
Atlantic City just got hit by another storm recently; this one, financial. (Image source: LarryRivera.com)
Bad Atlantic City.
It gets battered by hurricanes, has its revenues siphoned off by ever-increasing competition from surrounding states like Pennsylvania and Maryland, and has seen a seven-year drop that is continuous gaming revenues from its 12 land casinos overall. Finally, it has Internet casinos ready to launch on November 26th, and things are looking up through the income stream viewpoint.
But then it gets another smack into the real face from the taxation man.
Tax Assessment Reversal for Borgata
What proved to be described as a victory that is huge MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming was not so much for the currently faltering coffers of Atlantic City; the two gaming behemoths got a 61 percent decrease in property taxes on their jointly owned Borgata Hotel and Casino which also is certainly one of the less miserable profit disasters in town and now AC has to return pre-paid taxation monies to your two companies.
They can blame it regarding the Tax Court of New Jersey, which reassessed the top-grossing casino in the Garden State at $870 million, a huge drop from its 2010 assessment of $2.26 billion. No doubt there was celebratory champagne in the MGM and Boyd Gaming conference spaces over that choice. But Atlantic City leaders had to be putting their fists through some walls, while the thing that is last needed had been to possess to do a huge payback when they are already on financial thin ice plus in risk of financial hypothermia.
‘ This is a devastating blow to Atlantic City,’ income tax attorney A. Paul Genato told Bloomberg News via email. The financial expert claims some $48.8 million has become owed to MGM and Boyd for the tax years of 2009 and 2010.
That is a complete lot of chips.
Show Me the Money
The bigger concern now facing the struggling city is exactly how the heck they will make this payback happen.
Asked by Bloomberg concerning the tax action, AC’s director of revenue and taxation Michael Stinson cut to the chase: ‘We certainly do not have $50 million sitting in the bank.’
With that reality staring the beleaguered metropolis into the face, they truly are doing a similar thing you or i might do in this scenario: at least purchasing some time, if nothing else, with an anticipated appeal. But wait, there’s more misery in the future; Borgata’s more recent 2011 and 2012 assessments have additionally been challenged by MGM and Boyd, and while no judgments have been rendered there as yet, this might be the blow that gives Atlantic City a true knockout that is technical it goes just how of the past years’ choices.
If those choices do go MGM and Boyd’s method, at exactly what point is Atlantic City going to be in danger of becoming the next Detroit? MGM and Boyd may need to reassess the chance that they’ll win the battle(s), but lose the war, in the event that whole burg ends up drowning in its very own monetary offal.
Atlantic City’s casino profits dropped almost 13 per cent in September, compared to the same time duration in 2012; all 12 for the town’s casinos combined made a fairly meager gambling industry revenue of $240.2 million for the month this 12 months.
Just 6 Months In, Nevada Gaming Commission Considers Online Changes
After half a year of online poker in Nevada, the Gaming Control Board is reviewing and revising. a tiny bit.
It’s only been fifty per cent of a year since on-line poker became legal in Nevada, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) is moving slowly with regards to expansion of any kind beyond the popular card game. Having said that, the Board is looking at some possible regulatory changes nonetheless.
‘We’re only 6 months into poker,’ stated NGCB Chairman A.G. Burnett. ‘For now, we want to prove out poker first.’
Slow But Steady Wins the Competition
And also with poker, the Board is perhaps not anything that is rushing. With only two legal sites up so far Station Casinos-owned UltimatePoker.com and Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s WSOP.com brand the Board is not about to approve any more web sites until the present sites’ technology is reviewed and evaluated by independent evaluation laboratories, as well as the Control Board’s own in-house lab. (Obama, simply take note: this is how you are doing it.)
‘Nevada is poker only,’ reiterated Burnett. ‘That was the legislative intent from the beginning and the board has no plans doing any such thing otherwise.’
What the Board is evaluating in terms of regulatory tuneups revolve around additional technical requirements for online poker, and also some language changes to match up with statutory changes that went into effect via Assembly Bill 114 during the latest legislative session.
Very Nearly Such A Thing Goes, In Theory
All that is technically prohibited in the bill is competition and sports book wagering online; but Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, (D-Las Vegas), whom sponsored the legislation, says he concurs with Nevada’s regulators about going slowly and cautiously beyond poker, if at all.
