
The Oklahoma Legislature has reached an impasse over the so-called sin industries of gambling and cigarettes.
Oklahoma House Minority Leader Scott Inman wants to expand video gaming, but his Republican constituents think he should put that concept in his pipe and smoke it.
Both the Oklahoma Senate and House are managed by the GOP, but that isn’t stopping the minority celebration from blocking a cigarette tax increase proposed by House Republicans.
Democrats in the reduced chamber are doing so in order to give their side leverage in ongoing budget negotiations, and their wishes to expand gambling and allow tribal casinos to offer roulette and dice games.
Oklahoma lawmakers are researching to close an $878 million financing gap. https://myfreepokies.com/21-dukes-casino/ While Republicans can pass the budget of their choosing, they need a vote that is three-fourths raise smoking taxes, and the 26 Democrats within the 101-member House aren’t budging.
‘We’ve said all along that the cigarette income tax is a Band-Aid on a bullet hole,’ Oklahoma House Minority Leader Scott Inman (D-District 94) told the Associated Press. ‘You’ve got to have additional revenue.’
This the House and Senate budget committees recommended a $1.50 per cigarette pack tax increase week. To really make the budget whole with only that tariff hike, Oklahomans would roughly need to purchase 585.3 million packages of smokes.
GOP Extinguishes Gambling
Republican leaders in Oklahoma feel casinos are already too accessible, and expanded gaming would result in additional societal that is negative.
‘I think we have actually too much gambling going on into the state,’ Senate President professional Tem Mike Schulz (R-District 38) opined this week. ‘ I think we have people who are spending bread and milk money in a casino in place of using care of their children.’
Democrats proposed a plan that claims to create $400 million over the year that is next. The minority recommended a $17,000 cap on itemized income tax deductions for citizens, the restoration of the earned income tax credit, eliminating oil and gas production incentives, and expanding tribal gaming in addition to the cigarette tax.
The casino component would have permitted tribes to offer non-house-banked table games like roulette and craps in exchange for ten percent of these monthly net win. It also needed the legalization of sports betting should the current federal ban be repealed.
With Democrats refusing to budge on cigarettes, and Republicans firm that is standing keeping gambling as is, the Oklahoma Legislature has already reached a budget stalemate.
Pennsylvania’s Smoking Gun
While the Oklahoma Legislature is expected to hold special spending plan sessions to iron its differences out over gambling and smoking, a bipartisan bill in Pennsylvania seeks to outlaw cigarettes in gambling enterprises and watering holes.
Pennsylvania House Bill 1309 will expand in the state’s 2008 Indoor that is clean Air to get rid of exemptions for gambling venues and bars. Casinos are allowed to designate a percentage of the floors to smoking, and taverns that report 20 percent or less of their revenue comes from meals can enable clients to puff.
With 18 bill sponsors that includes Democrats and Republicans, HB 1309 seems to function as first gaming-related measure to possess across-the-aisle help in Harrisburg in 2010. Hawaii is considering a host of gaming expansion bills to invest in a unique growing budget deficit.
Trump Taj Mahal, Built for $1.2 Billion in 1990, Sold for $50 Million in 2017
The former Trump Taj Mahal was sold in March to Hard Rock Global for $50 million, a discount that is massive what it cost to build the Atlantic City property significantly more than a quarter-century ago in 1990.
Hard Rock will spend as much as $400 million rebranding and renovating the former Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, or seven times what it paid for the actual resort. (Image: Wayne Parry/Associated Press)
Throughout the nation’s history, real estate has typically been a comparatively safe investment that is came back strong returns for homeowners, in addition to designers.
That’s changed, of course, in the last few years following the recession that is economic hit the united states in 2008 and 2009. The reality that is new no further evident than in the valuation of the Trump Taj Mahal.
