Betting Sports Tip: List of U.S. friendly casinos online
There is no denying it. It's getting harder to find quality U.S. friendly online casinos these days. Due to the many hurdles stemming from various laws, lack of regulations and the fact that the U.S. states are left with the role to find creative and Chinese-like ways to ban their residents from gambling online, there have been no new online casinos coming out lately that could be deemed U.S.-friendly. But if you are new to the whole online gambling thing, you still have plenty of options. Depending on what you are looking for in an U.S.-friendly online casino, whether it's the bonus, fast payouts or easy deposits, we have created this quick guide to getting the job done. This guide to finding U.S. friendly online casino is for informational purpose only, always check your laws before gambling on the internet.
Bodog Casino - best overall U.S.-friendly online casino: The Bodog Casino comes atop our rank list of US friendly online casinos for many reasons. It's still the online casino with the highest success of credit card deposits, Bodog has the decade+ experience in the online gambling scene and it offers a nice package of gambling services, including sports betting and poker room. It offers 10% bonus on every deposit the player makes in his or her casino account and various ongoing bonuses and specials are also posted every week. The casino looks great, the graphics are lively and as real as it gets, depositing is easy and withdrawals have been coming like clockwork since 1997. This U.S. friendly online casino is also home of the Cleopatra's Gold popular slot machine, which has made many of players rich. This is a quality online gambling company, although foreign players should be aware that residents from Canada and Turkey are not allowed to gamble here.
And if the bonus is what you are looking for, Golden Casino got you covered. This U.S. friendly online casino offers a whopping $555 match-up bonus on your first deposit, but the bonus train doesn't stop here. Extra free money will be disbursed for using various ewallets, although credit card payments are also an option, the casino has a comprehensive loyalty program which helps generate comp points and then turn them into real money, weekly out-of-the-blue bonuses and more. The Golden Casino remains honest and secure, with customer service on top of its game 24/7 via phone, email or chat sessions. What the Golden Casino is most famous for is the many slots tournaments it runs every week. A large number of those slots tourneys are free to enter, while winners get real money as a prize. Those that require buy-ins on the other side give the players chance to win large amount of cash, some slots tournaments with purses of over $100K.
Las Vegas USA Casino - and if you are looking for the best RTG software U.S. friendly online casino, Las Vegas USA is the first stop one should make. The RealTime Gaming (RTG) software is boosting over 100 different games, large number of slots, all casino table games and video poker machines you would find at a B&M Las Vegas casino, hence the name. This is the online casino that will get you as close to the Vegas-style gambling on the Internet as it's possible with the current technology. Well worth downloading all the games.
These are the current best U.S.-friendly online casinos. Of course, if you need to see a larger number of online casino websites friendly to U.S. players, you can always visit our list of online casinos for US players here. All the casinos listed there are of great quality and any country restrictions are noted for each casino. You can also read reviews of the internet casinos, see the current bonus offers and more.
Betting Sports Tip: List of U.S. friendly casinos online
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Betting Sports Forum: Poker Organization to Spend $3 Million to Lobby for Online Poker
Betting Sports Forum: Poker Organization to Spend $3 Million to Lobby for Online Poker
By Joseph Ewens
Permalink
One of poker world’s most high profile pressure groups has committed itself to a multimillion dollar lobbying campaign over the next 6-8 months. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has told the Associated Press that they have a war-chest of $3 million to utilize during this Congressional session.
The PPA’s one million members have done their part raising the money, although much of the fund arrived courtesy of industry group The Interactive Gaming Council. This session of Congress began in January and concludes on October 30th for the winter adjournment. The vast majority will be spent trying to convince Washington politicians to repeal the UIGEA. The bill, which came into effect in 2006, effectively bans all forms of online gambling, forcing many lucrative businesses to move off-shore.
Although $3 million sounds like an excessive sum, PPA coffers may be stretched to their limits as they fight off opposition from America’s major sporting leagues. The NFL in particular was instrumental in attaching the UIGEA to the unrelated Safe Port Act in 2006. Last year it stepped up its anti-gambling activities, hiring a full time activist called Jeff Miller to represent its interests in Washington. These organizations claim that online sports betting threatens the integrity of their games and have vowed to oppose any efforts to see the ban repealed. The Christian Coalition also has a history of taking political action to further the cause of the UIGEA.
The timing of this announcement may well be timed to coincide with the activities of House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank. During the last two years he has introduced a number of bills designed to re-legalize online gambling. His latest attempt, slated to appear before the end of April, will seek to reintroduce online gambling to legality along with legislation and taxation. Assuring a fair and even industry that contributes to the national economy is seen as a key part in its reintroduction.
Betting Sports Forum: Poker Organization to Spend $3 Million to Lobby for Online Poker
By Joseph Ewens
Permalink
One of poker world’s most high profile pressure groups has committed itself to a multimillion dollar lobbying campaign over the next 6-8 months. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has told the Associated Press that they have a war-chest of $3 million to utilize during this Congressional session.
