Woman Charges fraud in Viejas Giveaway.

Although I do not often post on this site any more, an article in my North County news today caught my attention, and I am reprinting the article by Morgan Cook which appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune and also on the internet.  Draw your own conclusions.

Merida Manipoun, also known as Anoma Sengvixay, of Clark County, Nevada, filed a lawsuit Nov. 16 in San Diego Superior Court against a local car dealership, Aston Martin of San Diego, and people who worked for Viejas Casino & Resort.

Manipoun won the car in a drawing at Viejas in May 2016, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, Manipoun played various slot machine games to earn chances to participate in the casino’s “Dream Machine” drawing to win the sports car. She was publicly congratulated at the casino and posed for promotional photos, the lawsuit said.

Shortly thereafter, one or more defendants (casino workers) urged Manipoun to forego the car and accept a comparatively small cash compensation instead, based on “the apparent theory” that doing so would provide her tax benefits, according to the lawsuit. Manipoun refused and demanded the car.

Manipoun did not receive the car, but she was issued a tax record (Form 1099-Misc) reporting $134,000 in income — the vehicle’s approximate market value, the lawsuit said. Manipoun’s understanding was that the casino reported the income to the Internal Revenue Service in accordance with governing tax law, the lawsuit said.

When Manipoun went in person to the dealership to collect her Aston Martin, she was told that the dealership did not have paperwork entitling her to the car, and she would not be receiving it, according to the lawsuit.

Aston Martin of San Diego did not respond to a request for comment. Viejas Casino & Resort declined to comment because litigation was ongoing.

Manipoun’s lawsuit alleges fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, breach of unfair competition law and breach of unilateral contract. Manipoun seeks compensation including unspecified damages, attorney’s fees and court costs.

Other sources on the internet explain that the suite is against casino employees rather than Viejas because the tribe is a sovereign nation and can not be sued.  

Marijuana is going to be bigger than bingo.

”Marijuana is projected to be a $21 billion industry by 2020. Medical marijuana is legal in most states, and eight states already have recreational marijuana laws. And the Justice Department decided in December 2014 to allow marijuana to be grown on reservations — even if the drug is illegal in the state where the reservation is located.

Not only does it seem as if tribes will get regulatory advantages, but they will also be subject to fewer taxes than non-Indian neighbors engaged in similar enterprises. They won’t have to pay federal income tax on revenues from the cannabis business, and they won’t have to charge customers state sales tax on their purchases.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been down this road before. American Indians were also offered significant advantages on the sale of cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline. In the 1980s and 90s, businesses on Indian territories weren’t charging state sales tax, and they attracted customers with their significantly lower prices, sometimes making 300% profit on these items.

Because American Indians can’t actually own land on reservations, they  have trouble getting business loans (since they have no collateral) and there are a limited number of enterprises they can get into. But convenience stores don’t require a big investment, so many Indians have gone into those businesses.

In 1991, with the settlement of the case of Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Citizen Band, Potawatomi, the Supreme Court held that although tribes needn’t charge tax on their own members, they did have to collect tax if they sold cigarettes to nonmembers.

Enforcement of the law was difficult, for obvious reasons.  Are you really going to prove that you’re an Indian every time you buy cigarettes? What counts as proof? Why can’t you buy them for someone standing outside the store? In principle, it could be no more difficult than checking someone’s ID before the purchase of liquor, but in some areas, enforcement was simply nonexistent.

 In 2010 the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act was passed.  It’s goal was to halt the sale of untaxed cigarettes online to minors - and to limit the tobacco black market, which the feds said was being used to fund organized crime and even terrorist activities. The major effect of the new law, though, was to ensure that online and mail-order retailers couldn’t evade state and federal taxes.

The result was “major economic devastation.” Businesses that weren’t meeting the reporting requirements had to close down. For others, without the advantage of being able to sell cigarettes tax-free, profit margins plunged. These businesses simply couldn’t undercut the competition off the reservation anymore.

Meanwhile, tribes were exploiting another advantage that Indian reservations have: the right to set up gambling businesses. Most gaming operations on territories are small, catering mostly to Indians themselves. But a number of them have hit the jackpot.

According to an article in Forbes last year, the Seminoles have a “privately owned global business that spans 71 countries and boasts 168 Hard Rock cafes, 23 hotels and 11 casinos. Including franchisee sales, system-wide revenue is slightly more than $5 billion.” Tribal members receive a yearly stipend of $128,000, and thanks to trust funds set up for children, members are already multimillionaires by the time they turn 18.

But the gaming industry is not what it used to be, and it is more crowded now that more states have legalized casino gambling. The Mhantucket Pequot tribe, which runs the Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut, once paid its thousand or so members more than $100,000 annually from its profits, but in 2012 they got nothing. Some tribe members moved elsewhere in search of work. The casino was $1.7 billion in debt.

Marijuana promises to bring a whole new round of profits to some tribes. But like the casinos, marijuana will be a tribal business — meaning that the money will go to the tribal government to be distributed like lottery winnings (or welfare payments, depending on your perspective).

The kind of dependency that these tribal enterprises have created is not surprising. Tribes like the Seminoles and the Senecas (whose gaming operation made about a billion dollars between 2002 and 2014) find that their members have little incentive to work or get an education, and they too often get tangled in drug and alcohol addiction.

Growing marijuana on reservations probably won’t help.  But there may not be much more that tribal leaders can do. With few options for individuals to earn income, the tribes depend on these enterprises to survive. And the federal government continues to put incentives in place for these tribes to pursue loophole economies — rewarding them for finding areas in federal and state law that Indians can exploit to gain a financial step up.

The biggest hurdle is that American Indians on reservations do not have private property rights, a problem that is deeply rooted in federal and constitutional law. If we were serious about giving Indians the autonomy over their land that, as American citizens, they are entitled to, we should look to a proposal in Canada. The First Nations Property Ownership Act, which is working its way through parliament, would give Indians the underlying title to their land, allowing them to buy, sell or borrow against it. The land itself would still remain part of the reserve, but the reserves would act more like small independent cities. They would still be subject to the national government’s laws, but residents would gain more autonomy over their property.