Dubbed the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’ when it launched 27 years back, billionaire Carl Icahn unloaded the resort, which he closed last October after failing in the future to brand new labor terms with casino workers, for the gravely discounted price of $50 million. That equates to significantly less than a nickel on the dollar compared to exactly what Trump and their financiers compensated.
The tough Rock acquisition was announced in March, but economic terms of the deal were not made public until documents filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had been revealed this week.
Icahn Folds
Along along with his vast estate that is real hotel portfolio, Trump has credited their casino dealings for helping build their unknown fortune.
The 45th president severed ties with Atlantic City in 2009, though he maintained a tiny stake in the Trump Taj Mahal via a licensing agreement until last year.
Icahn, a friend that is close the commander-in-chief, acquired the final remaining Trump Entertainment Resorts home in bankruptcy in early 2016. A signature Atlantic City property at the time of the buyout, he called the Taj Mahal. Fast-forward 13 months, as well as the billionaire reveals the investment cost him $350 million.
A dispute that is contentious Icahn and the Unite Here neighborhood 54 workers union over a wage increase and the restoration of benefits led the corporate raider to shutter the Taj Mahal and put thousands out of work.
Rewriting ‘Art associated with Deal’
Though many are saying the Seminole Tribe, which owns the Hard Rock brand, essentially rewrote the ‘Art for the Deal,’ Trump’s signature book, by buying the formerly valued $1.2 billion resort for just $50 million, the bargain price comes with its share that is fair of.
The company also assumes the Taj’s massive property tax bill in addition to Hard Rock saying it will spend up to $400 million in rebranding and renovating the resort. Atlantic City officials have the place valued at over $224 million, an assessment that Icahn has repeatedly appealed.
Hard Rock will also be forced to begin with participating in the state’s PILOT program (payment in lieu of taxes) that mandates the city’s remaining casinos jointly remit a $120 million disbursement that is annual local government in the place of paying on gaming revenue.
The Seminoles will be on the additionally hook for the resort’s property taxes. The Florida Native United states group should only be prepared to see those tariffs increase, as Atlantic City will probably raise its $224 million valuation because the tribe dumps billions of dollars in to the Boardwalk facility.
Did Chinese Authorities Publish Significant DDoS Attacks on Hong Kong Online Gambling Sites?
Scores of online gambling websites based in Hong Kong were battered by a revolution of distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults in the week of April, based on US-based Arbor protection, which monitors the net for DDoS attack information.
For 7 days at the start of April, Hong Kong became the ground zero of DDoS attacks through the entire globe, but why? (Image: HackRead)
Between April 6 and 13, hackers apparently based in China flooded the bandwidth of countless gambling web sites having a influx that is massive of, knocking them offline.
The activities were striking and unusual, according to Arbor, because for those a week Hong Kong was the destination that is top the world for such attacks, a dubious honor more often than not reserved for the United States.
Extortion Suspected
It was also noteworthy, said Arbor, because ‘country-level activity’ usually denotes geopolitical motivation, i.e, attacks directed so intently at websites of the solitary territory can be an indication of cyber warfare organized on a state-level. It’s a notion, however, that Kirk Soluk, manager of the company’s threat intelligence team, rules out.
‘…the emergence of multiple, different gambling/gaming goals leads us to believe that DDoS extortion is the most likely motivation,’ he concluded in a weblog on the Arbor website this week.
It’s a reasonable conclusion. After all, hackers have sought to hold gambling that is online to ransom since the very early days of the industry.
Sports wagering internet sites are particularly vulnerable because they are hopelessly reliant on major sports for large chunks of their revenues and may be have little choice but to pay a ransom that is small deliberately targeted during these periods.
Serious Punishment Guaranteed
But we wonder just how up to date Arbor is on Chinese gambling issues that are regulatory. Most likely generally not very, and why should it be?
Does it understand, for example, that the very first of the Hong Kong assaults arrived simply five days after Asia’s Public protection Minister Guo Shengkun promised ‘severe punishment’ for gambling operators targeting citizens that are chinese the mainland?
