Well, John Kasich got some of that money and he didn’t even have to break any knee caps. I guess when you’re the governor of Ohio, you don’t have to resort to such violent tactics. Instead, you resort to dirtier but legal intimidation and coercion tactics to get your way. Over the weekend, Governor Kasich successfully shook down one of the casinos set to open in the state, Rock Ohio Caesars.

After closed-doors negotiations between the two parties, the casino agreed to what is being called a “significant payout” over several years to the state of Ohio. No details were disclosed, but Kasich insists that he did not raise taxes on the casino.

You might remember good ol’ Kasich saying that he was going to raise the taxes and licensing fees on casinos because voters got ripped off. Of course they did! I mean, casinos only pay one-third of their revenue to the state in taxes, not including the $50 million licensing fee. What a rip off! How did the casinos get such a sweet deal?

Sarcasm aside, Governor Kasich thinks that a 33% tax rate on casinos is too low, possibly because he has never taken an economics class. If he had, he would know that a) increasing the tax rate too much would reduce tax revenue and b) increasing taxes too much would put the casinos out of business. And if the casinos went out of business, there goes that economic injection and the tax money.

Still, Kasich is a politician, so that generally speaking that means he is a) greedy, b) corrupt, c) out of touch with reality and d) nowhere near as intelligent as he thinks. Kasich doesn’t think about the danger of overtaxing a brand new business – one that is already starting out in debt because of high start-up costs. Instead, he simply thinks “hey, Ohio needs money; the casinos have money; I should take more money from them!” It doesn’t matter that he has no legal right to do so. After all, the law passed in 2009 established the tax rate. The casinos signed a contract ensuring that tax rate. Kasich praised Rock Ohio Caesars for negotiating “in good faith,” but the governor did anything but.

The other casino company, Penn National Gaming, did not reach an agreement with Kasich. They walked away from negotiations without working out a deal. Kasich is hoping they come around, because that’s more of their money that he wants! Penn National is opening two casinos in the state, one in Cincinnati and one in Columbus.

There are few places in the United States, if any, that are in worse shape than Detroit, Michigan. Partly because of its dependency on the struggling automotive industry and partly because of decades upon decades of poor management by the politicians, Detroit needs money in a big way.

Unemployment is through the roof and the city’s deficit could grow to $1.2 billion by 2015. Think about that for a second. We’re talking a $1.2 billion deficit, not for a state or even a county, but for one city! Things are so bad that the mayor, Dave Bing, is asking for a federal bailout. He says that the city of Detroit is just as deserving of a bailout as General Motors. He may be right, but only because no one is deserving of a bailout with taxpayer money.

In an effort to generate more revenue, Bing is looking at many options in addition to begging for a bailout. One such idea is to reform the city’s benefit and pension plans, which makes sense, and renegotiate its union contracts, which also makes sense. Union deals and entitlements are the top killer of any economy, including in Detroit, but he is facing stiff opposition to that plan.

Another idea of Bing’s is to raise the tax rate for the city’s casinos. Mayor Bing says that raising the casino tax is necessary to prevent a state takeover, where the lawmakers in Lansing, Michigan would basically pay the bills and make the financial decisions for Detroit.

Bing wants to enact a 3% increase on the tax rate for casinos. He says this is manageable for the casinos because the current tax rate is lower than in other nearby jurisdictions. Bing estimates that a 3% tax hike on the casinos could bring in $41.3 million for the city. Under the current law, Detroit gets 10.9% of the revenue brought in by the casinos and the state of Michigan gets 8.1%.

Giorgio Mammoliti has big plans for the Toronto islands, located in Ontario, Canada. The city councillor (Canadian spelling) wants to create a red-light district on the islands, complete with a floating casino and a booming brothel industry.

In Toronto, like in many local jurisdictions across the world, the government is looking for additional sources of revenue. Councillor Mammoliti sees a red-light district as the answer. His proposal is to have the city of Toronto regulate and tax brothels on the island. He also wants to bring a floating casino to the Ontario Palace harbour. In total, he estimates that the new zone would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. Facing a $784 million budget deficit, the city certainly needs that kind of money right now.

This isn’t the first time Mammoliti has proposed these ideas. Both were part of last year’s campaign for the mayor of Toronto, which he lost to Rob Ford. Right now, though, Mammoliti has more influence than he did then. He is chair of the Community Development and Recreation Committee and is an influential part of Mayor Ford’s inner circle, according to CityNews Toronto.

According to Councillor Mammoliti, the Toronto islands are a good place for the red-light district because they already have a nude beach. They would only be bringing brothels and a casino to an area that is already popular for “sinful” reasons. So why not turn it into a Vegas-like “Sin City?”

I don’t know enough about Toronto politics or the culture in Toronto to know if his proposal has any chance of happening. Would the people be accepting of his plan or would they protest it? Since this was a part of Mammoliti’s mayoral platform and he lost the election, that could mean the people aren’t buying into his idea of a budget fix.

As soon as Iowa Governor Terry Branstad (R) proposed drastically increasing the tax rate for the state’s casinos, the industry has been livid. The casinos and anyone who has a basic understanding of economics concluded that it would hurt business and result in reduced profits and reduced employment. Now there is a study to back that up.