The PPA’s one million members have done their part raising the money, although much of the fund arrived courtesy of industry group The Interactive Gaming Council. This session of Congress began in January and concludes on October 30th for the winter adjournment. The vast majority will be spent trying to convince Washington politicians to repeal the UIGEA. The bill, which came into effect in 2006, effectively bans all forms of online gambling, forcing many lucrative businesses to move off-shore.
Although $3 million sounds like an excessive sum, PPA coffers may be stretched to their limits as they fight off opposition from America’s major sporting leagues. The NFL in particular was instrumental in attaching the UIGEA to the unrelated Safe Port Act in 2006. Last year it stepped up its anti-gambling activities, hiring a full time activist called Jeff Miller to represent its interests in Washington. These organizations claim that online sports betting threatens the integrity of their games and have vowed to oppose any efforts to see the ban repealed. The Christian Coalition also has a history of taking political action to further the cause of the UIGEA.
The timing of this announcement may well be timed to coincide with the activities of House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank. During the last two years he has introduced a number of bills designed to re-legalize online gambling. His latest attempt, slated to appear before the end of April, will seek to reintroduce online gambling to legality along with legislation and taxation. Assuring a fair and even industry that contributes to the national economy is seen as a key part in its reintroduction.
Betting Sports Forum: Poker Organization to Spend $3 Million to Lobby for Online Poker
Betting Sports Works Great for NFL QB's Model Wife
Betting Sports Works Great for NFL QB's Model Wife
Tom Brady's wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, has reportedly won $1 million in the last three months gambling on soccer matches.
The National Football League may have a policy to oppose all sports gambling, and even online casinos which do not handle sports betting, but one prominent player is richer, due to his wife's wagering on sports. Tom Brady's wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, has reportedly won $1 million in the last three months gambling on soccer matches.
The Metropolitan Post says Mrs. Brady is a fan of Italian championship team Internazionale Milano, and has already pocketed $1 million in winnings if Inter continues its winning ways. Gisele apparently has future bets placed on Inter repeating as winners of the Scudetto, the "little shield" that signifies the champion of Serie A, Italy's premier soccer league.
Bundchen, according to the Post, is placing weekly bets on Inter, and will collect if the team wins the Scudetto, a likelihood as it enjoys a comfortable lead.
The NFL contends any gambling at all, let alone sports betting, creates corruption and a loss of integrity for its games. Yet soccer suffers no loss in public confidence or prestige by sports gambling, even though Bundchen has a connection to Inter Milan.
Before marrying Brady, Bundchen dated former Inter player Fancesco Coco. She also professes complete faith in coach Jose Mourinho, another personal acquaintance.
No comment has yet been released from the offices of the NFL about the sports gaming habits of the wife of Brady, one of the best-known players in the league. The New England Patriots quarterback is not alleged to have placed bets of his own.
One wit suggests that the NFL might want to lock up Gisele in the same cell as Janet Jones-Gretzky, also noted for her looks and gambling hobby. "Then," the wag said, "we could experience one of those women-behind-bars movies come to life."
Betting Sports Works Great for NFL QB's Model Wife
Tom Brady's wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, has reportedly won $1 million in the last three months gambling on soccer matches.
The National Football League may have a policy to oppose all sports gambling, and even online casinos which do not handle sports betting, but one prominent player is richer, due to his wife's wagering on sports. Tom Brady's wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, has reportedly won $1 million in the last three months gambling on soccer matches.
The Metropolitan Post says Mrs. Brady is a fan of Italian championship team Internazionale Milano, and has already pocketed $1 million in winnings if Inter continues its winning ways. Gisele apparently has future bets placed on Inter repeating as winners of the Scudetto, the "little shield" that signifies the champion of Serie A, Italy's premier soccer league.
Bundchen, according to the Post, is placing weekly bets on Inter, and will collect if the team wins the Scudetto, a likelihood as it enjoys a comfortable lead.
The NFL contends any gambling at all, let alone sports betting, creates corruption and a loss of integrity for its games. Yet soccer suffers no loss in public confidence or prestige by sports gambling, even though Bundchen has a connection to Inter Milan.
Before marrying Brady, Bundchen dated former Inter player Fancesco Coco. She also professes complete faith in coach Jose Mourinho, another personal acquaintance.
No comment has yet been released from the offices of the NFL about the sports gaming habits of the wife of Brady, one of the best-known players in the league. The New England Patriots quarterback is not alleged to have placed bets of his own.
One wit suggests that the NFL might want to lock up Gisele in the same cell as Janet Jones-Gretzky, also noted for her looks and gambling hobby. "Then," the wag said, "we could experience one of those women-behind-bars movies come to life."
