Oklahoma Legislature Up in Smoke Over Gambling and Cigarettes, Pennsylvania Too

The Oklahoma Legislature has reached an impasse on the sin that is so-called of gambling and cigarettes.
Oklahoma House Minority Leader Scott Inman wants to expand gaming, but his constituents that are republican he should put that concept in his pipe and smoke it.
Both the Oklahoma Senate and House are controlled by the GOP, but that’sn’t stopping the minority celebration from blocking a cigarette tax increase proposed by House Republicans.
Democrats into the lower chamber are doing this in order to give their side leverage in ongoing budget negotiations, and their desires to expand gambling and allow tribal casinos to offer roulette and dice games.
Oklahoma lawmakers are looking for ways to close an $878 million financing gap. While Republicans can pass the budget of these choosing, they need a vote that is three-fourths raise smoking taxes, and also the 26 Democrats within the 101-member House are not budging.
‘We’ve said all along that the cigarette income tax is really a Band-Aid on a bullet opening,’ Oklahoma House Minority Leader Scott Inman (D-District 94) told the Associated Press. ‘You’ve surely got to have additional revenue.’
This week, the home and Senate budget committees recommended a $1.50 per cigarette pack taxation enhance. To help make the budget whole with only that tariff hike, Oklahomans would roughly need to purchase 585.3 million packs of smokes.
GOP Extinguishes Gambling
Republican leaders in Oklahoma feel casinos are currently too accessible, and expanded gaming would result in additional societal that is negative.
‘I think we have actually too gambling that is much on within the state,’ Senate President professional Tem Mike Schulz (R-District 38) opined this week. ‘ I think we have people who are spending bread and milk money in a casino instead of taking care of their young ones.’
Democrats proposed a plan that claims to generate $400 million over the year that is next. In addition to the cigarette tax, the minority suggested a $17,000 cap on itemized income tax deductions for citizens, the renovation of the earned income tax credit, eliminating oil and gas production incentives, and expanding tribal gaming.
The casino component could have allowed tribes to offer non-house-banked table games like roulette and craps in exchange for ten percent of the monthly net win. It also needed the legalization of sports betting should the current ban that is federal repealed.
With Democrats refusing to budge on cigarettes, and Republicans firm that is standing maintaining gambling as is, the Oklahoma Legislature has now reached a spending plan stalemate.
Pennsylvania’s Smoking Gun
Whilst the Oklahoma Legislature is expected to put on special spending plan sessions to iron its differences out over gambling and smoking, a bipartisan bill in Pennsylvania seeks to outlaw cigarettes in casinos and watering holes.
Pennsylvania House Bill 1309 will expand on the state’s 2008 Clean Indoor Air Act to remove exemptions for gambling venues and pubs. Casinos are currently allowed to designate a percentage of their floors to smoking, and taverns that report 20 percent or less of their income comes from meals can enable patrons to puff.
With 18 bill sponsors that includes Democrats and Republicans, HB 1309 generally seems to end up being the first gaming-related measure to own across-the-aisle support in Harrisburg this year. The state is considering a host of gaming expansion bills to finance its budget deficit that is growing.
Trump Taj Mahal, Built for $1.2 Billion in 1990, Sold for $50 Million in 2017
The former Trump Taj Mahal was sold in March to Hard Rock Global for $50 million, a massive discount on what it are priced at to build the Atlantic City home significantly more than a quarter-century ago in 1990.
Hard Rock will spend as much as $400 million rebranding and renovating the former Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, or seven times what it paid for the resort that is actual. (Image: Wayne Parry/Associated Press)
Through the entire nation’s history, real estate has typically been a somewhat safe investment that is came back strong returns for homeowners, in addition to developers.
That’s changed, of course, in recent years following recession that is economic hit the united states in 2008 and 2009. The reality that is new no longer evident than in the valuation of the Trump Taj Mahal.