And does it know that the only legal and licensed Hong Kong-based online operator is the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), therefore any other online gambling web site based in Hong Kong is unlicensed and the best target for the Chinese government? In fact, according to a declaration by the HKJC in 2014, unlicensed operators have actually links to organized crime and consequently illegal online gambling is akin to a ‘blood crime.’
Needless to say, the nature of DDoS attacks means they might have now been orchestrated from any place in the world and attackers were merely harnessing devices that are internet-connected within China.
Or they could have come from within China, orchestrated by the government, which had little motivation to disguise the source. We may never ever know.
Poker Player Bets He Can Eat $1,000 of McDonald’s Food in 36 Hours
Poker player Mike Noori is a man whom likes to put his money where his lips is. But the real million-dollar question is, can he put $1,000 of McDonald’s food in his mouth, then chew it, and ingest it, and start digesting it, all within 36-hours?
Not Lovin’ It: Two-time LA Poker Vintage champ Mike Noori might have to consume at the very least 66,000 calories in 36 hours if he’s got the opportunity of winning this reverse weight-loss bet. (Image: LAPC)
Lots of people think it’s impossible. Nearly everyone agrees that it’s stupid.
Noori is getting 5:1 on a bet proposed to him by popular tournament manager Matt Savage. While the figure that is exact on Noori’s success is undisclosed, Noori said on Twitter that so far that more than $200,000 has recently been booked regarding the idea wager, but just a small slice of the is his money.
‘This is impossible,’ declared fellow poker pro and aspiring food writer Jimmy Fricke (JimmyEatsVegas.com) regarding the twoplustwo poker discussion boards. ‘ If he eats the lowest calorie/dollar food available (southwest grilled chicken salad) this is certainly still 66,000 calories.’
‘It can be done,’ another poster countered. ‘20,000 calories a time combined with workout is already something a lot of men do in training. It’s not easy but it would help greatly. if he exercised throughout and had little rests’
1,500 Apples Slices
Like all gamblers that are good Noori certainly has a game plan. He’s opting to start down with $500-worth of apple slices, and then $200 in salads, with bacon, cheese and add-ons that are guacamole.
These dollar amounts on apple slices and salads were set as caps as part of the conditions regarding the bet.
With bags of apple slices selling at a dollar each, and three slices in each bag, that’s still a body-punishing 1,500 apple slices Noori would have to consume before he even thinking about the weightier burgers.
No Blenders?
And yes, there will be burgers. It’s written into the rules, which state that $300 must be allocated to ‘hot foodstuffs,’ of which at least $50 needs to be burgers. Other requirements are that Noori ‘must eat precisely what comes with the order (except the Happy Meal toy),’ and ‘no blenders.’
The official rules also state that ‘Puking is OK as long as he doesn’t force the puke or puke repeatedly.’ Indeed, health and safety first.
Gamblers have done notoriously foolish things for cash over time. In 2014 Freddy Torres agreed to jump into a tank that is shark-filled $1,000. In 2011, Ashton Griffin won a bet that he couldn’t run 70 miles in one single on a treadmill day. He attempted the feat while hungover and on extremely little rest, but prevailed and ended up being $350,000 richer once he finally reached the end of the treadmill.
In 2010, Ted Forrest notably put his wellness at an increased risk by losing more than 70 pounds in a year. But it was all for the cause that is good winning $2 million from Mike Matusow.
Then there ended up being that guy who had the boob job.
But Noori’s weight-loss bet in reverse could possibly be one of the more foolhardy and dangerous of the lot. And that’s why we’re praying he pulls it well, or at least doesn’t choke for a french fry.
FBI Director Comey Fired by Trump, Online Gambling Perhaps Safer Than Ever Before
James Comey has been relieved of his duties as director of the FBI. While the entire world wrestles with implications of this unprecedented dismissal, some proponents of online gambling are breathing a sigh of relief. The belief is that online gambling, as a political issue, will stay out of the Trump administration’s crosshairs as the nation’s leaders search for a replacement amid a swath of critical issues facing the world. At least temporarily.