Betting Sports Works Great for NFL QB's Model Wife
Facts Versus Faith Dominate Online Betting Sports Debate
Facts Versus Faith Dominate Online Betting Sports Debate
By Christopher Nole
General Online Casino News
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! In this supposedly enlightened age, many US citizens still claim their right to believe articles of faith, even when all scientific investigation and existing facts prove otherwise. The argument over legalized online gambling falls in the center of this phenomenon, as baseless assertions are refuted by scientific study, yet many continue to spread the falsehoods as beliefs beyond impeachment.
"It [Internet gambling] is so seductively habit-forming that individuals can in short order lose their homes and jobs and, indeed, their families and futures. And the effects on individuals rebound into society," says Former US Representative Jim Leach.
But objective scientific study finds otherwise.
“On a theoretical level, online gaming’s increased accessibility should make it more dangerous than traditional gaming. But... it does not seem to be the reality,” says Professor Dan Ross, director of research at the National Responsible Gambling Program in South Africa.
"The very first thing we learned (studying Internet gambling patterns), which we didn't expect, was that the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of gamblers online gamble in a very moderate and mild way," says Dr. Howard Shaffer after conducting a two-year study as director of the Division of Addictions at Harvard Medical School.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, "However, we can exercise our right to oppose Internet betting on our games. ... Gambling on our games -- online or off line -- threatens the integrity of our games and all the values they represent."
But years of legal Las Vegas sports gambling have not hurt the NFL, and European sports leagues have found cooperation with online casinos essential to prevent corruption and undue influence.
Professor Earl Grinois of the Baptist school Baylor University says social ills of casino gambling do more damage than the revenue produced offsets. Grinois says introducing a casino into a neighborhood causes crime to increase five to eight percent, with the primary jump in violent crime like burglary and murder.
But actual facts show otherwise. Casinos were brought to Bossier City, Louisiana, fifteen years ago. "There were fears, even from all of us, about the crime," Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said. "But, so far, crime (in Bossier City) has actually dropped."
In the meantime, Bossier City has beautified itself, redone infrastructure, funded social aid programs, seen decreased unemployment, and created a trust fund with over $30 million for future civic needs.
In Florida, Hallandale Representative Joe Gibbons testified in front of Grinois that casinos had come to his district two years earlier. `And in those last two years, our crime rate has gone down.''
Grinois responded that crime rates go up starting in the third year.One witness guessed if Gibbons had said four years, Grinois would have said five is the measure.
Michelle Combs of the Christian Coalition lobbies for the UIGEA, saying, "We’re not saying people shouldn’t go to Las Vegas. But when it’s in your home, it’s too easy. It breaks up families.”
Yet every bit of evidence is that this is not so. Dr. Shaffer's and Dr. Ross's research shows play at online gambling sites to be controlled and budgeted by the overwhelming majority of patrons. Religious groups like to relate horrible anecdotal stories of a single incident, disregarding the statistical insignificance of the occurrence. According to statistician Frederick Felson, "Saying Internet gambling caused one horror story and is therefore evil and must be barred is the equivalent of banning cell phones because one person was beaten with a cell phone."
US Representative Spencer Bachus tried to use scientific proof to back up his belief that Internet gaming leads to mental issues by asserting a survey proved that one in four teenagers who gambled online attempted suicide. Unfortunately for Bachus, the author of the study denounced his interpretation, saying he had totally misrepresented the facts. That seems to be a common position for religious right-wingers opposing online gambling.
Facts Versus Faith Dominate Online Betting Sports Debate
By Christopher Nole
General Online Casino News
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! In this supposedly enlightened age, many US citizens still claim their right to believe articles of faith, even when all scientific investigation and existing facts prove otherwise. The argument over legalized online gambling falls in the center of this phenomenon, as baseless assertions are refuted by scientific study, yet many continue to spread the falsehoods as beliefs beyond impeachment.
"It [Internet gambling] is so seductively habit-forming that individuals can in short order lose their homes and jobs and, indeed, their families and futures. And the effects on individuals rebound into society," says Former US Representative Jim Leach.
But objective scientific study finds otherwise.
“On a theoretical level, online gaming’s increased accessibility should make it more dangerous than traditional gaming. But... it does not seem to be the reality,” says Professor Dan Ross, director of research at the National Responsible Gambling Program in South Africa.
"The very first thing we learned (studying Internet gambling patterns), which we didn't expect, was that the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of gamblers online gamble in a very moderate and mild way," says Dr. Howard Shaffer after conducting a two-year study as director of the Division of Addictions at Harvard Medical School.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, "However, we can exercise our right to oppose Internet betting on our games. ... Gambling on our games -- online or off line -- threatens the integrity of our games and all the values they represent."
But years of legal Las Vegas sports gambling have not hurt the NFL, and European sports leagues have found cooperation with online casinos essential to prevent corruption and undue influence.
