
A rendering of just one portion of the proposed Resorts World Miami Genting casino resort project; the $3 billion project still hasn’t received a high sign from Florida lawmakers.
They state cash speaks, but in Genting Resorts World’s case, it’s perhaps not been speaking as loudly as the business might like.
Antagonists Await
Two-Hour Tours
Maine Casinos Oppose Expanded Gambling in State
People think about Maine like this, but a small casino contingent is trying to hold their own there since well. (Image: Katarina Neef/atpm.com)
We may not agree with them, but we understand there are many reasons that people may oppose more gambling in their state, from moral objections to concerns about issue gambling. However in Maine, gambling is finding an opponent that is unusual the casinos on their own.
Read Our Lips: No New Casinos
Officials from the two Maine casinos presently in operation talked to lawmakers this and said that they shouldn’t approve any expansion of the casino industry in the state week. In this situation, it seems that the casinos think that the marketplace in the state is completely saturated already while others believe they’re simply afraid of a small competition.
The two properties under consideration the Hollywood and Oxford Casinos faced off in front of the Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs against members of two indigenous American tribes in the state, plus the owner of the Scarborough Downs race track, over a number of bills that would serve to grow Maine’s gambling options.
The most controversial of these is recognized as LD 1111. It would enable Scarborough Downs to become a ‘racino,’ operating slot machines along with their horse that is current racing. That problem had been brought to referendum last year, whenever it received only 45 percent of the vote statewide.
Factional Battles
According to track owner Sharon Terry, Scarborough Downs is struggling as a result of competition it faces from the casinos within the state particularly Oxford Casino, which can be simply 45 minutes away and opened in June 2012. Even though Hollywood Casino may be further away, it features a companion racino, letting it offer everything Scarborough Downs can and more.
Terry says that revenues fell 21.8 per cent at her track since slots were allowed at the Bangor battle track, and that the specific situation gets a whole lot worse considering that the opening of the Oxford Casino. The cut in revenue not only threatens the track, but also Maine’s entire horse racing industry since Scarborough Downs is responsible for 101 days of racing each year.
‘The Downs cannot survive beneath the current laws,’ Terry said.
Nevertheless, the general managers of both gambling enterprises along with several business people in the Oxford area disagreed, opposing slots that are allowing the Scarborough Downs facility. In general, the casinos feel that any new gambling in the state threatens to ‘cannibalize the industry,’ as Maine is a relatively small state without enough gamblers to help more venues.
That helps explain why in addition they opposed three other bills being considered by their state. Those add a bill that would allow charities to run up to five slots at their headquarters to be able to raise funds, along with two bills that would allow Indian tribes to grow their gambling operations: one which would let the Houlton Band of Maliseets to operate slots and table games, and another that could let the Passamaquoddy Tribe apply to run table games and slots at a existing bingo facility.
‘Should further facilities open or expand, we would see erosion that is further of client base,’ said John Osborne, general manager of the Hollywood Casino.
Big Banks Refuse to Process Legal Online Gambling Transactions
Major bank card issuers like Chase, Wells Fargo and American Express won’t process even legal on the web gambling transactions, they say. (Image: Jason Hindley/money.cnn.com)
Everything seemed therefore hunky dory: Nevada, Delaware and brand New Jersey all got legal online gambling or at least poker, in Nevada’s instance up and running in 2013, and except for a few problems with geo-location snafus, overall, the web sites in all three states have actually been running pretty smoothly. Except for just one bug that is fairly major has nothing in connection with the sites on their own: major economic institutions like United states Express, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase are refusing to process any cash interactions on these sites, legal or otherwise not.
Your Transaction Is Denied
Whether credit or debit, several card that is heavy-hitter say they aren’t gambling in terms of honoring their cards on online gaming internet sites. And clearly, that’s not sitting well with many players who say, just what offers? But the banks included say they’re not going to budge, not for online gambling enterprises, poker or sports that are even legal in Nevada.
‘We do not let credit card deals for this activity,’ stated Steve O’Halloran, director of pr and public affairs for Chase Card and Merchant Services. And American Express spokeswoman Sanette Chao concurs, saying her business simply ‘prohibits the use of the card for gambling services.’
While some may conclude that this is some type of moral imperative, it ends up that it is more of a simple bottom-line business choice than anything else.
‘Gambling services, historically, account for a high number of card member credit losses and customer service disputes,’ noted Chao.
UIGEA Still Directs Banks’ Positions
And some banking institutions do still hold onto the old UIGEA model (illegal online Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), because, all things considered, from a federal standpoint, it’s still murky just how it is to be interpreted after having a 2012 reinterpretation of the first 1961 Wire Act ended up being handed down from the Supreme Court that opened the doorway to at state-by-state that is least lawful Web gambling.
Wells Fargo spokeswoman Natalie Brown says this is certainly the reasoning behind her company’s decision to decline gambling deposits.
‘In compliance with regulation GG (illegal Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), we prohibit the utilization of consumer credit cards for Internet gambling,’ said Brown, who is vice president of customer financing communications with Wells Fargo. ‘The companies (Visa, MasterCard and American Express) monitor the merchant category codes and block costs that do not adhere to federal laws.’
While this may make some feeling from their views, it could prove a frustrating truth for myfreepokies.com online players in appropriate gambling states.
‘What the industry has done is take a conservative approach or response to the legalization of online gambling,’ said Tobin Prior, CEO of Ultimate Gaming, which really is a subsidiary of Station Casinos, a land-gaming proprietor in Nevada and the first to ever go online with legal poker into the Silver State. ‘That can be frustrating, but we work with clients to get alternatives.’
Certainly one of the benefits of this brick-and-mortar/Internet symbiosis is that clients can both fund and cash away at any of these land video gaming properties, in either Southern Nevada or at Station’s land gaming partner the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Players can also use e-checks or cable transfers to prior make deposits noted.
While legal websites on the internet might wish that banks were more within their court right now, Caesars WSOP site’s spokesperson Seth Palansky states it is what it really is.
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