While waiting for solutions, we have made Indian territories into places where fewer and fewer Americans would choose to live and raise families. Making cigarettes, gambling and drugs cheaper and more widely available than in surrounding areas is a recipe for more poverty, crime and social dysfunction. Sadly, American Indians are the victims of that.”

I did not write this article myself. The information consists of edited portions of a press release I was sent. To contact the author of this story, write to  Naomi Schaefer Riley at Naomisriley@gmail.com

Roundabout Route to San Diego County HWY 76 Casinos.

I don't post on this blog very often, but every now and then an article appears in my local newspaper about a gambling related topic I can share.  This is taken from the San Diego Union-Tribune paper, North County edition and written by J. Harry Jones.

" Construction has begun at the dangerous intersection of State Route 76 and Valley Center Road where a modern roundabout -- a rarity on state highways -- should be built by the fall of 2018. The project is expected to cost $15.5 million and will cause periodic lane closures.  The first is expected to take place in about two weeks.  It will occur overnight according to CA DOT with one way traffic control in place.

The roundabout will replace the existing three-leg intersection, realigning the curves east of the intersection and increasing sight distance for vehicles approaching from the west.  Other features include wide walks, a new bus pull-out,  and landscaping.  The roundabout will have four entrances, the one to the north to allow access to a business.

The area has long been known as "the stage coach stop" and has been the site of numerous fatal and other accidents over the decades. The only traffic control at the intersection now is a lone stop sign along Valley Center Road.  HWY 76 drivers have the right-of-way and zip though the intersection quickly - sometimes too quickly - while those wishing to turn onto the highway have to wait.

A roundabout is a circular roadway through which vehicles travel counterclockwise within the intersection. Entering traffic must yield to circulating traffic.  Studies show roundabouts reduce crashes because they require drivers to slow down significantly before entering.  Between 2005 - 2009 there were 35 accidents at or near the site, 4 times the statewide average for similar intersections. More recent data isn't available.

Cues will include flashing beacons placed on all three legs, visible well before vehicles approach the intersection.   The roundabout will also feature a raised central island around which traffic circulates and also spotter islands separating traffic entering and exiting the roundabout.  A report from US DOT found roundabouts on two-lane rural highways reduce crashes by up to 68% and injury crashes by up to 88%."

The news story did not include any information or opinion about how all this new construction will affect the gamers who travel HWY 76 to visit Pala, Pauma, Harrahs SoCal, and Valley View.  My husband and I travel that route every week...so I guess we'll soon find out.
   

Million Dollar Suites at the Cosmopolitan

The top four floors of the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas have been vacant since the day the casino opened in 2010.  But they’ve finally been furnished and opened to the public.  Well, sort of. The 21 Boulevard Penthouse suites that now fill those top floors have balconies overlooking the Bellagio fountains and Vegas strip, designs by Adam Tihany, and $56,000 bottles of Louis XIII Black Pearl cognac—and a minimum buy-in of $1 million at the Reserve, the Cosmopolitan’s high-roller lounge. According to travel specialist Jack Ezon of Ovation Travel, that may make them the most expensive hotel rooms anywhere in the world.

About that Price Tag …

In Vegas, a million-dollar buy-in isn’t unheard of—at least not on big weekends such as those that straddle the Super Bowl, the Chinese New Year, or New Year’s Eve. But even the nicest rooms in town—such as the villas at Bellagio and the Mansions at the MGM Grand, where built-in massage rooms, indoor swimming pools, and billiard rooms all can come inside the suite—are regularly available for far less money. MGM’s Mirage Villas? They hover around $20,000. The 10,500-square-foot, David Rockwell-designed villa atop the Nobu Hotel (which is part of Caesars Palace)? It’s dripping with gold, besides having an Instagram-worthy tub and piano—and it’s about $35,000 per night.  

Prices shift depending on time of year, who you are, and what kind of a relationship you have with the marketing manager, but sometimes these palatial rooms can go for as little as $5,000. Not bad, compared with the Cosmopolitan’s buy-in. From a business perspective, the move has helped the hotel compensate for midweek slumps, when whales aren’t working the baccarat tables.

A Risky Bet

Here’s why many Vegas managers have been ditching the “high roller” in their high-roller suites: According to the University of Nevada Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research, casino revenues have declined sharply, and consistently, since 1984. Back then, gaming represented nearly 59 percent of total revenue on the Strip, with hotels pulling in just 16 percent. By 2012, that had shifted to 36 percent casino revenue and 25 percent hotel business. Today, that gap has continued to narrow, with casinos now pulling in 34 percent and hotels yielding 28 percent.

It goes to show that whales aren’t the only big spenders in Vegas. The conference business, it turns out, is where MGM is putting its money. “It’s not always about the casino guests,” said Aria’s Bailey “It’s about functions and hosted events—a wedding or the launch of an app, or anything in between—and the importance of conventions.”

But hotels in Sin City can’t yet survive without a great casino—and high-roller suites are still a big catalyst for that key business. Since gambling has never been the Cosmpolitan’s strongest suit, investing in this weakening-but-still-strong industry is a play the hotel needs to make, even if it has already missed the boat on the industry’s best days.

Cosmopolitan’s Benowitz estimates that his 21 suites will add 10 percent to 20 percent to his bottom line. It’s not as much as MGM resorts like Aria make on their suite products—Bailey says her suites represent far more than 20 percent—but Benowitz sees it as an incremental play worth making.

The Value Proposition

It’s hard to argue that the Cosmopolitan’s suites are “worth” their million-dollar price tag—particularly when the competitors offer a similar range of amenities. But if what you want is exclusivity and style (at any price), the Boulevard Suites will win your affections.

Here’s what they promise: around-the-clock butler service, chauffeured airport transfers in a variety of luxury SUVs, and a full culinary team that will “create whatever our guests desire,” said Benowitz. “If a guest wants stone crabs for dinner in their Penthouse, we’ll go to Joe’s and procure them.”

Welcome amenities are selected based on each guest’s preferences and could include a hard-to-find bottle of bourbon or a humidor full of their favorite cigars. Living-room walls are swapped for resin panels trimmed in 24-karat gold, and bathrooms have floor-to-ceiling marble and pod-like soaking tubs. A white grand piano stands in the living room. And whereas Sin City’s other megasuites all conform to kitschy themes, the Cosmopolitan’s are worthy of the name.