Dubbed the ‘Eighth ponder of the World’ when it exposed 27 years back, billionaire Carl Icahn unloaded the resort, which he closed last October after failing in the future to brand new labor terms with casino workers, for the gravely discounted price of $50 million. That means lower than a nickel on the dollar when compared with just what Trump and his financiers paid.
The Hard Rock acquisition was announced in March, but economic regards to the offer weren’t made public until papers filed utilizing the US Securities and Exchange Commission had been revealed this week.
Icahn Folds
Along with his vast estate that is real hotel portfolio, Trump has credited their casino dealings for helping build their unknown fortune.
The 45th president severed ties with Atlantic City in 2009, though he maintained a tiny stake in the Trump Taj Mahal via a certification agreement until last year.
Icahn, a close friend to the commander-in-chief, acquired the last remaining Trump Entertainment Resorts home in bankruptcy in early 2016. During the time associated with buyout, he called the Taj Mahal a signature Atlantic City property. Fast-forward 13 months, therefore the billionaire reveals the investment cost him $350 million.
A contentious dispute between Icahn and the Unite right Here neighborhood 54 workers union over a wage increase while the restoration of benefits led the corporate raider to shutter the Taj Mahal and put thousands out of work.
Rewriting ‘Art regarding the contract’
Though many are saying the Seminole Tribe, which owns the Hard Rock brand, essentially rewrote the ‘Art for the contract,’ Trump’s signature book, by buying the formerly valued $1.2 billion resort for just $50 million, the bargain price comes with its reasonable share of disadvantages.
The company also assumes the Taj’s massive property tax bill in addition to Hard Rock saying it will spend up to $400 million in rebranding and renovating the resort. Atlantic City officials have actually the place valued at over $224 million, an assessment that Icahn has repeatedly appealed.
Hard Rock will additionally be forced to start participating in the state’s PILOT system (payment in lieu of fees) that mandates the city’s remaining casinos jointly remit a $120 million annual disbursement to local government rather than paying on gaming revenue.
The Seminoles will additionally be on the hook for the resort’s property taxes. The Florida Native United states group should only expect to see those tariffs increase, as Atlantic City will probably raise its $224 million valuation because the tribe dumps billions of dollars in to the Boardwalk center.
Did Chinese Authorities Publish Massive DDoS Attacks on Hong Kong Online Gambling Sites?
Scores of online gambling web sites based in Hong Kong were battered by a wave of distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults in the week of April, based on Arbor that is US-based Security which monitors the net for DDoS attack data.
For a week at the beginning of April, Hong Kong became the ground zero of DDoS assaults through the entire world, but why? (Image: HackRead)
Between April 6 and 13, hackers apparently located in Asia flooded the bandwidth of countless gambling sites by having a influx that is massive of, knocking them offline.
The occasions were striking and uncommon, according to Arbor, because for those a week Hong Kong ended up being the top destination in the entire world for such attacks, a dubious honor typically reserved for the United States.
Extortion Suspected
It was also noteworthy, said Arbor, because ‘country-level activity’ often denotes motivation that is geopolitical i.e, attacks directed so intently at web sites of the solitary territory can be an indication of cyber warfare organized on a state-level. It is an idea, however, that Kirk Soluk, supervisor of the business’s threat intelligence team, rules out.
‘…the emergence of multiple, different gambling/gaming goals leads us to believe that DDoS extortion is considered the most likely motivation,’ he concluded in a blog on the Arbor website this week.
It is a conclusion that is reasonable. After all, hackers have actually sought to hold gambling that is online to ransom since ab muscles beginning of the industry.
Sports wagering internet sites are particularly susceptible because they are hopelessly reliant on major sports for big chunks of their revenues and may be have small choice but to pay a ransom that is small deliberately targeted during these periods.
Serious Punishment Guaranteed
But we wonder how up to date Arbor is on Chinese gambling issues that are regulatory. Probably not at all, and why should it be?
Does it know, for example, that the very first of the Hong Kong attacks came just five days after Asia’s Public protection Minister Guo Shengkun promised ‘severe punishment’ for gambling operators targeting citizens that are chinese the mainland?