‘I believe our intent through the outcome was to take steps that are conservative’ Horne said of SB 114. ‘Nothing prohibits [the control board] https://slotsforfun-ca.com/huuuge-casino-review/ from going beyond poker and we want our regulatory boards to make that choice. I think we’re taking wise steps.’
Another essential topic the Board is reviewing is the issue of interstate compacts for on the web poker, something that is most likely going to be critical for Internet gaming to thrive in the Silver State over the long haul. By having a population of almost 2,759,000 (compared to soon-to-be-competitor New Jersey’s 9 million), Nevada needs other states in order to enter their online games legally to be able to remain afloat in just what will be a market that is increasingly competitive the coming years. It’s expected that the Board will be Governor that is asking Brian to push forward with this request, and there’s absolutely no reason to expect he will not comply.
In another couple of days, Delaware will join Nevada with online gaming, unfurling poker plus a casino that is few first of all when they launch on Halloween. Then on November 26th, nj-new Jersey will bring their online casinos into the universe that is online a full selection of classic casino games, including poker, of course.
Ultimately, it will make more sense for more centralized regional servers to manage whole parts of the U.S., if state and legislation that is federal. At a recent regulatory meeting in Philadelphia, nj-new jersey State Assemblyman John Amodeo (R) discussed a possible new bill that will allow online gaming hardware and pc software to be situated outside of actual Atlantic City land gambling enterprises ( as they are now required to be), opening the floodgates up to a more online gaming scenario that is nationwide.
Talking to the Press of Atlantic City, Amodeo suggested that ‘ultimately, we’re able to see Las Vegas handle everything west of the Mississippi, and Atlantic City could handle every thing east of the Mississippi.’
Sporting Potential UK CEO Says Footballers Gambling with Payday Loans
The CEO of Sporting Chance, a business that can help professional athletes with gambling problems, says you’d be amazed where they get their betting money from.
You’ve probably seen the ads for payday loans on television or on a billboard those services that will immediately cash your paycheck as financing, only asking for the insanely interest that is high in return. You may have even used one in a pinch. But you’ve probably never considered the fact that an athlete that is professional simply take advantageous asset of this service to help put a bet or two on the side.
Yet that’s exactly what some UK footballers are doing to invest in their gambling habits, according to Colin Bland, the CEO of displaying potential a charity that can help athletes deal with addiction. Based on the organization, about 70 percent of its referrals are related to gambling, and many soccer players end up in a recurring pattern where they need to use payday loans to continue betting.
Vicious Circle
‘It’s quite normal to have a player in a cycle of payday loans and gambling,’ Bland told BBC Radio 5. ‘We are working together with a whole lot more football that is current. We have had players who have got caught up within the scenario of taking away loans that are payday put bets. We’ve had some of those over the last couple of years, so the circle that is vicious.’
This might appear odd to the average working Joe, whom wonders how a professional athlete could squander millions of dollars per year on gambling. But according to Bland, that can really be part of the issue. At least one athlete has told him that the issue had been that there’s always plenty of cash getting into their pockets, meaning that it is always available and able to wager on a moment’s notice.
‘we have caused players who have lost up to £7 million ($11.3 million) in 36 months in gambling,’ Bland said. ‘ nevertheless the particular man that is young’m discussing said ‘it’s the number of bets I’m putting. I’m placing 50 bets a day…it’s impacting my life, it’s affecting my performance…it’s affecting what type of father I am able to be.”
Athletes Are Bettors
And while that might sound like an incident that’s out from the norm, it is no key that athletes around the world love placing big bets. And some soccer that is former in the UK have actually fessed up to losing plenty of cash throughout their careers.
For example, Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington publicly admitted to having a gambling issue earlier in his career. In accordance with him, he lost about £1.5 million ($2.4 million) betting on poker, horse racing, and dog racing during his career. And while he relied on loan sharks to satisfy his gambling needs, that’s only because that is what was most offered to him.
‘ I don’t think the payday loans were about whenever I had been gambling, otherwise I may possibly be certainly one of [the players that turned to them] myself,’ Etherington has said.
‘It just snowballed to where I happened to be often spending my month’s wages and then lending cash off loan sharks,’ he stated about his gambling addiction.
The gambling habits of high-profile soccer players have turn into a hot topic in the UK in current months. Rangers midfielder Ian Black was suspended for 10 matches previously this for gambling on at least 160 matches over the last seven years, while Crystal Palace striker Cameron Jerome faced a £50,000 ($80,000) fine for breaking Football Association rules related to betting year.