Gambling law in Alabama may soon change. The state has traditionally been against gambling, but recent events have some people, the residents as well as politicians, reconsidering their position. Electronic bingo machines, which are currently illegal, have sprung up across the state, but so far nothing has been done about it. Governor Robert Riley was frustrated with the fact that the city police and attorney general seemed to look the other way. In response, he formed a Task Force on Illegal Gambling last year.

One of the first actions of the task force was to raid three establishments believed to be housing illegal gambling, which include Country Crossing, VictoryLand and the White Hall Entertainment Center. However, since they did not have a warrant, a judge ordered that the raid be halted. VictoryLand then filed a restraining order. Since then, a warrant has been issued to search the establishments and in response, the businesses have closed indefinitely to avoid being raided.

And that’s where things get tricky. If the businesses are indeed running illegal gambling operations, Riley is well within his rights by going after them, though many in the gambling community see him as an evil anti-gambling activist. The attempted raids and subsequent closings, however, have stirred up controversy in the state and now it seems that the people don’t even agree with the gambling ban anymore.

Once a strong anti-gambling voice, the people of Alabama have seen their state, like the rest of the country, mired in a bad recession. Jobs are scarce and with those businesses shut down, the economy is hurting even more and countless workers are wondering if they still have jobs. As a result, a recent poll by the Christian Coalition shows that 2/3 of the people of Alabama are opposed to Riley’s gambling raids and a poll by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama found that 72% of the people are in favor of regulated gambling in the state and only 25% want gambling outlawed.

In response, Riley’s popularity in the state is falling and state Representative Marcel Black introduced a bill that would allow the voters to decide whether or not to legalize gambling. At this time, shutting down illegal gambling is perfectly constitutional, but doing so could hurt Riley. With thousands of jobs at stake, no one wants to be the guy who made the unemployment situation in Alabama even worse. For that reason, it may be best to let the people vote and see what they decide. In the meantime, do nothing. It may turn Riley’s stomach to turn a blind eye to illegal activity, no matter how harmless, but it may be what’s best for the state, his reputation and that of his party.

“I understand that America is a mess right now. Unemployment and the economy are in a dismal state. It is my number one priority to solve these problems and fix the economy. But people, don’t spend money! Save it! Stuff it under your mattress! Keep it away from the greedy banks and don’t spend it on frivolous things! Hoard your money because you’re going to need it!”

Obviously, saying something like that would be terrible for the economy and is the exact opposite of what the country needs. It’s also a loose paraphrase of the words of President Barack Obama. Throughout his year in the White House and even before, Obama has made it clear that he’s not a fan of capitalism, taking every opportunity to portray businesses as greedy, people as being in need of handouts, and the government being responsible for taking care of the people. That would be fine, except that he is the president of a country that has a Representative Republic system of government and a capitalist form of economy. His attitudes are not only counterproductive, but also downright dangerous for both.

The most recent of many examples of this is Obama’s criticism of Las Vegas and people who visit the city. Obama recently said that people saving money for college shouldn’t waste their money on gambling in Vegas. Last February, he made a similar remark about companies that received TARP funds, saying that it was irresponsible for them to take trips to the Sin City.

It’s no surprise that an anti-capitalist wouldn’t realize that trips to conferences and junkets in places like Las Vegas are an important part of the process of obtaining and retaining clients. But at least in that case he was criticizing the spending of money by companies that had received money from taxpayers. In his recent comments, he criticized private citizens for spending their own money.

Lawmakers and businessmen in Vegas are understandably furious and many have vowed to support whoever runs against Obama in 2012. They recognize that his comments and policies are bad for Las Vegas, the state of Nevada, and the country as a whole.

While the entire country has a dismal unemployment rate of 10% — you know, the catastrophic number that Obama said we would reach if he didn’t get to pass his “stimulus” bill – Nevada is even worse, at 13%. You should also note that both are conservative estimates that don’t count people with part-time jobs, those who have given up looking for work, and those who work on a temporary project. And with unemployment that bad and Nevada’s tourism industry struggling, the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the country (with the exception of George Soros and Al Gore), is telling people not to visit Las Vegas and not to spend money in their casinos, which just so happens to be the biggest industry they have in the state. Real responsible, Mr. President.

