Another country is testing the waters of liberty infringement as Australia has announced that they are moving towards an online play casino filtering system for the entire country. Citizens are up in arms crying out that their liberty is being infringed upon and that the filtering system will not work. The government is gearing up towards implementing trials of the new system, and they plan to force Internet providers in the country to begin mandatory censorship of what is being deemed ‘unwanted content’. The testing is scheduled to begin within the next few days.

The tens of millions of Australian dollars that is being spent on the unwanted filtering system will prevent citizens from accessing child pornography and other ‘grayer’ areas of the Internet. Online gambling and political discussions are two of the areas that are in the proposed filtering scheme. Groups from the Greens and the Liberals, the two major opposing political parties in the country are criticizing the censorship in addition to anti-censorship advocates and other parties that have an interest in the online uk casinos gambling community.

There is already backlash being felt against the government action. Telstra, the nation’s largest Internet service provider is refusing to participate in the censorship filter’s trial runs. Additionally there are rumors already running amuck that the Labor Government itself has found that the technology that is going to be implemented is flawed and that a report commissioned by the Labor Government says as much. The report by the Internet Industry Association states that ‘legitimate sites are frequently blocked while sites that are to be censored are passing through’. In addition to these flaws, the Internet speeds citizens are used to are being drastically slowed down by the filtering system.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy had promised during his election campaign that citizens would be able to opt out of any filtering plan that would be into place if they did not desire the censors. However, an additional mandatory tier of filtering has been added to the original concept and a blacklist of websites has already been created by the government but not yet released to the public at large.

Like the UIGEA in the United States, the Australian government is attempting to make lifestyle choices for their citizens that go against everything the ‘free’ country stands for, causing politicians to get involved and fight to give the people what they want as compared to what they don’t want and will reject every time.

Article Source: rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Online Casino Topic

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Article Source: http://casino.pokernews.com

Las Vegas Gaming Wire

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The recession that's battering the Las Vegas hospitality economy is likely to continue through 2009 and could worsen, according to a national travel forecast.

The Travel Industry Association, a trade group for the nation's $740 billion hospitality industry, predicts leisure travel will fall 1.3 percent nationally in 2009 and business travel will decline 2.7 percent.

The impact on Las Vegas, however, could be deeper than the forecast declines suggest.

That's because travelers surveyed by the group say they intend to cut spending on food, beverages, casino gambling entertainment and souvenirs, and shorten lengths of stay, moves that would further reduce the amount of money visitors leave behind in Las Vegas.

"Even if intentions (to travel) remain robust, people are accommodating (economic uncertainty) by making changes in plans," said researcher Peter Yesawich, who helped conduct the survey.

Yesawich said travelers who might wish to take a five-night vacation are more likely to cut back to four nights in an effort to save money.

"In that example, you are going to see a 20 percent decline in occupied room nights," Yesawich said.

The projections foresaw steeper cuts among business than leisure travel.

Since 2000, Yesawich said business travelers have cut back on leisure extensions to their trips by 50 percent. He expects the recession will exacerbate that trend.

"Business travel has become very serious," he said. "And in many respects, very frugal."

The projections were based on a survey of households of people who make overnight trips more than 50 miles from home at least once a year. It was national and did not include Las Vegas-specific data.

But elements of national trends discussed Thursday in a conference call on the report are showing up on the bottom lines of Las Vegas companies.

MGM Mirage, the largest private employer in Nevada with about 64,000 workers, discounted rooms in its Strip properties 9 percent in the third quarter and still posted a 2 percent occupancy decline.

The pullback reverberated through other departments in the resort company.

Casino revenue companywide fell 8 percent, mostly due to a 13 percent decline in table game revenue on the Strip, the company reported.

Food and beverage revenue fell 3 percent and entertainment revenue was down 4 percent.

Ironically, the diversification of resorts in recent years beyond online gambling to upscale shopping and dining has made Las Vegas more vulnerable to economic trends that hamper discretionary spending.

"It is a fair assumption that as our appeal has become more broad-based, we could be a bit more exposed," said Scott Voller, vice president of marketing for Mandalay Bay.

But diversification has also come with more sophisticated marketing strategies, which gives operators more levers to pull when it comes to identifying and attracting more customers.

In addition to lowering room rates, operators can review what core customers spent money on in good times and adjust restaurant menus and other offerings in ways they think will inspire a return visit.

"There are a lot of smart operators who have the flexibility to get through this," Voller said.

by Arnold M. Knightly

Las Vegas Gaming Wire

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey -- Tropicana Entertainment will continue to reinvest in its other properties and look for new growth opportunities even if its efforts to regain control of its flagship property in Atlantic City fail, the company's top executive said.