The True Cost of Entrance

Not everyone gets in to the Boulevard Penthouses. To do so, you have to prove your net worth, clear a few security hurdles, and have paperwork submitted to the Gaming Commission—which gets you into the high-roller lounge called the Reserve, where you’ll play your requisite million.

There are, and will be, exceptions to those rules—this is Vegas after all, where rules are meant to be broken. “Some of our slot guests don’t have as much as a bankroll per individual trip but they come often, so their value is still very high,” Benowitz said. “Anyone who spends over $100,000 on a given trip could be considered.”

As for the 98 percent occupancy rates that most hotels in Vegas like to brag about? They don’t apply here—which is to say, the Boulevard Penthouses will never be given away for next-to-nothing. “We’re not overly concerned if a room goes vacant because there’s an opportunity cost of getting someone in there,” Benowitz said. “They’re not at the same occupancy as the rest of the hotel, but on weekends? The demand is astronomical.”

Guess I won't be staying there anytime soon.  How about you ? 

To contact the author of this story: Nikki Ekstein in New York at nekstein@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gaddy at jgaddy@bloomberg.net

David Hasselhoff Assumes Duties as Mayor of Funner

It's all fun and games in Southern California, and this past week David Hasselhoff, remembered best for his role in Baywatch and Knight Rider, was sworn in as Mayor of San Diego County's newest town, Funner California.  If you missed the inauguration and swearing in, don't worry, the Hoff will be returning to Harrahs SoCal every few months to carry out his duties and enjoy the Southern California sunshine and the casino's Lazy River.  Here's an article that appeared recently in San Diego Magazine you might enjoy....the video is fun too.

David Hasselhoff Puts the Fun in Funner, California

The tiny North County town gets a fun-loving new mayor

  

by Sanna Bowman Coates in San Diego Magazine.

Funner. According to the TV commercials you might have seen on local networks, “it’s not a word, it’s a place.” That place, specifically, is the 40-something acre lot that’s home to Harrah’s Resort SoCal in Valley Center.

 As part of a big rebranding campaign by the resort, its location was renamed Funner by the Rincon Band of Luiseño Mission Indians last year, and is now official with road signs, a GPS destination — and a new mayor.

This week, former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff was inaugurated as the first-ever mayor of Funner, California. “I won because nobody was running against me,” he joked in a quick interview before the inauguration ceremony. 

The ceremony was held at the Dive on May 18, with Baywatch Babes, aka fun enforcement, standing by to keep the looky-loos at bay.

Following the swearing in, the press sat down with “The Hoff” in the newly decked-out Mayoral Suite at Harrah’s, covered in Hasselhoff memorabilia from different stages of his career. The man himself was casually dressed in his vacation finest: white pants, a loosely buttoned shirt, and a blue blazer.

Being mayor of Funner is a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. “My official responsibilities are to make sure that when you come to Funner, California, you have fun,” says Hasselhoff. Having fun, according to “The Hoff,” is the solution to most of the world’s problems. “I’ve learned to laugh at all my mistakes, laugh at everything. It’s really helped me a lot,” he says.

Since he doesn’t seem to take life too seriously, being appointed mayor of Funner is not necessarily the first step toward a career in politics. Although, there is one position he would consider.

 “Somebody asked me the other day — because Dwayne Johnson said he’s going to run for president — they asked me if I would be on his staff. And I said I probably would,” Hasselhoff says and laughs. “I would be on his staff. I’d want to be Entertainment Director, and make sure that everybody gets along.”  

  

As for his mayoral duties in Funner, Hasselhoff will be checking in at Harrah’s at least “four to five times a year, making sure that everything’s cool.” He also says he comes down to San Diego a lot, calling it “an untouched, secret paradise.”

 “San Diego to me is just perfect. It’s just so nice and so much fun and people are so friendly,” he says, adding: “I’m sorry you lost your football team.”

From Casino to Cannabis Cultivation

Santa Ysabel Casino

     On April 11, 2007 a tiny Indian-owned and operated casino opened its doors with the intention of incorporating a resort into the complex.  The casino had 349 slot machines and six gaming tables as well as live poker and live blackjack. It was located on SD Highway 79 near Lake Henshaw, Julian, and Warner Springs. Plans for constructing a resort were scrapped due to finding difficulties shortly after construction.

     On April 20, 2011, a gamer from nearby Ramona, CA, won a penny jackpot of $1,036,253 - the first Gold Series progressive won in California.  On July 2, 2012, the casino filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy following massive losses and unpaid fees.  Total debts were believed to have exceeded $50,000,000 according to the Union Tribune - San Diego.  On February 3, 2014 after a judge ruled the casino as ineligible to take bankruptcy as a federally recognized tribe, and Feb 3, 2014 the casino closed after eventually going out of business.

     So, what’s the tribe to do…well maybe the answer is the one found in the UT article excerpted below:  Medicinal Majijuana.

A small Indian tribe in a remote stretch of San Diego County has traded its failed dream of casino riches for what could be the next big payout — marijuana cultivation — according to an article by J. Harry Jones in the May 3 SD Union Tribune newspaper.  The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel closed its 35,000 square foot gaming hall in February 2014, buried under $50 million in debt.  It has now transformed the vacant space into a high-tech medical marijuana operation, and it is leasing part of the property to growers who cultivate and distribute the drug to legal dispensaries throughout the state of California.  More than a dozen greenhouses are in various stages of construction on the building’s sprawling parking lot, awaiting more tenants.

The tribe is the first in SD county to embrace the marijuana industry.  This comes in the wake of a December 2014 memo by the US Justice Department that declared sovereign nations would not be prosecuted for growing pot on tribal land in states that had legalized the drug.

In 2007, when the Santa Ysabel Resort and Casino opened on a hillside off state Route 79 overlooking Lake Henshaw, the tribe envisioned building a hotel to serve the hordes of gamblers who would surely flock there.  But it never happened because there were too many other casinos closer to San Diego and major highways.  The 700 member tribe watched as its neighbors grew rich and their own prospects evaporated.