People of the United States and the rest of the world, spend your money as you see fit. You should of course be responsible, but if you have the disposable income to take a vacation, I can think of no place better than Vegas. Of course, as I’ve said countless times, you should never wager money that you can’t afford to lose, but if you can afford to lose it, Las Vegas would be happy to have it.

Online poker is fun and all. The only problem is that you miss out on the camaraderie of playing at a table full of people. You also miss out on the ability to bluff, read someone’s poker face, and talk trash. Also, quite obviously, you miss out on the opportunity to travel.

Well, for some lucky players, Titan Poker is going to help you experience all of that. The online poker room is holding a tournament that will send lucky winners to a live poker tournament in Dublin, Ireland. Which tournament? It’s called the Irish Open. Maybe you’ve heard of it.

The Titan Poker Irish Open takes place in March and until then Titan Poker is holding satellite tournaments 24-hours per day. As you advance through the satellite tournaments, you get closer to the grand prize, which is not only getting a trip to Dublin on the casino, but you also get a free EUR 300 buy-in, EUR 3200 gambling money, free accommodations for five nights in the swanky Burlington Hotel and some other goodies as well, including EUR 800 of spending money.

If that sounds good to you, there’s never been a better time to grab a Guinness, put on a Damien Rice album (or U2 if you would rather), and get your poker on! You’re probably thinking, Well, sure, they pay for everything if you win, but the tournament is probably expensive to join. If that’s what you were thinking, then you thought wrong. If you are new to the site, simply enter the Titan Poker Bonus Code TP600 during your registration. Doing so will give you a $600 signup bonus as well as a free $25 to play with in the poker satellite.

So basically, what it comes down to is this: If you like poker, there is no extra risk to this tournament beyond playing poker using real money any other time. And if you win, you have a shot at an all-expenses paid trip to Dublin to take part in the Irish Open. And if you win and don’t want to go, let me know. I will gladly go on your behalf!

Back in 2007, Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed a deal with the Seminole tribe that would have allowed blackjack and other table games in their casinos in exchange for the state getting a cut. The deal was later shot down by the state House and then a second deal was also scrapped. In that situation, most people would give up, say they gave it the old college try and move on. Crist, however, is still fighting for a deal. The question is, why?

I don’t want to sound cynical, but I usually don’t think that politicians make decisions based on what’s best for the people. I think they make decisions based on what’s best for them, which includes covering their butts when they make a mistake. Such may be the case here.

Though I stated it before, it’s worth reiterating that Crist is fighting for money he’s already spent. You see, governors have control over the budget of their state and they allocated funds for each department within the state based on revenue from many sources, mostly taxes. In this year’s education budget for the state of Florida, $433 million comes from revenue brought in by the deal with the Seminole tribe over their blackjack tables. Since earlier this month the House voted down that deal for the second time, that $433 million doesn’t exist.

Folks, if it’s bad financial strategy for an individual to spend money they don’t have, it’s equally bad (or worse) for a state to do that. In fact, many of America’s problems stem from the fact that the federal government is doing exactly that. Now it seems that Charlie Crist, the Florida governor who wants to represent the state in the Senate, has done that as well.

To save face, Crist needs to get a deal done so he doesn’t have to explain why he had to cut $433 million from the education budget. Considering he’s already trailing Marco Rubio in the polls for the Republican primary, that would be a mistake from which it would be nearly impossible to recover. And that’s why Crist is fighting so hard for a deal.

As the recession that Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner won’t admit exists shows no sign of getting better, states are looking at ways to make more money. Right now, most states are hemorrhaging cash and every little bit of revenue is needed. For that reason, Iowa and Kansas are the latest to look at their current gambling laws and discuss whether they need to be changed.