Professor Earl Grinois of the Baptist school Baylor University says social ills of casino gambling do more damage than the revenue produced offsets. Grinois says introducing a casino into a neighborhood causes crime to increase five to eight percent, with the primary jump in violent crime like burglary and murder.
But actual facts show otherwise. Casinos were brought to Bossier City, Louisiana, fifteen years ago. "There were fears, even from all of us, about the crime," Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said. "But, so far, crime (in Bossier City) has actually dropped."
In the meantime, Bossier City has beautified itself, redone infrastructure, funded social aid programs, seen decreased unemployment, and created a trust fund with over $30 million for future civic needs.
In Florida, Hallandale Representative Joe Gibbons testified in front of Grinois that casinos had come to his district two years earlier. `And in those last two years, our crime rate has gone down.''
Grinois responded that crime rates go up starting in the third year.One witness guessed if Gibbons had said four years, Grinois would have said five is the measure.
Michelle Combs of the Christian Coalition lobbies for the UIGEA, saying, "We’re not saying people shouldn’t go to Las Vegas. But when it’s in your home, it’s too easy. It breaks up families.”
Yet every bit of evidence is that this is not so. Dr. Shaffer's and Dr. Ross's research shows play at online gambling sites to be controlled and budgeted by the overwhelming majority of patrons. Religious groups like to relate horrible anecdotal stories of a single incident, disregarding the statistical insignificance of the occurrence. According to statistician Frederick Felson, "Saying Internet gambling caused one horror story and is therefore evil and must be barred is the equivalent of banning cell phones because one person was beaten with a cell phone."
US Representative Spencer Bachus tried to use scientific proof to back up his belief that Internet gaming leads to mental issues by asserting a survey proved that one in four teenagers who gambled online attempted suicide. Unfortunately for Bachus, the author of the study denounced his interpretation, saying he had totally misrepresented the facts. That seems to be a common position for religious right-wingers opposing online gambling.
Facts Versus Faith Dominate Online Betting Sports Debate
New Jersey Residents Overwhelmingly Want Legal Sports Betting
New Jersey Residents Overwhelmingly Want Legal Sports Betting
The poll, conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University, shows that people living in New Jersey support bringing legal sports gambling to Atlantic City casinos by a spread of better than two to one.
A new survey of public thinking has found that residents of the state of New Jersey favor legalizing sports gambling by a decisive margin. The poll, conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University, shows that people living in New Jersey support bringing legal sports gambling to Atlantic City casinos by a spread of better than two to one.
Sixty-three percent of residents says sports books should be legal at AC casinos. The same number supported allowing horse tracks to take sports bets, while opposition fell even lower, from thirty-two to thirty percent.
The numbers fell to roughly even as to whether to permit sports betting at off-track betting venues. Forty-eight percent said yes, while forty-three percent said no, just outside the poll's four percent margin of error.
New Jersey state Senator Ray Lesniak and the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association have filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice, alleging that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutionally treats four states differently than the rest in outlawing sports gambling in most of the US.
"Here is an issue in which the voice of the public has clearly spoken. Any politician who votes against his constituents must surely be seen as serving special interests, any claim to the contrary notwithstanding,“ says legislative observer Thomas Riordan.
New Jersey Residents Overwhelmingly Want Legal Sports Betting
The poll, conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University, shows that people living in New Jersey support bringing legal sports gambling to Atlantic City casinos by a spread of better than two to one.
A new survey of public thinking has found that residents of the state of New Jersey favor legalizing sports gambling by a decisive margin. The poll, conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University, shows that people living in New Jersey support bringing legal sports gambling to Atlantic City casinos by a spread of better than two to one.
Sixty-three percent of residents says sports books should be legal at AC casinos. The same number supported allowing horse tracks to take sports bets, while opposition fell even lower, from thirty-two to thirty percent.
The numbers fell to roughly even as to whether to permit sports betting at off-track betting venues. Forty-eight percent said yes, while forty-three percent said no, just outside the poll's four percent margin of error.
New Jersey state Senator Ray Lesniak and the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association have filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice, alleging that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutionally treats four states differently than the rest in outlawing sports gambling in most of the US.
"Here is an issue in which the voice of the public has clearly spoken. Any politician who votes against his constituents must surely be seen as serving special interests, any claim to the contrary notwithstanding,“ says legislative observer Thomas Riordan.
New Jersey Residents Overwhelmingly Want Legal Sports Betting
Monday, May 4, 2009
Betting Forum Sports: Florida may gamble on casinos for revenue
Betting Forum Sports: Florida may gamble on casinos for revenue
BY CHARLIE PATTON
Beginning in 1978, Florida voters three times rejected constitutional amendments that would have made forced the state to allow casino gambling.
But Florida’s political leaders have allowed legal gambling to gradually increase throughout the state anyway. Now the Legislature is debating whether to authorize full-scale casino gambling in Tampa and in South Florida.