So, in early 2015 tribal leaders quietly jumped at the opportunity for a new revenue source.  They created laws regulating marijuana on the reservation and established a regulatory commission to oversee the venture.  For the past 18 months marijuana cultivated at the site has been shipped to legal dispensaries across the state, according the Dave Vialpando, head of the agency.  The operation is still very small.  Its two rooms house less than 1000 plants.  But it will not be all cultivation. There will be processing rooms and trimming rooms and storage rooms.  The testing lab is about to open and there is a possibility that other cannabis products such as lotions could be produced in the future.

Federal law prohibits the cultivation and distribution of marijuana, but current policy allows for pot to be grown on reservations as long as certain requirements are met according to the SD county Sheriff’s Department, which does not license, inspect, or regulate marijuana cultivation on tribal lands.  The Iipay Nation is operating tribal law and authority.  The DA’s office is aware of the grow operation at Santa Ysabel and has cautioned the tribe against breaking any state laws which might result in investigation and potential criminal charges.  Vialpando, who worked as an officer of the CA Justice department before retiring in 2011 to head the tribe’s gaming operations and now its cannabis ones says he is confident everything is being done by the book. 

Security is a priority. To get to the former casino requires a long drive up a paved road that is blocked by a security gate and an armed guard.

     California voters approved Proposition 64 in November, legalizing the recreational use and cultivation of pot.  The tribe’s laws only allow the cultivation of medicinal marijuana. They have no plans to expand those rules to include recreational marijuana.  No other local tribe in currently involved in the pot business.  The tribe has its eyes on Washington, and the new administration, but is moving forward with its plans.  Let’s see what happens in the months to come. 

Betting on Trump -- And It's Not an April Fools Joke

If you're the gambling type and you have a keen interest in American politics, your dream job has arrived.

The Irish gambling company Paddy Power is looking for a head of Trump betting to manage a surge in wagers related to the U.S. president.

At Paddy Power, you can bet on whether Obamacare will survive President Trump's first term. You can take 500-to-1 odds and bet that Trump will paint the White House gold. You can even bet on whether an American state will try to secede.

British and Irish betting houses accepted about £230 million ($286 million) in bets related to the U.S. election last year, making it the biggest non-sports event in industry history.

When Trump won, Paddy Power was burned badly. The company, lost a total of $5 million on the upset.

The election is over, but tens of thousands of dollars are still being wagered on the young administration, said Lee Price, a Paddy Power spokesman. Interest in Trump-related bets is about 50 times what it was when Barack Obama moved into the White House.

The company is already offering bets on how long members of Trump's Cabinet will serve, plus some more personal presidential wagers. They are looking for someone to manage Trump gambling and come up with creative bets.

"The job is to be an expert in all things Trump," said Paddy Power representative, Lee Price. "In the spirit of Donald Trump's presidency, we're saying no experience required."

The job is full time -- three months for now, with a possible extension.

"If demand continues, so will the role," Price said. "We're sure Trump will keep us busy."

The company listed the job in its online Careers section in March but recently began placing ads in the classified sections of two popular British newspapers to drum up interest.

Price said the company has received hundreds of applications but many were too "jokey" and the firm wanted more serious candidates. Paddy Power managers plan to start interviews by the end of next week.

This article was published in CDC Gaming Reports April 8, and was written by Alanna Petroff

Game Sense -- Does it Make Sense?

Game Sense - Does it Make Sense?

The Los Angeles Times ran an article in its travel and entertainment section Sunday, March 12, that I’d like to share with you.  It was sent to me by a good friend and fellow gamer who goes by the YoutTube moniker wlwal1 .  The report concerns MGM casinos and a new program they are rolling out this year to provide on-site help for problem gamblers.  The program is called Game Sense, and MGM hopes it will make sense to game players who are unable to control their urge to gamble when it’s time to stop. The company plans to put trained advisers in its casinos to share the message that gambling can be a dangerous and costly addiction. 

They will be installing kiosks inside the Bellagio, Excalibur, Luxor, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, and other MGM properties.  Trained advisors will educate visitors about problem gambling and try to dispel some of the myths and fallacies that surround casino games and how they work.  Gamblers need to understand that there is no such thing as a hot machine, or one that is ready to hit because it hasn’t paid out recently according to Alan Feidman, executive VP of MGM resorts. Instead of merely providing gamers with a brochure with the toll-free addiction help-line number 800-522-4700, Game Sense plans to set up staffed booths at MGM casinos nationwide.  

They will also donate $1 million to to research projects at the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ International Gaming Institute.  Data will be gathered at the casinos to help determine the effectiveness of the program.

 Recently, last December, the Atlantic magazine ran an eleven page article by John Rosengren titled “Losing it All”  pointing out that Americans now spend more money on casino gambling than movies, music, and sports events combined. The largest share of that money goes to slots and video poker they say. In the lengthy article, the Atlantic details true-life stories of addicted gamblers, many of whom ended up losing their jobs, their families, and even in one instance their lives. The story of Scott Stevens’ inability to overcome his addiction and resultant suicide causes the author to ask his readers to consider whether perhaps he was the victim of a system carefully calibrated to prey on his weakness … in much the same way as the tobacco industry, knowing their product was addictive, preyed on smokers’ weakness.

Less than 40 years ago casino gambling was illegal everywhere in the United States outside of Nevada and Atlantic City New Jersey,  But since Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) in 1988, tribal and commercial casinos have rapidly proliferated, and today patrons bet more than 17 billion dollars annually in over 1,000 casinos in over 40 states in almost a million machines nationwide according to the Atlantic article. —  machines that are deliberately designed, some say, to lull players into the trancelike state known to manufacturers as as “continuous gaming productivity” and to writers as “the zone.”

Gambling affects some people in the same way that drugs or alcohol affects other addicts.  And like many other addicts,  users develop a tolerance. When they are unable to gamble, many show signs of withdrawal such as panic attacks, insomnia, headaches, and heart palpitations.  Some, they say,  have genetic predispositions to gamble.  And the National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that one in five gambling addicts attempts suicide.   You can read some of their stories in the Atlantic Magazine article.