Right now lawmakers in Iowa are considering expanding their legal gambling by expanding the areas where it can occur. Currently casinos can only offer gambling on the gambling floors. The new legislation would allow gambling to occur in other rooms in the casino. The advantage would be that casinos could open poker rooms and start hosting major poker tournaments, which in theory could be a big source of revenue for the state. So it seems that in 2010, the politicians in Iowa finally realized that poker is big and involves a lot of money. In related news, the state legislature has said that they believe that the Internet is starting to catch on. If only there was a way of making money off of the Internet…

Meanwhile, Kansas lawmakers are basically asking for a do-over. In 2007, the Democratic-led Congress passed a law to bring in four state-owned casinos. As early as 2008, they realized that they wrote a terrible law that gave no incentive for anyone to actually buy property, build a casino on it, and open the business. Basically, the state charges way too much upfront for everyone involved and in a bad economy, no one is willing to risk paying that money. This is why Democrats should never try to have anything to do with business or economics. They simply have no understanding of either.

As a result of the bad bill, though the casinos are legal in the state, none exist. Last year, the lawmakers realized that they badly needed the casino revenue due to the recession, but were unwilling to take the time to discuss changing the law because they were too busy dealing with the recession and trying to find ways to help the economy (no, I’m not making this up). So now that, according to the federal government, the recession is over, they want a do-over.

Some Republicans are against amending the law. Republican House Speaker Mike O’Neal said that “they got the deal they wanted. They can live with the deal they got.” The Democratic response was something along the lines of, “Look, we’re Democrats. We always write terrible bills. That’s what we do! (It’s also why we don’t bother reading them). Don’t hold that against us. Let us try again and I assure you we’ll come up with a good one this time!”

The proposed changes in the law are aimed at making it more affordable for companies to come in and start up a casino. Among other things, there would be a drop in the investment that is required of developers from $225 million to $100 million. There is also a fee that must be paid up front to the state for the privilege of allowing the state to run your casino. That fee would drop from $25 million to $11 million. Another change would be to give the developers a larger cut of the profits from the casinos.

It will be interesting to see if the Kansas lawmakers do end up rewriting the gambling bill and if so, whether it will bring any casinos to the state. If not, they can always try again. If at first you don’t succeed…

Things are getting more interesting in the great state of Kentucky in regards to gambling. The state has always been a little indecisive in regards to gambling. Horse racing is legal and a matter of state pride, the state has a lottery, yet table games and slots are banned. Online gambling, though not expressly banned in the state, has been a source of controversy ever since Governor Steve Beshear attempted to seize the domains of 141 online gambling sites.

The Senate President, David Williams, attempted to make things more clear. Like the rest of the country, the Bluegrass State is hurting financially, and any extra revenue would be helpful. Many see putting slot machines in the state’s many horse race tracks as a way to generate much-needed revenue. Some lawmakers, however, are opposed to the idea.

Williams, the leading Republican in the Senate, had a novel idea: let the voters decide. After all, the state, like the rest of the country, is supposed to be a Representative Republic, after all, which means that the people are supposed to get a say on what laws are passed.

Williams introduced a bill that would have called for a state-wide vote on the slots. The bill was blocked by the Senate Democrats, which makes sense. To Democrats, there’s no idea crazier than listening to the people. I mean, if you let constituents decide things, they may not decide what you want! And then what?

The House had previously passed a bill for gambling expansion, but with Williams’s bill shot down in the Senate, it’s back to the drawing board. Many of the Democrats who voted against the bill are actually for putting slots in the race tracks; however, they don’t want the people to vote on it for fear that the idea would be rejected. Now they may end up with nothing.

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If there’s one thing the American government is good at (aside from taking people’s money), it’s mistreating Native American tribes. Well, Florida has done it again. Today the Florida House rejected a proposal by Governor Charlie Crist that would have allowed the Seminoles to operate blackjack tables in their casinos in exchange for sharing some of the revenue with the state government. The deal was voted down 17-0. This was the second time they reacted this way. Back in 2007, Crist signed a deal that allowed blackjack in Seminole casinos, but the House voided the bill, stating that Crist did not have the authority to offer that deal. (Oh, so suddenly the government cares what they have constitutional authority to do!)

