CASINO PLAYERS EZINE #86

#1

Online Gaming for US players.
It appears that rather than try to prosecute individuals, (no US online player has been in court to date), this bill from Congress prohibits banks and credit card companies from making payments to online gaming websites.
There is some question as to whether or not that will be effective.
The government has 270 days in which to issue regulations stating that banks and other institutions must block gaming-related transactions.
My opinion, as stated in the past, has been that the best solution would be to permit, regulate online gaming and tax it like any other business, as with land-based casinos.
States like MS, CA, NJ and soon Pennsylvania have been the benefactors of additional state revenue by providing casino gambling.
Why has the same opportunity not been granted to online gaming?

I have provided some excerpts linking to informative articles about this issue below.

A) Legal Landscape of Online Gaming Has Not Changed
Misleading news stories abound both online and in print regarding the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The completely incorrect interpretation states that the new bill essentially outlaws most forms of Internet gambling. The new bill absolutely does no such thing.
There are a few very insightful people out there correctly analyzing this new legislation.
For example, the president of the American Gaming Association, Frank Fahrenkopf is one such person. “This bill did not make anything legal or illegal,” says Fahrenkopf. “What it did was affect the mechanism by which Internet gambling takes place…and there is some question as to whether or not that will be effective.”
Bloomberg correctly reports that “Congress passed legislation that curbs financial payments from banks to offshore Internet casinos that are illegal under US law.”
Consumer Affairs seems to have gotten it right as they report that “The legislation does not criminalize the placing of bets by consumers. Rather than outlawing online gambling, the bill prohibits banks and credit card companies from making payments to online gaming websites.
Read more

B) Good News: The Tide is Turning
NETeller’s decision to stay in the US has been confirmed. In case any of our readers missed it, the decision was reported in the Wall Street Journal:
A NETeller PLC executive said the British company, which handles payments for online gambling companies and others, will continue to operate in the US, despite the recent passage of antigambling legislation.
"We are staying in the US," Bruce Elliott, NETeller's executive vice president, marketing and sales, told a online gambling conference in Barcelona. "I don't think we have a very big problem."
Read more

C) Federal Internet gambling law ineffective, contradictory by Rick Alm
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 makes criminals of companies — not players — who electronically move money for the purposes of online sports betting: wagering on dog races, poker and other casino-style games.
Sooner or later, a judge somewhere is going to toss this legislation into the dustbin on the basis that gambling is gambling, so why discriminate against some forms of it?
An estimated 3,000 online casinos rake in $12 billion a year worldwide — half of it from U.S. players.
Congress must quit daydreaming that sand castle laws can hold back the global tsunami of online gambling. Legalize it. Regulate it. And tax it to death.
Read more

#2

A request from a reader:
Gayle: Why not do a story on the Beau Rivage, opening on August 29th, one year after Katrina shut it down. Thanks, G. Smith
I have provided a paragraph and a link to the press release/website for Beau Rivage:
The Beau is Back!
For this significant occasion, uniformed Beau Rivage employees paraded up the main drive to the porte cochere for a ceremonial “door opening” as they literally took steps to bring a sense of normalcy to their lives: going back to work.
The resort opened to guests immediately following the ceremony.
Read more

3-5

Vanessa Williams – Orleans.

3-4

Donna Summer – LV Hilton.

3-4

Brad Garrett - Mirage.

4

Aerosmith/Motley Crue – MGM Grand.

9

Bouncing Souls – House of Blues.

9-12

Suzanne Somers - Orleans.

9-29

David Copperfield – MGM Grand.

10

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts – House of Blues.

10-11

Nick Lachey – Luxor.

10-12

Ray Romano – Mirage.

11

Diamond Rio – Boulder Station.

11

Edgar Winter – Cannery.

11

Rolling Stones – MGM Grand.

12

The Fray – Hard Rock.

16-18

Olivia Newton John – Luxor.

17

Marshall Tucker Band – Boulder Station.

18

James Blunt – Hard Rock.

18

Diane Schuur – Boulder Station.

18

Herman’s Hermits – Cannery.

18

Barbra Streisand – MGM Grand.

23

Wayne Brady – Mirage.

24-25

Guy Lombardo Orchestra – Cannery.

24-25

Johnny Mathis – LV Hilton.

25

Dixie Chicks – MGM Grand.

As reported by the Gaming Commissions.
Slot players know that payout %'s and top casino payout rankings can change monthly.
Note: Not all land-based casinos/regions are required to report payouts.