According to some researchers 20% of regular gamblers are problem or pathological gamblers and studies show that 30 to 60 percent of gambling revenue comes from these problem gamblers.  Natasha Dow Schull, an NYU professor who spent over 15 years studying the addictive gambler, wrote a book in 2012 “Addiction by Design, Machine Gambling in Las Vegas”, detailing how casinos track their customer’s play and entice them to play more often and longer. We all know how this is done - we all receive their offers and free-play, and we know what draws us to these machines and what makes us stay long past the time we should have cashed out and gone home.  We know about frequent small rewards that make us feel we are winning all the time we’re losing our money.  We all experience the near-misses when 2 of 3 bonus symbols tease us into thinking a win is imminent. We eat their free buffets and stay the night in their free hotel rooms, and rationalize our losses by comparing these freebees to what we would pay to play at a similar resort.  We’re not addicted to gambling — we can quit any time we want —addiction is the other guy’s problem, not ours. Sure it is, 

Well, maybe Gaming Sense will help us make some sense out of problem gambling. I hope so.  But more likely it will be just like everything else — smoke and mirrors and the illusion of providing help to those players who deny they need any.  We’ll see.

Video Poker - Hospital Therapy Patients Enjoy

   Need an excuse to play a little video poker?  Here’s an article that was just published today about the medical benefits of the mental therapy of video poker slots for hospital patients.  I didn’t write the article.  It came to me from CDC to share with my readers.   

    “ Video poker machines are commonplace in Las Vegas and can be found in bars, supermarkets and even high-end restaurants. Now you can add hospitals to that list.

     The HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Henderson treats people who are recovering from a number of issues, including traumatic injuries, strokes, amputations, spinal cord issues and neurological disorders.

Against one wall of the facility’s busy 7,400-square foot gym, alongside the weights and exercise machines typically found in physical therapy rooms, sit two video poker machines, one with a chair you’d find in casino and one without.

     Because playing video poker is a sedentary activity, video poker machines in a rehab hospital may seem counterintuitive. But therapists at HealthSouth say the games help patients in a number of ways.

Sarah Tempest, a speech-language therapist at HealthSouth, said the video games help patients, many of whom require help with both mental and physical acuity, improve their cognitive abilities.

     “One of the areas (of the brain) we know is stimulated by gambling is the prefrontal cortex,” Tempest said. “The frontal lobes of the brain can be damaged by traumatic injuries; they can be damaged by substance abuse; they can be damaged by strokes.”

     If the brain can be considered an orchestra, Tempest explained, then the frontal lobes act like the conductor. When her patients play the video poker machines, they are retraining that conductor.

“What we’re really looking to improve with the games are executive-functioning skills,” she said. “The things we are really addressing with that are attention, mental flexibility, self-regulation and working memory.”

     Because the patients are playing video poker, she explained, they have to be able to retain information and then manipulate it in ways that can help them win. They also have to make different decisions based on the information, and they also get to relearn impulse control.

“They get to think about if it’s worth placing another bet,” Tempest said. “Should they see if they can get a full house or is it better to stay with a pair of kings?”

     And while video poker is certainly not the most physically demanding activity, it can also help patients with significant mobility issues.

“Sometimes we’ll have patients stand and play the video poker machines to work on standing tolerance,” said Sandy McGinnis, one of the hospital’s occupational therapists. “We can also have them put wrist weights on, and they’re playing for a whole 15 minutes (a session). It can get you tired after doing it for 15 minutes.”

     A bonus? The patients are working on their physical and mental skills while doing something they enjoy, McGinnis said. Tempest said 10-12 patients use the slot machines, which HealthSouth CEO Sam Billig purchased for $1 each in November. The patients don’t need money to use them, and they can’t win money either. The games are set to run 15 minutes at a time, regardless if the “credits” accumulate or dwindle.

     “Sometimes, it helps the patients come down to their sessions,” McGinnis said. “They could be in pain or having a bad day and you can tell them, “‘Hey, you know what? We can play video poker as part of your therapy.’ And they are more likely to engage in it instead of refusing because of medical issues that are going on.”

     HealthSouth is a 90-bed hospital that, according to its website, “provides care for people who are ready to be discharged from a hospital but not ready to return home.”

It’s why the gym includes a full-size supermarket checkout counter, a machine built to resemble the interior of a car and a replica of a cafe. It’s also why the gym has skee ball, an air hockey table and other activities patients can enjoy while developing cognitive and physical skills.

     Angela Ingerson, a special-needs teacher in the hospital who is dealing with several health issues, said the video poker and other activities motivate her to participate in her therapy.

“The things they are doing here, especially with the new games, give me an opportunity for me to do things I enjoy,” she said. “For example, they want me to sit up more. But if all I’m doing sitting in a hospital bed, what’s motivating me to sit up more?”

Scientific Games to showcase slots featuring James Bond

By DAVE MCNARY
REUTERS

LOS ANGELES — The owners of the James Bond franchise have struck a multi-year licensing deal with gambling products specialist Scientific Games Corp., which will lead to the super-spy’s image being used on casino slot machines.

The exclusive agreement was announced Wednesday between Las Vegas-based Scientific Games with Eon Productions Limited, Danjaq LLC and MGM Interactive, a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The deal gives Scientific Games the rights to leverage all past and future James Bond films, as well as the film’s talent portraying James Bond.

Scientific Games said it expects to showcase the first James Bond-themed slot games at the Global Gaming Expo on Oct. 3-5 in Las Vegas. That means the first machines could begin appearing in casinos next year.

Created in 1953 by novelist Ian Fleming, Bond was a frequent patron of high-end casinos in the books and two dozen films that followed — including two versions of “Casino Royale.”

Seven actors have played Bond, starting with Sean Connery in 1962’s “Doctor No,” followed by David Niven in 1967’s “Casino Royale,” George Lazenby in 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. It’s unclear whether Craig will sign on for another Bond film after starring in the last four.

Scientific Games Chief Executive Officer Kevin Sheehan said, “The Bond franchise is clearly a long sought-after and incredibly exciting brand for our industry. James Bond is synonymous with action, excitement, and next-generation technology. We look forward to harnessing the power of the Bond brand to drive innovation across the company in the years ahead.”

