A rendering of just one portion of the proposed Resorts World Miami Genting casino resort project; the $3 billion project still has not received a high sign from Florida lawmakers.
They say cash speaks, but in Genting Resorts World’s case, it’s not been speaking as loudly as the ongoing business might like.
Antagonists Await
Two-Hour Tours
Maine Casinos Oppose Expanded Gambling in State
Most people think of Maine like this, but a small casino contingent is wanting to hold their own there because well. (Image: Katarina Neef/atpm.com)
We may not agree we know there are plenty of reasons that people may oppose more gambling in their state, from moral objections to worries about problem gambling with them, but. But in Maine, gambling is finding an unusual opponent: the casinos themselves.
Read Our Lips: No New Casinos
Officials from the 2 Maine casinos presently in operation talked to lawmakers this and said that they shouldn’t approve any expansion of the casino industry in the state week. In this situation, it appears that the casinos believe that the marketplace in the state is totally saturated already while others believe they’re just afraid of a little competition.
The two properties under consideration the Hollywood and Oxford Casinos faced off as you’re watching Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs against members of two Native American tribes in the state, along with the owner of the Scarborough Downs race track, over a number of bills that would serve to expand Maine’s gambling options.
The most controversial of these is recognized as LD 1111. It could allow Scarborough Downs to become a ‘racino,’ operating slot machines along with their current horse racing operations. That problem had been brought to referendum last year, when it received only 45 per cent of the vote statewide.
Factional Battles
According to track owner Sharon Terry, Scarborough Downs is struggling because of the competition it faces from the casinos within the state particularly Oxford Casino, which is just 45 minutes away and opened in 2012 june. And while Hollywood Casino may be further away, it features a companion racino, letting it offer everything Scarborough Downs can and more.
Terry says that revenues fell 21.8 percent at her track since slots were allowed at the Bangor competition track, and that the problem gets even worse considering that the opening of the Oxford Casino. The cut in revenue not only threatens the track, but also Maine’s entire horse racing industry since Scarborough Downs is responsible for 101 days of racing each year.
‘The Downs cannot endure under the laws that are current’ Terry said.
Nevertheless, the general managers of both gambling enterprises along with several companies into the Oxford area disagreed, opposing slots that are allowing the Scarborough Downs facility. In basic, the casinos feel that any gambling that is new hawaii threatens to ‘cannibalize the industry,’ as Maine is a relatively small state without enough gamblers to support more venues.
That helps explain why they also opposed three other bills being considered by hawaii. Those add a bill that would allow charities to perform up to five slots at their headquarters so that you can raise funds, along with two bills that would allow Indian tribes to grow their gambling operations: the one that would let the Houlton Band of Maliseets to operate slots and table games, and another that will let the Passamaquoddy Tribe apply to run table games and slots at a current bingo facility.
‘Should further facilities open or expand, we would see further erosion of our client base,’ said John Osborne, general manager of the Hollywood Casino.
Big Banks Refuse to Process Legal Online Gambling Transactions
Major bank card issuers like Chase, Wells Fargo and American Express won’t process online that is even legal gambling, they state. (Image: Jason Hindley/money.cnn.com)
Every thing seemed therefore hunky dory: Nevada, Delaware and brand New Jersey all got legal online gambling or at least poker, in Nevada’s instance up and running in 2013, and aside from a few problems with geo-location snafus, overall, the web sites in all three states have actually been operating pretty smoothly. Except for starters bug that is fairly major has nothing at all to do with the sites on their own: major economic organizations like American Express, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase are refusing to process any cash interactions on these sites, legal or otherwise not.
Your Transaction Has Been Denied
Whether credit or debit, several heavy-hitter card issuers say they are not gambling when it comes to honoring their cards on online gaming sites. And obviously, that’s not sitting well with many players whom say, what gives? But the banks involved say they’ll not budge, not for online casinos, poker or also legal activities betting in Nevada.
‘We do not allow credit card deals for this task,’ said Steve O’Halloran, director of advertising and affairs that are public Chase Card and Merchant Services. And American Express spokeswoman Sanette Chao concurs, saying her company simply ‘prohibits the use of the card for gambling services.’
While some may conclude that this is some kind of moral imperative, it turns out that it’s more of a easy bottom-line business decision than anything else.
‘Gambling services, historically, account for a large number of card member credit losses and customer service disputes,’ noted Chao.
UIGEA Still Directs Banks’ Positions
And some banks do still hold onto the old UIGEA model (illegal online Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), because indian dreaming online pokies, in the end, from a federal standpoint, it’s still murky just how it is to be interpreted following a 2012 reinterpretation of the first 1961 Wire Act had been handed down through the Supreme Court that opened the entranceway to at minimum state-by-state lawful Web gambling.
Wells Fargo spokeswoman Natalie Brown states this is the thinking behind her company’s decision to decline gambling deposits.
‘In compliance with regulation GG (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006), we prohibit the usage of consumer credit cards for Web gambling,’ said Brown, whom is vice president of consumer lending communications with Wells Fargo. ‘The systems (Visa, MasterCard and Express that is american the merchant category codes and block charges that don’t conform to federal regulations.’
While this may make some feeling from their perspectives, it can prove a annoying truth for online players in appropriate gambling states.
‘What the industry has done is take an approach that is conservative reaction to the legalization of online gambling,’ said Tobin Prior, CEO of Ultimate Gaming, which is really a subsidiary of Station Casinos, a land-gaming proprietor in Nevada and the first to ever go online with legal poker in the Silver State. ‘That can be frustrating, but we work with customers to get options.’
One of some great benefits of this brick-and-mortar/Internet symbiosis is that clients can both fund and cash away at any of the land gaming properties, in either Southern Nevada or at Station’s land video gaming partner the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Players can also use e-checks or wire transfers to prior make deposits noted.
While legal online sites might wish that banks were more within their court right now, Caesars WSOP site’s spokesperson Seth Palansky states it’s what it is.