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Atlantic City just got hit by another storm recently; this one, financial. (Image source: LarryRivera.com)
Poor Atlantic City.
It gets battered by hurricanes, has its profits siphoned off by ever-increasing competition from surrounding states like Pennsylvania and Maryland, and has seen a seven-year continuous fall in gaming profits from its 12 land casinos overall. Finally, it has online casinos ready to launch on 26th, and things are looking up from the revenue stream standpoint november.
But then it gets another smack into the real face from the tax man.
Tax Assessment Reversal for Borgata
Exactly What ended up to be considered a victory that is huge MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming was not so much for the already faltering coffers of Atlantic City; the two video gaming behemoths got a 61 % lowering of property taxes on their jointly owned Borgata Hotel and Casino which also happens to be certainly one of the less miserable profit disasters in town and now AC has to return pre-paid tax monies to the two companies.
They can blame it regarding the Tax Court of New Jersey, which reassessed the casino that is top-grossing the Garden State at $870 million, a huge drop from its 2010 evaluation of $2.26 billion. Without doubt there had been champagne that is celebratory the MGM and Boyd Gaming conference spaces over that decision. But Atlantic City leaders had to be putting their fists through some walls, as the thing that is last needed ended up being to own to do a huge payback when they are usually on financial thin ice as well as in risk of financial hypothermia.
‘ This will be a blow that is devastating Atlantic City,’ tax attorney A. Paul Genato told Bloomberg News via email. The expert that is financial some $48.8 million is currently owed to MGM and Boyd for the tax years of 2009 and 2010.
That’s a complete great deal of potato chips.
Show Me the Money
The bigger question now facing the city that is struggling exactly how the heck they will make this payback happen.
Asked by Bloomberg in regards to the tax action, AC’s director of taxation and revenue Michael Stinson cut to the chase: ‘We certainly do not have $50 million sitting in the bank.’
With that truth staring the beleaguered metropolis into the face, they’re doing the same you or i might do in this scenario: at minimum buying some time, if nothing else, with an appeal that is anticipated. But wait, there’s more misery to come; Borgata’s more recent 2011 and 2012 assessments have also been challenged by MGM and Boyd, and while no judgments have actually been rendered there as yet, this could be the blow that gives Atlantic City a genuine technical knockout if it goes the way of the previous years’ decisions.
If those choices do go MGM and Boyd’s method, at what point is Atlantic City likely to be in danger of becoming the next Detroit? MGM and Boyd may need to reassess the possibility that they will win the battle(s), but lose the war, in the event that whole burg ends up drowning in its very own offal that is financial.
Atlantic City’s casino profits dropped very nearly 13 per cent in September, when comparing to the time that is same in 2012; all 12 regarding the town’s casinos combined made a fairly meager gambling industry revenue of $240.2 million for the month this year.
Just 6 Months In, Nevada Gaming Commission Considers Online Changes
The Gaming Control Board is reviewing and revising after six months of online poker in Nevada. a bit that is little.
It’s only been half of a year since on-line poker became legal in Nevada, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) is moving slowly in terms of expansion of any sort beyond the popular card game. Having said that, the Board is looking at some feasible changes that are regulatory.
‘We’re only 6 months into poker,’ stated NGCB Chairman A.G. Burnett. ‘For now, you want to first prove out poker.’
Slow But Steady Wins the Battle
And also with poker, the Board is maybe not rushing any such thing. With only two appropriate sites up thus far Station Casinos-owned UltimatePoker.com and Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s WSOP.com brand the Board is maybe not planning to approve any more sites until the present sites’ technology has been evaluated and evaluated by independent evaluation laboratories, also the Control Board’s own in-house lab. (Obama, take note: this is one way you are doing it.)
‘Nevada is poker only,’ reiterated Burnett. ‘That was the intent that is legislative the beginning and the board has no plans doing anything otherwise.’
What the Board is taking a look at in terms of regulatory tuneups revolve around additional technical needs for online poker, and also some language alterations to match up with statutory changes that went into effect via Assembly Bill 114 during the latest legislative session.