Ronald Perelman, chairman of Scientific Games, said, “We have been excited about this license opportunity for a very long time and are thrilled that Kevin Sheehan and his team at Scientific Games were able to secure the exclusive licensing rights.”

Variety reported in 2015 that another studio could supplant Sony as MGM’s distribution partner for the franchise. Sony’s has handled distribution on “Casino Royale,” “Quantum of Solace,” “Skyfall” and “Spectre.” “Skyfall” was the highest-grossing 007 film in franchise history.

Danjaq LLC is the holding company responsible for the copyright and trademarks to the characters, elements, and other material related to James Bond on screen. It’s currently owned and managed by the family of Albert R. Broccoli. Eon Productions is a sister company of Danjaq and the production company responsible for producing the James Bond films.

Tribal Gaming Legalized 30 Years Ago This Month

30 Years of Tribal Gaming

March 2, 2017 at 3:52 pm

By David G. Schwartz, Green Felt Journal, Vegas Seven

February 25, 1987, was a milestone date for gambling in America. On that day, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, a verdict that paved the way for the rapid expansion of casino gambling on tribal lands in the decades to follow. Thirty years on, the Court’s decision still reverberates throughout the casino industry and Las Vegas.

First, an important note: Neither the Cabazon decision nor the following year’s Indian Gaming Regulatory Act created or legalized tribal gaming. On the contrary, tribes had been offering various kinds of gambling for years, which is how the Cabazon Band ended up in court in the first place. A small tribe of Cahuilla Indians located between Indio and Palm Springs in Riverside County, California, the Cabazon offered bingo games to the general public, as did the nearby Morongo Band; the Cabazon also opened a card room.

The state of California and Riverside County sued to shut down these gambling operations, arguing that the tribes’ bingo games flouted state bingo betting limits. After a lengthy legal battle, the Supreme Court found that, although the state had legitimate concerns about possible organized crime infiltration of high-stakes bingo, any state regulation would “impermissibly infringe” on tribal government.

The decision affirmed a ruling previously enunciated by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Butterworth: If a state permitted gambling, tribes were allowed to offer that type of gambling without state regulation or interference. Unless a state made gambling illegal, it could do nothing to prevent tribal gaming operations.

It is worth saying that government figured deeply into California v. Cabazon. In his majority decision, Justice Byron White specifically noted that California, far from barring gambling, operated a lottery and “daily encourage[d] its citizens to participate in this state-run gambling.” The state, far from exercising police powers to restrict undesirable behaviors by its citizens, was in the gambling business. Since the state was a promoter of gambling, the Court held that it regulated rather than prohibited gambling, with a few enumerated exceptions.

It is also worth pointing out that this decision did not come from an envelope-pushing activist court. As White noted in his decision, President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 Statement on Indian Policy had endorsed bingo as a method of reducing tribal dependence on federal funds, and that the Department of the Interior had promoted tribal bingo. Public-interest gambling had been expanding in the United States since 1925, when Florida legalized racetrack pari-mutuel wagering, and successive waves of racing, bingo and lottery legalization have made gambling an essential contributor to many state budgets.

California v. Cabazon’s impact was immediate. The following year, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act provided a framework for tribal gambling operations and for the compacts (treaties) between tribes and states necessary for Class III gambling, which included Las Vegas–style casinos. These compacts allowed for revenue sharing between tribes and states, which greatly incentivized states to broker deals with tribes. By 1996, tribal casinos nationwide were earning more than Atlantic City or the Las Vegas Strip, and tribal casinos have grown even as commercial casinos have multiplied. Today, Indian casinos make about $30 billion annually in revenue, about three-quarters the total of their commercial rivals.

Tribal gaming has had a twofold impact on Nevada casinos. Its spread in California, the Pacific Northwest and Arizona has slowed revenue growth from Lake Tahoe to Laughlin, although Las Vegas has proven more resilient. With California’s total revenues estimated near $7 billion, it’s easy to see Indian casinos as the winner of a zero-sum game: Every dollar wagered in the Golden State is a dollar not bet in Nevada.

But there’s another dimension to that growth. Tribal casinos offer career opportunities at every level, increasing the value of job skills specific to the gaming industry. It used to be that casino employees and managers would face a substantial career readjustment if they wanted to move outside of Nevada or Atlantic City. Now, leaving Las Vegas doesn’t necessarily mean exiting the casino business, as tribes from California to Connecticut have hired line employees and managers with Las Vegas pedigrees.

In the early years of tribal gaming, it didn’t seem that way—industry attitudes were more likely to be hostile or dismissive—but time has proven that a mature tribal gaming industry and Las Vegas can not only coexist, but can bolster each other. Back in 1987, few Strip pit bosses could have imagined that a Supreme Court decision about tribal bingo might create an alternate career path for them, but today it’s taken for granted. Thirty years after California v. Cabazon, there might be fewer people coming to Nevada to gamble, but there’s a little bit of Las Vegas planted in the most unlikely soil.

Russian Slot Machine Cheats: Casinos Have No Fix

I did not write this article.  It was sent to my site today by cdc gaming reports.  I found it interesting and think you may too.  The original story was written by Brendan Koerner. It may explain why some casinos do not allow filming for youtube -- see what missouri authorities found a 37 year old russian national named murat blieve was doing with his cell phone while purportedly playing pelican Pete!

IN EARLY JUNE 2014, accountants at the Lumiere Place Casino in St. Louis noticed that several of their slot machines had—just for a couple of days—gone haywire. The government-approved software that powers such machines gives the house a fixed mathematical edge, so that casinos can be certain of how much they’ll earn over the long haul—say, 7.129 cents for every dollar played. But on June 2 and 3, a number of Lumiere’s machines had spit out far more money than they’d consumed, despite not awarding any major jackpots, an aberration known in industry parlance as a negative hold. Since code isn’t prone to sudden fits of madness, the only plausible explanation was that someone was cheating.

Casino security pulled up the surveillance tapes and eventually spotted the culprit, a black-haired man in his thirties who wore a Polo zip-up and carried a square brown purse. Unlike most slots cheats, he didn’t appear to tinker with any of the machines he targeted, all of which were older models manufactured by Aristocrat Leisure of Australia. Instead he’d simply play, pushing the buttons on a game like Star Drifter or Pelican Pete while furtively holding his iPhone close to the screen. 