In a separate vote, the House gambling committee voted 15-2 to give extra help to the tribe’s main competitors, allowing pari-mutuels unlimited poker limits, expanded hours of operation and a lower tax rate. So it seems that they’re willing to help anyone but those “red-skinned savages.” Maybe they’re still holding a grudge because the Seminoles have still yet to surrender to the United States.

In another vote, the House decided to invade Seminole territory, burn down their casinos, and steal all of their money… Okay, I made that up. The Seminole tribe has also taken another route in their request for table games, pointing out that some pari-mutuel facilities in Broward County are offering virtual blackjack games. At the tribe’s request, pencil-pushing bureaucrats from the National Indian Gaming Commission took a trip to south Florida yesterday to check out those machines.

Under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the Indian tribes are allowed to offer any game on their reservation that is allowed elsewhere within the state in which the reservation is located. Therefore, if a racetrack in Florida is allowed to offer blackjack, the Seminoles have the right to offer it as well. Dan Adkins, who operates one of the virtual blackjack games in question, says that the game is more like slots and isn’t really blackjack at all.

This is a legal battle that is likely to rage on and it will be interesting to see how things play out. I doubt that the government will send feds into the reservation to shut down the tribe’s blackjack tables, since the Seminoles don’t take kindly to government men telling them what to do. Whatever happens, one this is for sure. The government doesn’t have the best interest of the Seminole, blackjack players or taxpayers in mind. They have their own agenda, whatever it may be, and are looking out for themselves.

Professional athletes are rich and spoiled. If there’s one thing they like more than making a ton of money, it’s flaunting that money. That can include buying a new stretch Hummer limo made entirely of 24-karat gold, residing in a house that rivals Charles Foster Kane’s Xanadu, or just going around in strip clubs throwing $100 bills at people. Oftentimes it also includes gambling.

The Gilbert Arenas story has once again linked gambling with professional athletes. Many teams, in response, have banned their players from gambling. Instead, it seems like they shouldn’t hire athletes that they can’t trust to play a friendly game and not end up pointing guns at each other (if that even happened). The reports of what happened keep changing, with the most recent version I heard being that it was all a misunderstanding and that they were joking around about shooting each other over a gambling debt. Maybe teams shouldn’t hire athletes who don’t know that you shouldn’t joke about gun violence while wielding loaded guns. Just thinking out loud here…

There are people out there that are going to blame the situation, which resulted in the indefinite suspension of the superstar guard, on gambling. They will say that if you don’t let the players gamble, these things won’t happen. These are the same people who think whenever someone is shot and killed it is the fault of the gun instead of the shooter. Both arguments have the same problem (well, then anti-gun argument has a lot of problems): It ignores individual responsibility.

We at Gambling Review have always said that people need to gamble responsibly. That means to never bet money you can’t afford to lose, never bet money that would lead to you owing someone, always pay off your bets (to avoid gambling debt), and treat it like a fun game. If you’re not having fun, to the point where you feel like bringing guns into the mix, then you shouldn’t be doing it. Banning athletes from gambling won’t keep them out of trouble, unless you also ban them from drinking, driving, going to strip clubs, going to dance clubs, bachelor parties, and whatever else they like to do for fun.

The point is this: Professional athletes need to be responsible, just like everybody else. Some say they are wrong to throw their money away by gambling it rather than donating it to a charity. Maybe. If so, though, isn’t spending money on anything nonessential irresponsible? Is it irresponsible to buy a big high-definition TV? You don’t need TV at all and even if you want to watch television, there are cheaper sets out there. What about a new car? There are plenty of clunkers out there that you could buy for less (except those destroyed by the government). Why waste money on a house when there are plenty of cheap trailers out there? Why go to Disney World when you can have fun skipping stones across a pond?

Yes, I know that there is a line out there where wasting money is wrong. Why should Michael Jordan bet $1 million on a golf hole while impoverished children in the Chicago slums can’t afford to wear his Nike sneakers? Be that as it may, a person has a right to use their money as they choose. If you want to satisfy both urges, the urge to gamble and the urge to help people, there are lots of charity gambling tournaments out there. I think hitting those is a great idea for millionaire athletes with plenty of money to spend.

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