And does it know that the only legal and certified Hong Kong-based online operator is the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), and so any other online gambling site based in Hong Kong is unlicensed and a legitimate target for the Chinese government? In reality, in accordance with a statement by the HKJC in 2014, unlicensed operators have actually links to crime that is organized therefore unlawful on the web gambling is akin to a ‘blood crime.’
Needless to say, the nature of DDoS attacks means they might happen orchestrated from anywhere in the planet and attackers were merely harnessing devices that are internet-connected within China.
Or they might have come from within Asia, orchestrated by the government, which had little motivation to disguise the origin. We may never understand.
Poker Player Bets He Can Eat $1,000 of McDonald’s Food in 36 Hours
Poker player Mike Noori is a man who likes to place his cash where his lips is. But the real million-dollar question is, can he place $1,000 of McDonald’s food in his mouth, then chew it, and ingest it, and start digesting it, all within 36-hours?
Not Lovin’ It: Two-time LA Poker Classic champ Mike Noori may have to consume at the least 66,000 calories in 36 hours if he’s the possibility of winning this reverse weight-loss bet. (Image: LAPC)
Many individuals think it’s impossible. Almost everyone agrees that it is stupid.
Noori is getting 5:1 on a bet proposed to him by renowned competition manager Matt Savage. Whilst the exact figure riding on Noori’s success is undisclosed, Noori said on Twitter that so far that more than $200,000 has been booked on the idea wager, but just a small slice of that is his money.
‘This is impossible,’ declared fellow poker pro and food that is aspiring Jimmy Fricke (JimmyEatsVegas.com) regarding the twoplustwo poker forums. ‘ If he eats the calorie/dollar food that is lowest available (southwest grilled chicken salad) this really is still 66,000 calories.’
‘It can be done,’ another poster countered. ‘20,000 calories a time combined with workout is already something many men do in training. It’s not easy but it would help significantly. if he exercised throughout and had little rests’
1,500 Apples Slices
Like all gamblers that are good Noori certainly has a game plan. He’s opting to begin off with $500-worth of apple slices, after which $200 in salads, with bacon, cheese and add-ons that are guacamole.
These dollar amounts on apple slices and salads were set as caps within the conditions of this bet.
With bags of apple pieces selling at a dollar each, and three pieces in each bag, that is still a body-punishing 1,500 apple slices Noori will have to consume before he even thinking about the weightier burgers.
No Blenders?
And yes, there will be burgers. It’s written into the rules, which state that $300 must be spent on ‘hot foods,’ of which at least $50 should be burgers. Other demands are that Noori ‘must eat everything that comes with the order (except the Happy toy that is meal,’ and ‘no blenders.’
The official rules also suggest that ‘Puking is OK as long as he does not force the puke or puke over and over repeatedly.’ Indeed, safety and health first.
Gamblers have done notoriously foolish things for money over time. In 2014 Freddy Torres consented to jump into a tank that is shark-filled $1,000. In 2011, Ashton Griffin won a bet that he couldn’t run 70 kilometers in one single on a treadmill day. He attempted the feat while hungover as well as on really little sleep, but prevailed and had been $350,000 richer once he finally reached the conclusion of the treadmill.
In 2010, Ted Forrest notably put his health at an increased risk by losing more than 70 pounds in a year. But it was all for the good cause, winning $2 million from Mike Matusow.
Then there had been that man whom had the boob task.
But Noori’s weight-loss bet in reverse could be one of the more foolhardy and dangerous of the lot. And that’s why we’re praying he pulls it off, or at minimum does not choke on a fry that is french.
FBI Director Comey Fired by Trump, Online Gambling Perhaps Safer Than In The Past
James Comey has been relieved of his duties as director of the FBI. Some proponents of online gambling are breathing a sigh of relief while the world wrestles with implications of this unprecedented dismissal. The belief is that online gambling, as a political issue, will stay out of the Trump administration’s crosshairs as the nation’s leaders search for a replacement amid a swath of critical issues facing the world. At least temporarily.