He’d walk away after a few minutes, then return a bit later to give the game a second chance. That’s when he’d get lucky. The man would parlay a $20 to $60 investment into as much as $1,300 before cashing out and moving on to another machine, where he’d start the cycle anew. Over the course of two days, his winnings tallied just over $21,000. The only odd thing about his behavior during his streaks was the way he’d hover his finger above the Spin button for long stretches before finally jabbing it in haste; typical slots players don’t pause between spins like that.

On June 9, Lumiere Place shared its findings with the Missouri Gaming Commission, which in turn issued a statewide alert. Several casinos soon discovered that they had been cheated the same way, though often by different men than the one who’d bilked Lumiere Place. In each instance, the perpetrator held a cell phone close to an Aristocrat Mark VI model slot machine shortly before a run of good fortune.

By examining rental-car records, Missouri authorities identified the Lumiere Place scammer as Murat Bliev, a 37-year-old Russian national. Bliev had flown back to Moscow on June 6, but the St. Petersburg–based organization he worked for, which employs dozens of operatives to manipulate slot machines around the world, quickly sent him back to the United States to join another cheating crew. The decision to redeploy Bliev to the US would prove to be a rare misstep for a venture that’s quietly making millions by cracking some of the gaming industry’s most treasured algorithms.

From Russia With Cheats

Russia has been a hotbed of slots-related malfeasance since 2009, when the country outlawed virtually all gambling. (Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, reportedly believed the move would reduce the power of Georgian organized crime.) The ban forced thousands of casinos to sell their slot machines at steep discounts to whatever customers they could find. Some of those cut-rate slots wound up in the hands of counterfeiters eager to learn how to load new games onto old circuit boards. Others apparently went to Murat Bliev’s bosses in St. Petersburg, who were keen to probe the machines’ source code for vulnerabilities.

By early 2011, casinos throughout central and eastern Europe were logging incidents in which slots made by the Austrian company Novomatic paid out improbably large sums. Novomatic’s engineers could find no evidence that the machines in question had been tampered with, leading them to theorize that the cheaters had figured out how to predict the slots’ behavior. “Through targeted and prolonged observation of the individual game sequences as well as possibly recording individual games, it might be possible to allegedly identify a kind of ‘pattern’ in the game results,” the company admitted in a February 2011 notice to its customers.

Recognizing those patterns would require remarkable effort. Slot machine outcomes are controlled by programs called pseudorandom number generators that produce baffling results by design. Government regulators, such as the Missouri Gaming Commission, vet the integrity of each algorithm before casinos can deploy it. 

But as the “pseudo” in the name suggests, the numbers aren’t truly random. Because human beings create them using coded instructions, PRNGs can’t help but be a bit deterministic. (A true random number generator must be rooted in a phenomenon that is not manmade, such as radioactive decay.) PRNGs take an initial number, known as a seed, and then mash it together with various hidden and shifting inputs—the time from a machine’s internal clock, for example—in order to produce a result that appears impossible to forecast. But if hackers can identify the various ingredients in that mathematical stew, they can potentially predict a PRNG’s output. That process of reverse engineering becomes much easier, of course, when a hacker has physical access to a slot machine’s innards.

Knowing the secret arithmetic that a slot machine uses to create pseudorandom results isn’t enough to help hackers, though. That’s because the inputs for a PRNG vary depending on the temporal state of each machine. The seeds are different at different times, for example, as is the data culled from the internal clocks. So even if they understand how a machine’s PRNG functions, hackers would also have to analyze the machine’s gameplay to discern its pattern. That requires both time and substantial computing power, and pounding away on one’s laptop in front of a Pelican Pete is a good way to attract the attention of casino security.

The Lumiere Place scam showed how Murat Bliev and his cohorts got around that challenge. After hearing what had happened in Missouri, a casino security expert named Darrin Hoke, who was then director of surveillance at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, took it upon himself to investigate the scope of the hacking operation. By interviewing colleagues who had reported suspicious slot machine activity and by examining their surveillance photos, he was able to identify 25 alleged operatives who’d worked in casinos from California to Romania to Macau. Hoke also used hotel registration records to discover that two of Bliev’s accomplices from St. Louis had remained in the US and traveled west to the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. On July 14, 2014, agents from the California Department of Justice detained one of those operatives at Pechanga and confiscated four of his cell phones, as well as $6,000. (The man, a Russian national, was not indicted; his current whereabouts are unknown.)

The cell phones from Pechanga, combined with intelligence from investigations in Missouri and Europe, revealed key details. According to Willy Allison, a Las Vegas–based casino security consultant who has been tracking the Russian scam for years, the operatives use their phones to record about two dozen spins on a game they aim to cheat. They upload that footage to a technical staff in St. Petersburg, who analyze the video and calculate the machine’s pattern based on what they know about the model’s pseudorandom number generator. Finally, the St. Petersburg team transmits a list of timing markers to a custom app on the operative’s phone; those markers cause the handset to vibrate roughly 0.25 seconds before the operative should press the spin button.

“The normal reaction time for a human is about a quarter of a second, which is why they do that,” says Allison, who is also the founder of the annual World Game Protection Conference. The timed spins are not always successful, but they result in far more payouts than a machine normally awards: Individual scammers typically win more than $10,000 per day. (Allison notes that those operatives try to keep their winnings on each machine to less than $1,000, to avoid arousing suspicion.) A four-person team working multiple casinos can earn upwards of $250,000 in a single week.

Repeat Business

Since there are no slot machines to swindle in his native country, Murat Bliev didn’t linger long in Russia after his return from St. Louis. He made two more trips to the US in 2014, the second of which began on December 3. He went straight from Chicago O’Hare Airport to St. Charles, Missouri, where he met up with three other men who’d been trained to scam Aristocrat’s Mark VI model slot machines: Ivan Gudalov, Igor Larenov, and Yevgeniy Nazarov. The quartet planned to spend the next several days hitting various casinos in Missouri and western Illinois.