"There is no one particular asset that is so important that it will derail us if we lost it," company President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Butera said. "If we had to move on, or our (debt holders) decided it was appropriate for us to move on, that wouldn't derail the vision for the company at all."

The New Jersey Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Nov. 17 of an appeal of state regulators' decision to deny Tropicana Entertainment a gaming license to operate the Tropicana Atlantic City, the company's largest property based on size and revenue.

Tropicana Entertainment executives have been meeting with regulators, politicians and union officials in an effort to regain control of the Atlantic City property.

The high court's decision to hear the appeal could delay the pending sale of the Atlantic City property. The state-appointed conservator announced in late September a deal to sell the property to Baltimore-based Cordish Co. for $700 million in cash and debt.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission decided Wednesday to prohibit the conservator from continuing the sale process until Oct. 29, when regulators next meet.

Butera said the sale could be delayed from nine months to a year while the court reviews the company's appeal.

"The significance of the appeal is nothing can happen with the asset until the appeal has been tried," the 41-year-old Butera said. "At a minimum, we have time to prove ourselves."

New Jersey Casino Control Commission spokesman Dan Heneghan said regulators asked the court to expedite its review of the appeal, which a state appeals court denied in July.

"There is an extensive record both before the commission and before the appellate division," Heneghan said. "We're confident the court can review that record and rule in this matter expeditiously."

Cordish Co. Chairman David Cordish was out of the country and unavailable for comment.

Butera said that despite its efforts to regain control of the Atlantic City property, the company would support a sale if a fair price could be reached. However, with the credit markets squeezed tight, he said he doesn't believe anyone can come in and pay a fair price, which he says is at least $950 million.

"It has always been our feeling, given the economy, given that banks are out of business right now, there's no credit market as we sit here today," Butera said. "We always thought it would be hard for someone to come in and even if they wanted to pay a fair price get financing, to be able to close on a transaction."

Meanwhile, the company is proceeding with efforts to reinvest in its other properties, including plans to spruce up the 51-year-old Tropicana on the Strip, he said. Plans are in the works to possibly add a nightclub and a food court overlooking the pool. The company also wants to catch up on long-needed maintenance at the Strip property.

With the corporate offices now in Las Vegas on the second floor of the Tropicana, Butera said executives can attend more immediately to the property's needs and plan for its future.

Butera said plans embattled hotelier Bill Yung III introduced to redevelop the property into a 10,000-room hotel-casino resort have been permanently scrapped. He expects any redevelopment of the property to be at least "five to seven years out."

Tropicana Entertainment plans to petition the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to reconsider a December decision to deny Yung a gaming license. The denial followed regulatory violations, layoffs and health code concerns at the Atlantic City property.

Yung has slowly been phased out of the company's operations since the company filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware in May. Butera contends Yung has signed away all his rights and is now only a stakeholder with no input in the company's operations.

"What we've been saying in New Jersey is this is a complete, new company," Butera said. "When you deny a license it is more about the individual than the company. So the individuals that were involved in the license denial are no longer part of this company."

Yung had operated the company as chief executive officer and sole director when the license was denied.

Yung, a successful hotelier with his Columbia Sussex Corp., will probably no longer own the company following the restructuring, Butera said.

"At this point, (Yung) is just waiting to see what the result is when we emerge (from bankruptcy)," Butera said. "He won't be an owner of the company. Nor do I think Mr. Yung wants to be an owner of the company. He's been very successful with Columbia Sussex and he wants to return to that business."

Columbia Sussex continues to own and operate The Westin on Tropicana Avenue, which has a 15,000-square-foot casino.

The gaming company owns 11 casinos in the United States including five in Nevada -- the Tropicana, the Horizon and the MontBleu in Lake Tahoe, and Tropicana Express and River Palms in Laughlin.

The move of the executives to Las Vegas marks the first time since 1979 the company operating the former "Tiffany of the Strip" has been based at the property.

Previous owners Ramada Inns and Aztar Corp. operated from their corporate headquarters in Phoenix.

Source: http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/

VICKSBURG, Mississippi -- As reported by Vicksburg Post: "Gaming taxes collected by Vicksburg, Warren County and the Vicksburg Warren School District from bets placed at the four local casino were down slightly once again in the month of September, closing out a fiscal year in which tax revenue totals were off by about 3.8 percent compared to fiscal year 2007.

"September revenue was the second-lowest monthly total in the 2008 fiscal year, with a total of $567,002 coming in from the 3.2 percent tax. A second revenue tax is an 0.8 percent share of the state's 8.8 percent revenue tax on casinos.