People in america desire to know if President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey as retribution for a research into possible links between Russia and his presidential campaign. (Images: Reuters)
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump abruptly terminated Comey, citing shortcomings in managing the probe of previous Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her usage of the email server that is private. This came less than each day after the American public started emphasizing new revelations from a Congressional research into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election that is presidential.
Comey has critics on both edges of this aisle, and demands his termination were frequent since belated October, when he delivered a letter to Congress about a need to examine additional Clinton email messages, which ultimately revealed nothing of substance.
‘The FBI is one of our nation’s most cherished and respected institutions, and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of police,’ Trump explained in a public statement from the White House. The president told Comey that he could no longer ‘effectively lead’ the FBI and stated ‘new leadership that restores trust that is public confidence’ had been needed.
Trump has become tasked with finding a replacement, one who will be authorized by a GOP-controlled Senate. And though Republicans have supported efforts to revive the Wire Act, online gambling industry experts have a hard time imagining any brand new FBI boss making a popular leisure pursuit a pressing issue of your day.
Anti-Online Gambling Swamp
When Trump arrived in Washington, internet gambling and online poker players were justly worried within the future lawfulness of the companies they access from their homes and cellular devices. Especially as his appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressed interest in considering the legality of current intrastate online gambling measures.
The 45th commander-in-chief notoriously ran multiple New Jersey casinos into bankruptcy, yet one of is own campaign donors that are largest was Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson. The master of the Venetian, Palazzo, and a slew of casino properties over the world has been on a self-described moral crusade since 2014 to ‘restore the Wire Act,’ which would effectively outlaw online casino gambling and poker.
So far, neither Trump’s administration nor Congress has shown interest that is much tackling the legality of on line gambling. The niche did come up, nonetheless, from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S. Carolina) during confirmation hearings for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said he was ‘shocked’ at the Department of Justice’s 2011 opinion that clarified a legal interpretation for the Wire Act as only applying to sports betting.
Hold’em by the Short Hairs?
This opinion could possibly be easily reversed by the DOJ, but. So whoever’s next to just take the helm of the FBI could be instructed to deploy the agency’s full resources toward stopping on the web gambling in most its forms.
Graham has worked on behalf of Adelson to introduce the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) in previous calendar years. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a strong critic of comey, has done the exact same in his chamber.
RAWA has failed to gain momentum in Congress, but also wasn’t dismissed outright as a possibility that is legislative. Chaffetz recently announced his intent to keep Congress, possibly prior to the end of his current term.
The FBI and Its Longer Arm On The Web Gaming Reach
2011 The DOJ and FBI changed the facial skin of online gaming in America following the agencies seized internet domains from PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, among others, on what would become known as ‘Black Friday’ in the internet poker world. By shutting down these sites, players were denied use of their funds for a long time, though eventual payoffs have finally happened for PokerStars and Full Tilt players, and most recently, Absolute Poker.
2014 A flawed FBI raid of an alleged World Cup activities wagering operation at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas allowed suspected ringleader Paul Phua to duck a possible jail sentence. High-profile attorney David Chesnoff argued that the raid represented entrapment for his customer, and the prosecution dropped all costs.
2017 The FBI and DOJ investigated and successfully prosecuted notorious recreations bettor Billy Walters on charges of insider trading. Walters, whom was discovered accountable of utilizing a stock tip given by former Dean Foods Chairman Tom Davis, is appealing the conviction. Pro golfer Phil Mickelson ended up being also from the controversy after investing in the company that is same. The 42-time PGA Tour winner admitted his sports gambling pal supplied the advice that is financial but reported he was unaware it absolutely was acquired fraudulently. Mickelson returned his profits and was never ever charged.