Bliev should never have come back. On December 10, not long after security personnel spotted Bliev inside the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, the four scammers were arrested. Because Bliev and his cohorts had pulled their scam across state lines, federal authorities charged them with conspiracy to commit fraud. The indictments represented the first significant setbacks for the St. Petersburg organization; never before had any of its operatives faced prosecution.

Bliev, Gudalov, and Larenov, all of whom are Russian citizens, eventually accepted plea bargains and were each sentenced to two years in federal prison, to be followed by deportation. Nazarov, a Kazakh who was granted religious asylum in the US in 2013 and is a Florida resident, still awaits sentencing, which indicates that he is cooperating with the authorities: In a statement to WIRED, Aristocrat representatives noted that one of the four defendants has yet to be sentenced because he “continues to assist the FBI with their investigations.”

Whatever information Nazarov provides may be too outdated to be of much value. In the two years since the Missouri arrests, the St. Petersburg organization’s field operatives have become much cagier. Some of their new tricks were revealed last year, when Singaporean authorities caught and prosecuted a crew: One member, a Czech named Radoslav Skubnik, spilled details about the organization’s financial structure (90 percent of all revenue goes back to St. Petersburg) as well as operational tactics. “What they’ll do now is they’ll put the cell phone in their shirt’s chest pocket, behind a little piece of mesh,” says Allison. “So they don’t have to hold it in their hand while they record.” And Darrin Hoke, the security expert, says he has received reports that scammers may be streaming video back to Russia via Skype, so they no longer need to step away from a slot machine to upload their footage.

The Missouri and Singapore cases appear to be the only instances in which scammers have been prosecuted, though a few have also been caught and banned by individual casinos. At the same time, the St. Petersburg organization has sent its operatives farther and farther afield. In recent months, for example, at least three casinos in Peru have reported being cheated by Russian gamblers who played aging Novomatic Coolfire slot machines.

The economic realities of the gaming industry seem to guarantee that the St. Petersburg organization will continue to flourish. The machines have no easy technical fix. As Hoke notes, Aristocrat, Novomatic, and any other manufacturers whose PRNGs have been cracked “would have to pull all the machines out of service and put something else in, and they’re not going to do that.” (In Aristocrat’s statement to WIRED, the company stressed that it has been unable “to identify defects in the targeted games” and that its machines “are built to and approved against rigid regulatory technical standards.”) At the same time, most casinos can’t afford to invest in the newest slot machines, whose PRNGs use encryption to protect mathematical secrets; as long as older, compromised machines are still popular with customers, the smart financial move for casinos is to keep using them and accept the occasional loss to scammers.

So the onus will be on casino security personnel to keep an eye peeled for the scam’s small tells. A finger that lingers too long above a spin button may be a guard’s only clue that hackers in St. Petersburg are about to make another score.


UPDATE: If you want to know more,  here's the latest update sent to my gmail today.          http://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/02/13/how-st-louis-casinos-busted-a-russian-crime-ring-targeting-slot-machines#

Cosmo's Chatty Chatbot

My son has a smart phone with a virtual assistant Siri who helps him with various tasks - looking up info on the internet, setting an alarm to remind him of a coming task, doubling as a GPS device to get him where he needs to go.  Now the Cosmopolitan Casino in Las Vegas has a new "employee" named Rose to guide you though it's halls and amenities. Rose is very outgoing, to the point of being down-right flirtatious.

"From the start she's ready to help.  What would you like to check out first," she asks. If you ask about pools, she'll give you the lowdown on the Cosmo's Marquee which she describes as a poolside lounge by day and a dance club by night.  Then like a 20-something looking for a good time, she tells you to look for her there on the east side of Level 2 where she'll party with you from sunlight to moonlight.

An image of a babe in a bikini flashes through your mind till you remember that she (it?) is really just a chatbot - artificial intelligence able to correspond with you via text message.

The Cosmopolitan launched Rose this week with a soft rollout to select guests. Eventually Rose will be made available to all guests with the black and gray business card with her number.  "Know my secrets. Text me," the business reads.  Wynn will soon follow suit, introducing Echo in all its rooms before the summer.

Like many chatbots, Rose is able to arrange for delivery of towel, suggest restaurants and bars and a drink list. She can give you a tour of the hotel's extensive art collection.  But what sets her apart from other chatbots is her sassy attitude. She is playful, fun, and witty and is designed to get personal with guests. Her image fits right in with the Cosmo's image of being sexy.

After letting Rose inform about food, beverage and swimming options at the hotel, a reporter tested her ability to give a guided tour of The Cosmopolitan’s avant-garde art collection.

The tour started with “Eduardo in Blue Dice” by Carl Myers hanging in the Condesa Commons on the second floor. Myers’ work consists of a few hundred blue dice arranged on a large, white canvas to create the resemblance of a young man looking into the distance.

“He takes photographs of people and digitally manipulates them to create pixilated images, which is then reconstructed in a variety of mediums like coins, dice and beads,’’ Rose texts the reporter who is inspecting the work. “I think this is quite fitting for Vegas, don’t you agree?”

She then instructs the reporter to go to other rooms and down a corridor to find other artworks on display — but the reporter is not quickly able to find the artwork.

And here is where Rose trails her human colleagues. She is unable to help, so the reporter turns to Marcos Pacheco, a career hospitality employee now working at The Cosmopolitan.  No less friendly than Rose, Marcos strikes up a conversation as he helps the reporter find the artwork.  Marcos shares with the reporter how he has seen Las Vegas change over the years and then segues to his passion, food. He suggests where the reporter can find good Mexican food and craft beer in Las Vegas.

As the reporter finishes the art tour and heads home, he further tests Rose. Asking about paying with American Express, Rose says it is accepted at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. But when the reporter replies that he would like to buy flowers, Rose is unable to help and tells the reporter to call the concierge. When asked a question in Russian, Rose remains silent.

By the end of the evening, Rose’s witty language made learning about The Cosmopolitan fun for the reporter.  However, the new friendship he made that night was not with Rose, but rather with Marcos, who offered to show the reporter at a later date the city’s gastronomic delights.

Contact Todd Prince at tprince@reviewjournal.com. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.