“People say Florida isn’t a gambling state,” said state Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville. “That’s a nice thing to say but it isn’t backed by the facts.”
Since the 1930s, the state has had legal betting on horse races, dog races and jai alai. Poker is now legal in most of those facilities.
In the early 1980s, cruise ships began operating out of Florida ports like Mayport, making day trips for gamblers into international waters.
In 1986, the year voters defeated casino gambling for the second time, they approved a different form of legalized gambling, the Florida lottery.
Slot machines have been legal in Miami-Dade and Broward counties for more than a decade.
And for more than year, as a result of an agreement Gov. Charlie Crist made with the Seminole tribe in 2007, casino games like blackjack and baccarat have been played in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa and in Hollywood.
Although, the state Supreme Court ruled last summer that such games aren’t legal in Florida, the games go on, even as the Legislature debates changing the law. Despite the court ruling, the state has not attempted to stop the Seminole casinos from offering the games but instead has asked the Legislature to allow them to continue.
The Tampa Hard Rock is like “a little Las Vegas,” said Howard Korman, president of the Jacksonville Greyhound Club.
With the state facing a severe budget crisis, Crist told reporters last week he has worked out a revised proposal that will accelerate some of the tribe’s payments to the state if the Legislature approves a gambling compact. That would bring about $1.1 billion going into state coffers in the next two years, he said.
In 2007, Crist argued the deal was needed in order to ensure that Florida got a share of Indian gambling revenues. Under federal law, Indian tribes are exempt from taxation unless a specific arrangement is made. Some legal experts believe the Seminoles can offer Las Vegas-style casino games even without the state’s agreement.
“If we don’t give the Seminoles a compact, they’re going to continue to operate and we’re going to continue to get nothing,” King said.
State Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, noted that if the Seminoles do end up operating Vegas-style casinos, which he doesn’t want, it will be partly because of past sins against them. “We took their land and it is coming back to haunt us,” he said.
In this spring’s Legislative session, which is scheduled to end Friday, the House and Senate have approved different versions of a bill that would expand legal gambling in the state.
The House version would change things slightly. It would require the Seminoles to stop offering games like blackjack while allowing them to continue to offer Las Vegas-style slot machines. It would ban slots from the rest of the state, except Broward and Miami-Dade. The bill calls for the Seminoles to pay $100 million to the state annually in exchange.
The House bill would also expand the hours and the betting limits at facilities like the two poker rooms operated by the Jacksonville Greyhound Club.
The Senate version calls for more dramatic change. It gives the Seminole tribe full-fledged casinos, including roulette, craps, slot machines, blackjack and other banked card games as well as poker without limits in return for at least $400 million annually. It would give Miami-Dade and Broward counties blackjack and other casino card games as well as Vegas-style slots. Horse and dog tracks and jai alai frontons would get video lottery terminals.
King said the decision to give the Seminoles the opportunity to run full-scale casinos was made with the idea they would become tourist destinations the way casinos in Nevada are tourist destinations. He believes if the Senate bill is approved, the state could eventually realize $1 billion a year in new revenue.
Wise, who sits on the Senate committee that deals with gambling, said he thinks the Senate passed an expansive version of the bill in order to establish a bargaining position. Their version actually gives the Seminole casino more new games than Crist’s compact did, including roulette and craps.
“The guys threw in the kitchen sink just to be able to give up something,” said Wise, who opposes gambling on moral grounds.
Both Wise and King said it’s unclear which version or what compromise will ultimately emerge.
Anything that expands gambling in the state will disappoint some people.
“From a biblical perspective” gambling is not a good thing, said Tom Messer, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.
He said that while researching a sermon, he found a report that Americans were spending more money gambling than on movies, theme parks, cruises and spectator sports combined.
“That would tell me we have a problem,” said Messer, who added he is particularly bothered by the Florida lottery.
“The lottery is nothing more than a tax on poor people.”
Paul Mason, a University of North Florida professor who has studied the economics of lotteries and casino gambling, said he agrees that legalized gambling is not the solution to the state’s economic woes.
“I don’t believe that the Legislature should try to raise tax dollars by any form of gambling,” he said, noting that such revenues are unreliable.
Besides there is no guarantee that creating Vegas-style casinos would generate more revenue for the state, he said.
“If they can draw people into the state ... who would not have otherwise come, it could have an impact,” he said. “But if people go to the casino and spend $500 instead of going to Disney World and spending $500, you haven’t gained anything.”
While many of the gambling facilities in South and Central Florida have complained their business is being damaged by the Seminole casinos, Korman said the Jacksonville Greyhound Club continues to do well.
Competition from Tampa shouldn’t be any more of a threat than the competition from South Florida or from the casinos in Mississippi, he said.
“This isn’t as important to us as some people think,” he said. “I only feel threatened if exclusivity comes in. The thing we are most concerned about is any deal that excludes us from doing anything new.”