This link will provide current reporting for Slots Payouts.
easycasinogambling.com

I am revisiting the cash vs. cashless dialog/rant as I have collected additional comments from readers.
Even though cashless is the ‘way of the gambling world’ now, there are still two items I miss about coins in a bucket.
The comment from a40rock below discusses one of them—roaming around with a bunch of coins to play. I miss playing 3-4 spins in one slot, moving next door or the next aisle and ‘testing’ slots. This is not as easy to do with tickets because many times, there is a delay between when you cash out, the main computer ‘catches up’ and you play another slot.
Secondly, I had one instance where, even though another player was ‘watching’ my machine while I took a break, some fast, smarmy individual, hit the cash out button quickly and took off with my ticket. My only saving grace being the ticket was for only $23.
Lesson learned, I now practice one of three procedures.
1) Call over a slot attendant and ask them to watch the machine. This method entails finding someone by flashing my Change light or calling over if nearby. You know the rest—not always a speedy response as coins have disappeared, so too have the employees.
2) Cash out my ticket, hoping that upon my return, the ‘goody’ machine is still available.
3) If I know a trustworthy person playing around me, ask if they will watch. This is probably the easiest of the three. Slot players who are ‘regulars’ at a particular casino will recognize this method because you know ‘Mary, Bob and Fred’ and ask about their families, winnings, etc each time you see them. Or, as with me—it’s the ‘Tuesday regulars’.

Moving on, below you will find other cash vs. cashless comments from readers of this newsletter:

1) I was not a fan of TITO when it first surfaced at my local venue. Places to redeem the tickets were few, and lines were long. Coins allowed you to carry your bucket and play machines at will --dropping in a few coins here and there. If you were playing a 3-coin machine and needed one more for a max bet, just reach into your bucket or pocket. TITO required inserting another bill and playing more than you might wish, or else you could cash out a ticket for 25 or fifty cents, add it to your handful of others, and wait in line.
Now, some years later, I can't imagine having to go back to coins, with their hopper fills and hand pays for anything over 1000 coins. Coins were messy, dirty, inconvenient, noisy, etc. Tickets will print out $1000 or more. What a country! a40rock at yourcasinovoice.com

2) Since ticket-in/ticket-out (which I LOVE), there seems to not be enough workers on the floor to help you when you need someone to unjam the paper in your machine. Eydie J

3) I request that all major casinos in Vegas convert their slot machines to the coinless models. I am not an old century slots player. You can show me the money via Ticket when I choose to cashout. Mulberry

4) It takes so long to fill the hopper and be waited on at some casinos, but with the new ticket in ticket out, it's been great.
I hope all the casino's go to the ticket in ticket out slots. I just don't want a lot of people to lose their jobs.

5) I don’t like Penny Slots that give Dollar coins only and make you play or lose the remaining under $1 balance. Prefer TITO approach. Waiting forever for a fill is the second complaint, also solved with TITO. Jay
(TITO=Ticket In, Ticket Out)

6) I don't like the ticket in ticket out machines. I like hearing the coins drop into the tray. I like having coins to pay the cocktail waitress (when you can get one) but with the TITO I rarely have any change so I am always digging for a tip for her.
Secondly, I don't like people who hog machines. Find a machine and play it, don't take up the whole row.

7) I myself do not like the ticket in/out either like your other readers it is a hassle if you want to split machines or even worse is the tipping issue. I have though found that one of our local Indian Casinos has some dollar slots that will pay you part coins and the rest with a ticket.
Now that works for me, and in my opinion would make a lot of us diehard slot players happy. Why do you think more of the Casinos in general don't do this? It is obviously an option for them. Keep up the good work! Jackie

8) I have always felt that a quiet casino is a losing casino. It is much better to hear that deep clank even if it is a player making change. I hand play my quarters in VP because of the system I use. Every time I cash out people look and even if I am losing it appears to the players around me that I am winning. This does me no good but the hope it instills in the other players should make the casinos take notice. Call me a traditionalist but give that loud clank -- the sound of money -- over the elevator music and a tickity tickity any day.
Thanks for the chance to rant. Steve.

9) I HATE TITO! As a blind slot player, it makes it impossible for me to know how much I have won, lost, or have left. It also makes it impossible to share winnings with my wife without having to leave our machines. Love the newsletters. Keep up the good work. And keep fighting the fight for CICO (coin in/coin out)... even if it's a fight we can't win. Thanks.

Got a rant or comments? Send us an email or post at yourcasinovoice.com.