast by $251 million; a legislative estimate represents a further reduction of $217 million.
The forecast for the Casino Revenue Fund, which collects taxes from online gambling and Atlantic City's brick-and-mortar casinos, has been cut by $126 million, accounting for roughly half the state's revised budget projection, said State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff.
He told the Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday he remains optimistic that taxes from Atlantic City gambling will rise over the mid- and long-term, while acknowledging that online gambling receipts come in far shy of projections during the first four months of availability.
"Clearly, the results so far have not met our expectations," he said.
Legislative budget officer David Rosen, who testified earlier before the Senate panel, said the tax has generated $4.2 million between the last week of November, when Internet gambling started, through the end of February. He said monthly amounts have been rising from $1.1 million in December to $1.4 million in January and $1.5 million in February. He said he expects that trend to continue and for the state to generate a total of $12 million this year, and $48 million next year.
The administration originally projected $180 million in Internet gambling taxes, then dropped the number to $160 million in June.
Sidamon-Eristoff refused to specify how much the administration is expecting from online gambling compared with casinos. However, he did say 248,000 Internet gambling accounts had been opened as of Feb. 28, a 25 percent increase from the prior month.
Sen. Paul Sarlo, a Democrat who chairs the budget panel, said he is frustrated to be ending another fiscal year having to make late budget adjustments.
Rosen's Office of Legislative Services projects that the state has overestimated revenues by a combined $509 million through the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Christie proposed a $34.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 based on revenue growth of 5.8 percent. Rosen forecasts revenues to grow at 5.5 percent.
Rosen also said New Jersey has been slower to recover from the recession than neighboring states.
The state's lagging economic recovery is one reason Wall Street rating agencies have been cool toward New Jersey's fiscal outlook.
Fitch Ratings last week lowered the state's credit outlook from "stable" to "negative," while maintaining the state's credit rating, following Moody's Investor Service, which took the same actions in December. A third agency, Standard & Poor's, has held a negative credit outlook for New Jersey since September 2012.
Sarlo also quizzed Sidamon-Eristoff on the state's transportation plan, suggesting that one way to solve infrastructure needs is by raising the gas tax. Sarlo said the administration's five-year pay-as-you-go plan has remained largely unrealized.
"All we've done is borrow, borrow, borrow," Sarlo said.
The treasurer said the administration would present a plan for funding the Transportation Trust Fund in about nine months.
Internet gambling no jackpot for New Jersey | 7online-com
Online gambling has failed to generate most of the tax revenue that it had been anticipated to this year, accounting for roughly half of a downward adjustment to the annual state budget.
New Jersey is now projected to end the fiscal year in June with less revenue than expected, the third straight year Gov. Chris Christie's administration overestimated revenue collections on which the state budget is based. The administration reduced its revenue forecast by $251 million; a legislative estimate represents a further reduction of $217 million.
The forecast for the Casino Revenue Fund, which collects taxes from online gambling and Atlantic City's brick-and-mortar casinos, has been cut by $126 million, accounting for roughly half the state's revised budget projection, said State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff.
He told the Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday he remains optimistic that taxes from Atlantic City gambling will rise over the mid- and long-term, while acknowledging that online gambling receipts come in far shy of projections during the first four months of availability.
"Clearly, the results so far have not met our expectations," he said.
Legislative budget officer David Rosen, who testified earlier before the Senate panel, said the tax has generated $4.2 million between the last week of November, when Internet gambling started, through the end of February. He said monthly amounts have been rising from $1.1 million in December to $1.4 million in January and $1.5 million in February. He said he expects that trend to continue and for the state to generate a total of $12 million this year, and $48 million next year.
The administration originally projected $180 million in Internet gambling taxes, then dropped the number to $160 million in June.
Sidamon-Eristoff refused to specify how much the administration is expecting from online gambling compared with casinos. However, he did say 248,000 Internet gambling accounts had been opened as of Feb. 28, a 25 percent increase from the prior month.
Sen. Paul Sarlo, a Democrat who chairs the budget panel, said he is frustrated to be ending another fiscal year having to make late budget adjustments.
Rosen's Office of Legislative Services projects that the state has overestimated revenues by a combined $509 million through the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Christie proposed a $34.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 based on revenue growth of 5.8 percent. Rosen forecasts revenues to grow at 5.5 percent.
Rosen also said New Jersey has been slower to recover from the recession than neighboring states.
The state's lagging economic recovery is one reason Wall Street rating agencies have been cool toward New Jersey's fiscal outlook.
Fitch Ratings last week lowered the state's credit outlook from "stable" to "negative," while maintaining the state's credit rating, following Moody's Investor Service, which took the same actions in December. A third agency, Standard & Poor's, has held a negative credit outlook for New Jersey since September 2012.
Sarlo also quizzed Sidamon-Eristoff on the state's transportation plan, suggesting that one way to solve infrastructure needs is by raising the gas tax. Sarlo said the administration's five-year pay-as-you-go plan has remained largely unrealized.
"All we've done is borrow, borrow, borrow," Sarlo said.
The treasurer said the administration would present a plan for funding the Transportation Trust Fund in about nine months.
Internet gambling no jackpot for New Jersey | 7online-com
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
.jpg?v=1.014689161)
.png?v=1.014689161)
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts were set to kick off their hotly anticipated tour in Perth last Wednesday.
But the Australasian leg of the 14 On Fire world tour was postponed following the suicide of frontman Mick Jagger's girlfriend L'Wren Scott.
Frontier Touring announced the postponement of the tour a day after Scott's death.
Industry sources have told Billboard magazine the postponement could cost up to $10 million.
Billboard says the figure includes deposits on venues, storage and transportation of gear and lost revenue.
"Moving a tour the magnitude of a Stones outing is an epic, expensive affair, potentially involving millions of dollars in travel, transportation and other expenses.
"While some production work would have been done on the ground, the band had 60 trucks on hold to transport its equipment, and just chartering the gear could have cost as much as US$250,000," the report says, citing sources.
Australian promoter Michael Gudinski, whose Frontier Touring is presenting the band with AEG Live, has told The Hollywood Reporter The Stones had sold more than 150,000 tickets.
Talks are underway to bring the band back to Australia and New Zealand in October/November.
Meanwhile, the Stones have announced they will play Paris' Stade de France in June for the first time since 2007.
The band will play a single gig in France's national stadium in Paris on June 13 as part of the 14 On Fire tour, according to a statement from their French promoter.
The Stones already have a string of dates planned across Europe for June, including in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.
Their promoter says several more European concerts will soon be announced for May, June and July.