A video gambling machine raid in Ashburn Wednesday night proves successful.
Police seized 28 machines at six different stores. Police say some customers
were using their welfare checks to gamble on the machines. "This was
something that was just taking their money and is a violation of the law.
This is the first successful operation. This is not the first time we've
tried something like this but it's been the first successful operation that
we've had," says Chief Ben Sumner. The store owners have not been arrested
and police wont say if they will be.

Ranong Province warns state officials not to get involved in all forms of
gambling, especially lottery. They will face both criminal charges and
disciplinary punishments if they do. Ranong Governor Kanchanapa Keeman added
that the province also bans officials from listening to or watching programs
broadcasting government lottery drawing. She said officials should set a
good example for the general public by exempting from immoral activities. As
for underground lottery operators, the governor said she had instructed
police officers to keep a close watch on them and deploy income tax and
money-laundering laws to punish them.
At present the Government Lottery Office (GLO) halts the distribution of
two- and three-digits lotteries as the government is considering the
amendment of the controversial GLO Act.

Sector leader PartyGaming said on Thursday it was in talks to buy part of
Empire, which confirmed it was selling gaming assets to become an investment
company.
"It'll include Empire's Noble Poker and Club Dice casino sites," said one
industry source, adding that the deal was expected to be completed by the
end of this week. PartyGaming is leading the race to consolidate the on-line
gaming sector, having moved into bookmaking by buying Gamebookers in August
and having held talks to buy 888. The group once towered over rivals with a
market capitalisation of nearly STG5 billion ($NZ14 billion), but when the
United States banned on-line gambling in November it lost over three
quarters of its value and began seeking ways to recover mass. Another source
said that after any deal was concluded, PartyGaming could strike a software
licensing deal with Playtech, which already powers Empire's sites. It would
be Playtech's first deal with PartyGaming.
PartyGaming shares gained 2.5 per cent to 30½ pence by 1245 GMT on Thursday,
while Empire's shares rose by as much as 7 per cent, but were later down by
2.3 per cent at 43 pence. The two companies have previously been partners,
but suffered an acrimonious split last year when PartyGaming ring-fenced its
own poker players from those of four affiliates including Empire, which
relied on PartyGaming software. The split hit Empire hard, knocking 10 per
cent off its profits, and causing it to sue PartyGaming last December. That
dispute was settled in February when PartyGaming bought assets including
Empire's damaged EmpirePoker business for $US250 million. Empire's Internet
casino generated revenues of $US30.2 million in the first half of 2006,
while its poker site generated $US8 million, but like most of its peers it
has since quit the world's most lucrative gaming market, the United States.
PartyGaming is planning to take on board some of Empire's marketing experts
who have helped it stand out against bigger rivals in the past, sources
said. Empire has been seeking to distance itself from on-line gaming since
September. On Thursday, Empire said, "Following any such disposal, the
company's intention is to become an investing company." "The proceeds of any
disposal would be used together with the company's existing cash of
approximately $US250 million to invest opportunisticly in both private and
public businesses and across the small, mid and large-cap range of
companies," it added.

Casino impresario Steve Wynn is so needed in Atlantic City that a state
senator has suggested turning Boardwalk Hall into a casino for Wynn, writes
the Inquirer's Suzette Parmley. There's no real legislation he's planning,
but he did float the idea to see how "anyone who has an interest" would
respond. His model for the $3 billion renovation he's proposing is Union
Station in Washington D.C., only he wants to do it with slot machines. The
kicker? A full-scale renovation would pave the way for ex-bitter rivals Wynn
and Donald Trump to kiss and make up and operate an expansion of Trump
Plaza. The rumor is Trump would sell Trump Plaza to Wynn in exchange for
good land in Las Vegas, where Trump doesn't have a casino, oddly enough. So,
basically, what does this mean? More places to gamble in Atlantic City.
Yeeha! Oh, and supposedly the developers are supposed to build a new arena
to replace Boardwalk Hall if they want to turn it into a gambling mecca.