Very Nearly Anything Goes, In Theory
All that is technically prohibited in the bill is race and sports book wagering online; but Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, (D-Las Vegas), who sponsored the legislation, says he concurs with Nevada’s regulators about going slowly and cautiously beyond poker, if at all.
‘I think our intent through the outcome was to take conservative steps,’ Horne said of SB 114. ‘Nothing prohibits [the control board] from going beyond poker and we want our boards that are regulatory make that decision. We think we’re using wise steps.’
Another essential topic the Board is reviewing is the issue of interstate compacts for on line poker, something that is most likely going to be critical for Internet gaming to thrive into the Silver State over the haul that is long. By having a population of more or less 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 so that you can remain afloat in what’s going to be an increasingly competitive market in 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 won’t comply.
In another day or two, Delaware will join Nevada with online gaming, unfurling poker plus a casino that is few for starters when they launch on Halloween. Then on November 26th, nj-new Jersey will bring their online casinos into the online universe with a full huuuge casino review choice of classic casino games, including poker, of course.
Ultimately, it might make more sense for more centralized regional servers to deal with whole chapters of the U.S., if state and federal legislation complies. At a current regulatory meeting in Philadelphia, nj-new jersey State Assemblyman John Amodeo (R) talked about a possible new bill that would allow on line gaming hardware and computer software to be situated outside of actual Atlantic City land gambling enterprises ( since they are now required to be), opening the floodgates up to a more nationwide online gaming scenario.
Speaking 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 everything east of the Mississippi.’
Displaying Chance UK CEO Says Footballers Gambling with Payday Loans
The CEO of Sporting potential, a company that helps pro athletes with gambling dilemmas, says you’d be astonished where they get their money that is betting from.
You’ve probably seen the advertisements for payday loans on TV or on a billboard those solutions that will immediately cash your paycheck as financing, only asking for an insanely high interest price in return. You might have even used one in a pinch. But you’ve probably never considered the fact a professional athlete might simply take advantageous asset of this solution to help put a bet or two on the side.
Yet that’s precisely what some UK footballers are doing to fund their gambling habits, based on Colin Bland, the CEO of displaying Chance a charity that can help athletes deal with addiction. According to the organization, about 70 percent of its recommendations are related to gambling, and soccer that is many end in a recurring pattern where they have to utilize payday loans to continue betting.
Vicious Circle
‘It’s not unusual to truly have a player in a period of payday loans and gambling,’ Bland told BBC Radio 5. ‘We are using a whole lot more current football players. We have had players who have got caught up into the scenario of taking away pay day loans to place bets. We’ve had several of those throughout the last couple of years, so the vicious group continues.’
This could sound odd to the average working Joe, who wonders how a professional athlete could squander vast amounts a 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 was that there’s always plenty of cash entering their pouches, which means that it is always available and ready to wager on a moment’s notice.
‘We’ve worked with players that have lost up to £7 million ($11.3 million) in 36 months in gambling,’ Bland said. ‘ But the specific man that is young’m referring to said ‘it’s the number of bets I’m putting. I’m placing 50 bets a day…it’s affecting my life, it is affecting my performance…it’s affecting what kind of father i will be.”
Athletes Are Bettors
And while that might sound like an instance that’s out of the norm, it is no secret that athletes around the world love placing bets that are big. And some soccer that is former in the UK have actually fessed up to losing plenty of cash throughout their jobs.
For instance, 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 their career. And even though he relied on loan sharks to fulfill his gambling requirements, that’s only because that’s what was most open to him.
‘ I do not think the payday loans were about whenever we was gambling, otherwise we would probably be one of [the players that turned to them] myself,’ Etherington has said.
‘It just snowballed to where I was often spending my month’s wages and then lending money off loan sharks,’ he stated about his gambling addiction.
The gambling habits of high-profile soccer players have turn into a topic that is hot the UK in recent 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.