Jacksonville Suns executive Peter Bragan Jr., who describes himself as a serious poker player, said he believes legalized gambling leads to a “less civil the society.”
“But when the state is laying off teachers, I’d say any kind of unusual proposal is worth a look,” he said.
Betting Forum Sports: Florida may gamble on casinos for revenue
BY CHARLIE PATTON
Beginning in 1978, Florida voters three times rejected constitutional amendments that would have made forced the state to allow casino gambling.
But Florida’s political leaders have allowed legal gambling to gradually increase throughout the state anyway. Now the Legislature is debating whether to authorize full-scale casino gambling in Tampa and in South Florida.
“People say Florida isn’t a gambling state,” said state Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville. “That’s a nice thing to say but it isn’t backed by the facts.”
Since the 1930s, the state has had legal betting on horse races, dog races and jai alai. Poker is now legal in most of those facilities.
In the early 1980s, cruise ships began operating out of Florida ports like Mayport, making day trips for gamblers into international waters.
In 1986, the year voters defeated casino gambling for the second time, they approved a different form of legalized gambling, the Florida lottery.
Slot machines have been legal in Miami-Dade and Broward counties for more than a decade.
And for more than year, as a result of an agreement Gov. Charlie Crist made with the Seminole tribe in 2007, casino games like blackjack and baccarat have been played in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa and in Hollywood.
Although, the state Supreme Court ruled last summer that such games aren’t legal in Florida, the games go on, even as the Legislature debates changing the law. Despite the court ruling, the state has not attempted to stop the Seminole casinos from offering the games but instead has asked the Legislature to allow them to continue.
The Tampa Hard Rock is like “a little Las Vegas,” said Howard Korman, president of the Jacksonville Greyhound Club.
With the state facing a severe budget crisis, Crist told reporters last week he has worked out a revised proposal that will accelerate some of the tribe’s payments to the state if the Legislature approves a gambling compact. That would bring about $1.1 billion going into state coffers in the next two years, he said.
In 2007, Crist argued the deal was needed in order to ensure that Florida got a share of Indian gambling revenues. Under federal law, Indian tribes are exempt from taxation unless a specific arrangement is made. Some legal experts believe the Seminoles can offer Las Vegas-style casino games even without the state’s agreement.
“If we don’t give the Seminoles a compact, they’re going to continue to operate and we’re going to continue to get nothing,” King said.
State Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, noted that if the Seminoles do end up operating Vegas-style casinos, which he doesn’t want, it will be partly because of past sins against them. “We took their land and it is coming back to haunt us,” he said.
In this spring’s Legislative session, which is scheduled to end Friday, the House and Senate have approved different versions of a bill that would expand legal gambling in the state.
The House version would change things slightly. It would require the Seminoles to stop offering games like blackjack while allowing them to continue to offer Las Vegas-style slot machines. It would ban slots from the rest of the state, except Broward and Miami-Dade. The bill calls for the Seminoles to pay $100 million to the state annually in exchange.
The House bill would also expand the hours and the betting limits at facilities like the two poker rooms operated by the Jacksonville Greyhound Club.
The Senate version calls for more dramatic change. It gives the Seminole tribe full-fledged casinos, including roulette, craps, slot machines, blackjack and other banked card games as well as poker without limits in return for at least $400 million annually. It would give Miami-Dade and Broward counties blackjack and other casino card games as well as Vegas-style slots. Horse and dog tracks and jai alai frontons would get video lottery terminals.
King said the decision to give the Seminoles the opportunity to run full-scale casinos was made with the idea they would become tourist destinations the way casinos in Nevada are tourist destinations. He believes if the Senate bill is approved, the state could eventually realize $1 billion a year in new revenue.
Wise, who sits on the Senate committee that deals with gambling, said he thinks the Senate passed an expansive version of the bill in order to establish a bargaining position. Their version actually gives the Seminole casino more new games than Crist’s compact did, including roulette and craps.
“The guys threw in the kitchen sink just to be able to give up something,” said Wise, who opposes gambling on moral grounds.
Both Wise and King said it’s unclear which version or what compromise will ultimately emerge.
Anything that expands gambling in the state will disappoint some people.
“From a biblical perspective” gambling is not a good thing, said Tom Messer, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.
He said that while researching a sermon, he found a report that Americans were spending more money gambling than on movies, theme parks, cruises and spectator sports combined.
“That would tell me we have a problem,” said Messer, who added he is particularly bothered by the Florida lottery.
“The lottery is nothing more than a tax on poor people.”
Paul Mason, a University of North Florida professor who has studied the economics of lotteries and casino gambling, said he agrees that legalized gambling is not the solution to the state’s economic woes.
“I don’t believe that the Legislature should try to raise tax dollars by any form of gambling,” he said, noting that such revenues are unreliable.