"...Gaming tax revenue in September for the state's 29 online casino has not been released by the state gaming commission. However, the Vicksburg gaming market has closely mirrored a slight downward trend among all Mississippi casinos this fiscal year..."

Source: http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/

By Our Partners at the Las Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- A little-known aspect of Nevada law allows casinos gamblers to dispute the outcome of any game, for any reason.

While playing slots at the Orleans earlier this year, Sciannameo won $8.50. As a local who knows his way around a casino floor, he believed his meager winnings should have also included the return of his 25 cent wager.

So he did what any gambler in Nevada is entitled to do: He put up a fight.

In so doing Sciannameo might have become the first gambler in Nevada to complain to the Gaming Control Board that he should have been entitled to receive his initial wager back on top of his slot machine winnings.

Thursday, the Gaming Control Board denied Sciannameo's claim to the extra 25 cents. But at no point did the Gaming Control Board call him a nuisance.

In fact, regulators are proud of their "patron dispute" process, a cornerstone of gaming law lacking in less regulated parts of the world.

"People should have the right to appeal to an independent regulatory authority," board member Mark Clayton said. "This maintains the public's confidence in gaming."

If that is lost, the industry is in trouble, and customers will go elsewhere to gamble, he said.

That's also why there's no monetary threshold for disputes.

"It doesn't matter if it's 25 cents or $25,000," Clayton said. "If a customer feels they were treated unfairly, they deserve their day in court."

Even Boyd Gaming, which owns the Orleans, took it in stride.

"We cooperated fully with the Gaming Control Board," company spokesman Rob Stillwell said. "It really wasn't about a quarter. It was really a matter of understanding the slot payout tables."

Before anyone calls out Sciannameo for wasting taxpayer money, consider his claim.

Sciannameo would say he wasn't fighting over a quarter but the fact that the game he was playing is flawed.

When he put his money in an electronic roulette machine, he expected it to perform like a traditional table game or sports bet, in which winners receive their original wager plus winnings.

Slot machines don't work that way because they take into account the return of the bet. For example, a five-coin wager that pays out five coins is considered a "win" even though the player just gets his money back. In a blackjack game, a player who has the same hand as the dealer hasn't won. It's a push, — neither side wins but the bet is returned.

Had Sciannameo been playing actual roulette, he would have received his bet back in addition to winnings. Not so with this roulette machine, which stated 34-to-1 odds and paid him the value of 34 quarters, or $8.50.

Unlike a lawsuit filed in court, the state's complaint process doesn't have to involve attorneys, nor is there any cost to consumers.

The process lasts months and can progress through three administrative layers. When a customer calls the Gaming Control Board, the agency sends an enforcement agent to the site to interview participants and prepare a written report.

The agent presents those findings before a hearing examiner and the examiner makes a decision and renders a report. Both parties are present, and may bring along attorneys. Customers may appeal that decision to the three-member Gaming Control Board, though the board won't consider any new evidence.

The board rarely overturns decisions by hearing examiners.

Most complaints involve slot machines that gamblers believe have hit a jackpot but instead have malfunctioned. Sometimes wheels spin wildly, a dollar amount is flashing or symbols appear to line up. Most of these disputes are settled by opening up a machine and looking at whether the machine's computer chip has registered a win or a loss. Machines are typically locked down as soon as a dispute arises and the board gets involved.

It would be unlikely for a casino to simply pay a customer to avoid a dispute — so as not to establish a precedent. Nor can the Gaming Control Board pay a customer.

Casinos are required to notify the Gaming Control Board in disputes involving $500 or more.

Without a patron dispute process, casino employees could take advantage of customers, said Al Rogers, general manager of gambling book publisher Pi Yee Press.

Rogers has pursued several complaints with the board. All but one, he said, were resolved in his favor, with the online casinos paying him money he was owed.

But the process isn't perfect. Many customers are unaware that they are entitled to pursue complaints, no matter how insignificant they may seem.

Casinos don't post such information, nor do they encourage customers to call the board if there's a problem. With smaller amounts, it's up to the gambler to make the call.

Posting the information might encourage frivolous complaints, which could clog the system and take time away from investigating cases in which customers were cheated, Rogers said.

"The average casino patron thinks there's something wrong when they lose," he said.

Which makes Sciannameo's claim all the more rare.

It's not the first time a customer has put up a fight over less than a dollar. A few years ago, a gambler at a race and sports book claimed winnings of 57 cents based on the customer's reading of the odds.

That customer is still out the 57 cents.

Source: http://www.casinocitytimes.com

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