People in america want to know if President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey as retribution for an investigation into possible links between Russia and his presidential campaign. (Images: Reuters)
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump abruptly terminated Comey, citing shortcomings in managing the probe of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her usage of a private e-mail server. This came less than each and every day following the American public started emphasizing new revelations from a Congressional investigation into Russia’s so-called interference within the 2016 presidential election.
Comey has critics on both sides regarding the aisle, and requires his termination were frequent since belated October, when he sent a letter to Congress about a have to examine additional Clinton emails, which ultimately revealed absolutely nothing of substance.
‘The FBI is one of our nation’s most cherished and respected institutions, and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of police,’ Trump explained in a public statement from the White home. The president told Comey that he could no more ‘effectively lead’ the FBI and stated ‘new leadership that restores general public trust and self- confidence’ had been required.
Trump is currently tasked with getting a replacement, one who will be approved by a GOP-controlled Senate. And though Republicans have supported efforts to bring back the Wire Act, online gambling industry experts have a time that is hard any brand new FBI boss making a popular recreational pursuit a pressing issue of the afternoon.
Anti-Online Gambling Swamp
When Trump arrived in Washington, internet gambling and online poker players had been justly concerned within the future lawfulness of the networks they access from their homes and cellular devices. Especially as his appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions indicated interest in looking into the legality of current intrastate online gambling measures.
The 45th commander-in-chief notoriously ran multiple New Jersey casinos into bankruptcy, yet one of his true largest campaign donors ended up being Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson. The dog owner regarding the Venetian, Palazzo, and a slew of casino properties throughout the world has been on a self-described crusade that is moral 2014 to ‘restore the Wire Act,’ which would effectively outlaw online casino gambling and poker.
So far, neither Trump’s administration nor Congress has shown interest that is much tackling the legality of on line gambling. The topic did however come up, from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S. Carolina) during confirmation hearings for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said he was ‘shocked’ at the Department of Justice’s 2011 opinion that clarified an interpretation that is legal of Wire Act as just deciding on sports betting.
Hold’em by the Short Hairs?
This opinion could be easily reversed by the DOJ, nonetheless. So whoever’s close to just take the helm of the FBI could be instructed to deploy the agency’s full resources toward stopping on line gambling in all its forms.
Graham has worked on behalf of Adelson to introduce the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) in previous calendar years. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a strong critic of comey, has done exactly the same in his chamber.
RAWA has neglected to gain momentum in Congress, but also hasn’t been dismissed outright as a legislative possibility. Chaffetz recently announced his intent to possibly leave Congress ahead of the end of his current term.
The FBI and Its Long Arm Online Gaming Reach
2011 The DOJ and FBI changed the facial skin of online gaming in America following the agencies seized internet domains from PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, among others, on what would become known as ‘Black Friday’ in the on-line poker world. By shutting down these sites, players had been denied use of their funds for decades, though eventual payoffs have finally occurred for PokerStars and Full Tilt players, and most recently, Absolute Poker.
2014 A flawed FBI raid of an alleged World Cup sports wagering operation at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas allowed suspected ringleader Paul Phua to duck a prison sentence that is possible. High-profile attorney David Chesnoff argued that the raid represented entrapment for their client, and all charges were dropped by the prosecution.
2017 The FBI and DOJ investigated and successfully prosecuted https://myfreepokies.com/21-dukes-casino/ sports that are notorious Billy Walters on charges of insider trading. Walters, whom was discovered bad of using a stock tip given by former Dean Foods Chairman Tom Davis, is appealing the conviction. Pro golfer Phil Mickelson was also linked to the debate after investing in the same business. The 42-time PGA Tour winner admitted his sports gambling pal supplied the financial advice, but advertised he was unaware it had been obtained fraudulently. Mickelson returned his profits and was never ever charged.