Besides there is no guarantee that creating Vegas-style casinos would generate more revenue for the state, he said.
“If they can draw people into the state ... who would not have otherwise come, it could have an impact,” he said. “But if people go to the casino and spend $500 instead of going to Disney World and spending $500, you haven’t gained anything.”
While many of the gambling facilities in South and Central Florida have complained their business is being damaged by the Seminole casinos, Korman said the Jacksonville Greyhound Club continues to do well.
Competition from Tampa shouldn’t be any more of a threat than the competition from South Florida or from the casinos in Mississippi, he said.
“This isn’t as important to us as some people think,” he said. “I only feel threatened if exclusivity comes in. The thing we are most concerned about is any deal that excludes us from doing anything new.”
Jacksonville Suns executive Peter Bragan Jr., who describes himself as a serious poker player, said he believes legalized gambling leads to a “less civil the society.”
“But when the state is laying off teachers, I’d say any kind of unusual proposal is worth a look,” he said.
Betting Forum Sports: Florida may gamble on casinos for revenue
Fantasy Sports and Betting Sports Overlap Tremendously
Fantasy Sports and Betting Sports Overlap Tremendously
“It's just a fantasy. It's not the real thing. But sometimes a fantasy is all you need.” That is what Billy Joel tells us. I thought it was Kenny Rogers who was the gambler.
Yes, it can remunerate to be a fantasy/rotisserie geek because it is a good dry run for excelling in the more important pursuit of gambling. I know our good friend Rick Ballou of Sportingnews Radio does not play fantasy sports because he does not want to have that rooting brain-teaser of betting on one side and having a player on the other side to applaud.
The cheering conflict of interest aside, the make-believe general manager can get a lot of insight from the fantasy world. In the ancient times before the World Wide Web, I found that fantasy football had been analyzing from an extraordinarily different and favourable viewpoint than before I met gambling’s cousin.
I had situations like having Emmitt Smith in his prime when he was the inimitable running back in the league. I can for example remember one week when two offensive linemen were out and the pokes were on the road. Plus I had Chris Warren when he was in Seattle and he was playing a team without their two best run stoppers. Should I consider benching the world’s best running back because his match-up in not favorable? For the record, I stuck with Emmitt, but scrutiny like that actually refined me into dissecting games like few handicappers had ever before.
Fantasy sports managing helped me breakdown big match-up mismatches that occur in sports betting. It especially facilitated my acumen when it came to betting overs/unders. Quite often imprudent handicappers deduce that an injury to a key offensive player may mean fewer points or a key defensive player more points.
But in my fantasy breakdowns it became quite apparent that if a run blocker on the offensive line was hurt, it might mean the team has to pass more. Kindred to that if a team’s leading rusher were out and his backup were an ample drop-off. Often teams to compensate will have to fiddle with their game plan and in such examples open up their offense.
A depreciated offense does not mean lower scoring. So many sports speculators and general football fans fall prey to the myth that the better an offense is, the more points they will number.
One of my favorite all-time examples was in 2001, once Edgerrin James went down for the Colts. It glaringly repressed their offense, but with a great weapon in WR Marvin Harrison and QB Peyton Manning, there clearly was one way to offset his loss: throw more often. Suckers determined losing such a weapon would mean lower scoring games. I knew while it depleted their offense, it meant they would have to be much more high-octane. They exceeded the total in 14 of 16 regular season games.
Let us say that a defense is lacking their two best run stoppers because of injuries and the total is high, I further investigate to see if it correlates to their opponent having motivation to run more. If so, the end result would be longer possessions, which also means fewer possessions. Fewer possessions mean fewer scoring opportunities.
Luckily though in the hypothetical state of affairs, the total is likely posted higher because of the injuries.
A better offense is not necessarily a high scoring offense and to a lesser extent a superior defense is not inexorably going to give up more points. A great defense, whose strength is stopping the run, may force the opponent to take more risks. A bad defense that has a decent secondary may be run against more often. Ergo the posted totals would be over-adjusted.
Hence the top fantasy sports advice sites can be priceless tools for sports cognation. Rotowire.com is the oldest and still the best all-around. Consummate in all sports, their judicious view for the roto player can also be incalculable for us.
Footballinjuries.com is also fantastic for the NFL. Many sites do stupendous jobs of player against team or often better yet, player against coach career statistical examinations. For example Bill Belichick coached teams have such done extremely well shutting down certain quarterbacks. We have found that player history statistics can be of great handicapping value as so long as one also analyses how much the parameters have or have not changed. Everything in handicapping must be taken in its proper framework.
In fact, now every major sports site, from ESPN to Yahoo has fantasy information of some kind. For the most part, if it is of value to the fantasy player, a handicapper should take note.
But there are compelling contrasts, too. The world’s best fantasy player could be a dreadful handicapper, and visa versa, if one probes them as one and the same.