Governor Branstad’s proposal would tax casinos at a 36% rate, which is a large hike from the current level of 22% or 24%, depending on the casino. Today a study conducted by Harvey Siegelman of the Strategic Economics Group was released, showing just how bad the tax hike would be for the state.

In the report, Siegelman says that the massive tax increase would result in four of the 17 casinos going out of business. Another four casinos would be put in dire financial situations, which could lead to massive layoffs and in the end, perhaps they would have to close as well. That’s quite a difference from Branstad’s position that the casinos make plenty of money and can afford to pay higher taxes.

In addition to four casinos closing shop and another four being put in a severe financial situation, the tax increase would also result in the layoff of 2,600 workers. Because the casinos are required to make charitable contributions but are allowed to modify the amount contributed in the event of a tax increase, the report also states that charitable giving would decline by $17 million.

It will be interested to see how the ever-defiant Branstad reacts to the report. He may simply say it’s biased and can’t be trusted. Though the Strategic Economics Group is considered a trusted an impartial group, the study was commissioned by the Iowa Gaming Association.

Yesterday, Ireland’s Minister of Finance released a budget that confirmed something long speculated: The Irish government intends to place a tax on all bookmakers who take bets from Irish citizens, regardless of the location of the bookmaker.

Currently Ireland levies a 1% betting duty on all transactions between Irish citizens and Irish bookmakers located within the borders of the Emerald Isle. Bets placed online or via telephone with foreign bookmakers, however, escape that tax. Seeking additional revenue, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan wants to apply the tax to those overseas bookmakers if they conduct transactions with Irish citizens. Betting exchanges are thought to be in the crosshairs as well.

On Tuesday, the Minister of Finance proposed the Annexes to the Summary of 2011 Budget Members. That legislation states that “the government intends to include provisions in the finance bill and revise the Betting Act 1931 to ensure that all bookmakers taking bets from Ireland will pay 1% duty on those bets in the same way that betting shops currently do.”

Adding a tax is the easy part, though. Collecting a tax from foreign-owned and foreign-operated companies that don’t have a physical presence in your country is the tough part. To do so, most likely Ireland would have to create a licensing framework and refuse to allow unlicensed bookmakers to do business with the Irish. Those who become licensed would do so with a contract that includes the 1% tax.

That in itself would also be problematic. Before awarding licenses to overseas bookmakers, the Irish government would have to block or ban all current foreign bookmakers, which would violate the EU’s free trade rules. Minister Lenihan understands the difficulties ahead, but is determined to tax foreign bookmakers at the same rate as their domestic competition. Doing so would even the playing field and bring in additional revenue for the nation.

As much as the casino industry is struggling in Atlantic City, those businesses could use all the help they can get. Profits have been down, in part because of the Great Recession and in part because of the competition from casinos in nearby states – such as the new table games in Pennsylvania.

Two Democratic State Senators Jim Whelan and Raymond Lesniak have proposed a bill that would provide a $25 million tax break to the Atlantic City casinos. The tax break is regarding freebies at the casino. The casinos are taxed for all transactions, including coupons for free games and other free promotions given to the players. Those freebies, though they bring no money into the casino, are still recorded as revenue and taxed at an 8% rate. Back in 2008, the New Jersey legislature worked out a deal that applied that 8% tax to only the first $90 million worth of freebies, and after that, those free promotions were tax exempt.

That tax exemption passed in 2008 has accounted for an additional $7.2 million for the casinos each year. The new bill currently in the state Senate would expand the tax exemption, which could result in a tax break of up to $25 million. The increase in profits could help some casinos avoid layoffs as they see more revenue.

When Republican Chris Christie became governor of New Jersey last year, he made saving the casino industry in Atlantic City a priority. As one of the largest industries in the state, helping their businesses to remain profitable would be a benefit to the residents of New Jersey. Not everyone is happy about this new bill, though. In order to pay for the tax breaks, the money would be taken from the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled, a program that helps the elderly and disabled afford prescription drugs and other medical expenses. Leave it to Democrats to screw up something good like tax breaks.

To this date, online gambling is completely legal in Costa Rica yet is not the subject of any government regulation or taxation. How a federal government can go this long without noticing a cash cow like that I don’t know. As an American, I certainly can’t fathom it. The U.S. government long ago figured out that they can make a killing off of marriages and deaths. Since most people get married at some point and everyone dies, the government decided taxing and selling licenses for both would be a great way to make money. And of course the current push in Congress to legalize online gambling has less to do with civil liberty than with giving the government beast more to devour.

Costa Rica, on the other hand, stands out as a shining example of a government that allows its people the freedom of online gambling without taking advantage of it for their own financial gain. However, in this global recession, all bets are off. That shining example may be no more. According to the newspaper AM Costa Rica, the finance ministry is planning to levy a tax on online casinos located in the country. The government estimates that they could raise up to $100 million by adding a tax to online gambling.

Opponents of the proposed new tax state that the burden placed on the online casinos could create more unemployment, with online casinos being an important part of the Costa Rican economy. The online casino industry is estimated to directly and indirectly provide 10,000 jobs within the country. Adding a new tax to an industry that, like most industries, is already hurting just doesn’t seem like a good idea. I would criticize the Costa Rican government for this power grab, but since my government has taken over the automotive and financial industries and has taken aim at healthcare, I don’t really have room to talk. So good news, Costa Rica: At least you’re not victim of Obamanomics.