We handicappers must explore games one at a time, while the fantasy players must query long-term performances. Really this seems to happen more in baseball with hotshot pitchers up from the minor leagues, but can also apply in football. Joey Harrington may be great for your keeper league, but there will be peaks and valleys along the way. Actually a head-to-head league in which a participant changes his line-up is more conducive to handicapping than the rotisserie style leagues, but both are sources of knowledge.
Using fantasy sports and the foremost sites dedicated to such can make a winning football betting season more than just a fantasy. That’s the real thing.
Fantasy Sports and Betting Sports Overlap Tremendously
“It's just a fantasy. It's not the real thing. But sometimes a fantasy is all you need.” That is what Billy Joel tells us. I thought it was Kenny Rogers who was the gambler.
Yes, it can remunerate to be a fantasy/rotisserie geek because it is a good dry run for excelling in the more important pursuit of gambling. I know our good friend Rick Ballou of Sportingnews Radio does not play fantasy sports because he does not want to have that rooting brain-teaser of betting on one side and having a player on the other side to applaud.
The cheering conflict of interest aside, the make-believe general manager can get a lot of insight from the fantasy world. In the ancient times before the World Wide Web, I found that fantasy football had been analyzing from an extraordinarily different and favourable viewpoint than before I met gambling’s cousin.
I had situations like having Emmitt Smith in his prime when he was the inimitable running back in the league. I can for example remember one week when two offensive linemen were out and the pokes were on the road. Plus I had Chris Warren when he was in Seattle and he was playing a team without their two best run stoppers. Should I consider benching the world’s best running back because his match-up in not favorable? For the record, I stuck with Emmitt, but scrutiny like that actually refined me into dissecting games like few handicappers had ever before.
Fantasy sports managing helped me breakdown big match-up mismatches that occur in sports betting. It especially facilitated my acumen when it came to betting overs/unders. Quite often imprudent handicappers deduce that an injury to a key offensive player may mean fewer points or a key defensive player more points.
But in my fantasy breakdowns it became quite apparent that if a run blocker on the offensive line was hurt, it might mean the team has to pass more. Kindred to that if a team’s leading rusher were out and his backup were an ample drop-off. Often teams to compensate will have to fiddle with their game plan and in such examples open up their offense.
A depreciated offense does not mean lower scoring. So many sports speculators and general football fans fall prey to the myth that the better an offense is, the more points they will number.
One of my favorite all-time examples was in 2001, once Edgerrin James went down for the Colts. It glaringly repressed their offense, but with a great weapon in WR Marvin Harrison and QB Peyton Manning, there clearly was one way to offset his loss: throw more often. Suckers determined losing such a weapon would mean lower scoring games. I knew while it depleted their offense, it meant they would have to be much more high-octane. They exceeded the total in 14 of 16 regular season games.
Let us say that a defense is lacking their two best run stoppers because of injuries and the total is high, I further investigate to see if it correlates to their opponent having motivation to run more. If so, the end result would be longer possessions, which also means fewer possessions. Fewer possessions mean fewer scoring opportunities.
Luckily though in the hypothetical state of affairs, the total is likely posted higher because of the injuries.
A better offense is not necessarily a high scoring offense and to a lesser extent a superior defense is not inexorably going to give up more points. A great defense, whose strength is stopping the run, may force the opponent to take more risks. A bad defense that has a decent secondary may be run against more often. Ergo the posted totals would be over-adjusted.
Hence the top fantasy sports advice sites can be priceless tools for sports cognation. Rotowire.com is the oldest and still the best all-around. Consummate in all sports, their judicious view for the roto player can also be incalculable for us.
Footballinjuries.com is also fantastic for the NFL. Many sites do stupendous jobs of player against team or often better yet, player against coach career statistical examinations. For example Bill Belichick coached teams have such done extremely well shutting down certain quarterbacks. We have found that player history statistics can be of great handicapping value as so long as one also analyses how much the parameters have or have not changed. Everything in handicapping must be taken in its proper framework.
In fact, now every major sports site, from ESPN to Yahoo has fantasy information of some kind. For the most part, if it is of value to the fantasy player, a handicapper should take note.
But there are compelling contrasts, too. The world’s best fantasy player could be a dreadful handicapper, and visa versa, if one probes them as one and the same.
We handicappers must explore games one at a time, while the fantasy players must query long-term performances. Really this seems to happen more in baseball with hotshot pitchers up from the minor leagues, but can also apply in football. Joey Harrington may be great for your keeper league, but there will be peaks and valleys along the way. Actually a head-to-head league in which a participant changes his line-up is more conducive to handicapping than the rotisserie style leagues, but both are sources of knowledge.
Using fantasy sports and the foremost sites dedicated to such can make a winning football betting season more than just a fantasy. That’s the real thing.
Fantasy Sports and Betting Sports Overlap Tremendously
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