Brian and Terry Leblanc were once a couple of average guys, spending their
days washing windows and their nights drinking beer and watching sports on
television. In the late 1980s, the brothers won about $90,000 at Toronto's
Woodbine race track and decided to put that money toward more sports
betting. Within a few years, the Leblancs were managing a full-time betting
operation from their home in Aylmer, Que., wagering up to $300,000 a week
mostly on games such as Pro-Line. Their strategy was simple: bet huge
amounts on events with incredibly long odds. Naturally, they lost most of
the time, but, when they won, they won big. They pocketed $1.7-million three
times - on two bets in 1996 and one in 1999 - and won about $5.5-million
from 1996 to 1999. During that period, they wagered $52-million. It wasn't
long before the Canada Revenue Agency took note. In 2000, the agency sent
them a notice of reassessment for the years 1996 to 1999, saying their
gambling was a business and subject to tax. The case ended up at the Tax
Court of Canada and, last week, Mr. Justice Donald Bowman ruled in favour of
the Leblancs. "It is true, they won but to say they won because they had a
system has no basis in the evidence at all," Judge Bowman said in his
ruling.
"They won in spite of having no system. If one is looking for a pattern, it
is that they bet massively and recklessly and in those games where they
could, they bet on long shots. Certainly it meant that if they won they won
big, but the converse is that if they lost, they lost big and, given the
astronomical odds against winning, their chances of losing were far greater
than their chances of winning." The judge said the Leblancs were compulsive
gamblers, but they were not running a business and their winnings were not
taxable. William Vanveen, an Ottawa lawyer who represented the brothers,
said the ruling was an important victory for gamblers everywhere. "What it
boiled down to was that luck is not taxable," Mr. Vanveen said Wednesday. In
order to win its case, he said the CRA had to prove that the men developed a
system to minimize their risk, something like a pool shark who practises by
day and then takes on unsuspecting drunks by night. "The mistake CRA made
was they just looked at the volume [of betting] and said all this volume
amounts to a business," Mr. Vanveen said. "These [lotteries] are advertised
and are accepted to be tax free. [The brothers] have a big win, they don't
work after that, so what's the problem?" The lawyer representing CRA was
unavailable for comment. The CRA could still appeal the ruling. They grew up
in the Toronto area and had little more than high-school education when they
joined their father's window-washing business in the 1980s. After winning
money on the track, they decided to jump into Pro-Line, which was launched
in 1992. They lost about $10,000 in their first year, but soon scored big
with two $1.7-million wins in January and February of 1996. By the
mid-1990s, they moved to Aylmer, near Ottawa, so they could play both
Ontario and Quebec lotteries. They kept their lives simple, driving old cars
and eschewing flashy jewellery. "They spent their time playing lottery games
or watching sports on television," the judge noted. "They also played Ping
Pong and golf and sat around the house drinking beer and eating pizza." Not
everything went well. Around 1996, Terry Leblanc fell in love with a
stripper named Josée Dubreuil and showered her with gifts, including an $850
engagement ring, $2,000 for breast implants and $14,000 in cash, according
to court records. The relationship ended after Ms. Dubreuil stole $124,000
worth of winning lottery tickets from a jar the Leblancs used to store
winning bets (the theft prompted them to buy a safe). Ms. Dubreuil was later
convicted and given an 18-month suspended sentence. In 2000, they also got
into a spat with dog-racing regulators in Australia who withheld nearly
$200,000 the brothers won via an online bet. The Australians alleged
manipulation but eventually backed down and gave the Leblancs their
winnings. Brian, now 35, and Terry, 41, were not available for comment
yesterday. According to Mr. Vanveen, Terry still lives in Canada while Brian
has moved to Britain.

A video gambling machine raid in Ashburn Wednesday night proves successful.
Police seized 28 machines at six different stores. Police say some customers
were using their welfare checks to gamble on the machines. "This was
something that was just taking their money and is a violation of the law.
This is the first successful operation. This is not the first time we've
tried something like this but it's been the first successful operation that
we've had," says Chief Ben Sumner. The store owners have not been arrested
and police wont say if they will be.

A sophisticated Long Island gambling ring that took in $8.6 million a year
was broken up with the arrest of 14 people, the Suffolk County district
attorney said on Wednesday. The district attorney, Thomas J. Spota, said
that the 14-month investigation also uncovered lucrative marijuana and
fireworks smuggling rackets that were run by the chief bookmaker, Salvatore
Gerrato, 45, of Seaford. In addition, three people were charged in the drug
case. "Surveillance of phone and computer communications established that
the gambling ring took in an average of $165,000 a week in bets," Mr. Spota
said. He added that the operation, which involved betting on professional
and college sports, had a wire room in Costa Rica. Mr. Spota said that a
59-year-old accountant, Stephen Tarnofsky of Merrick, was the leader of the
wire room. The gambling case eventually led investigators to the marijuana
and fireworks operations. According to the authorities, Mr. Gerrato oversaw
the smuggling of fireworks from Maryland and marijuana from California, and
these were distributed throughout the New York metropolitan region.
In May, the Suffolk Highway Patrol seized nine tons of illegal fireworks
from a vehicle returning from Maryland, according to Mr. Spota. The
authorities also confiscated more than $300,000 in cash from a recreational
vehicle that the smugglers planned to use to buy 100 pounds of marijuana in
California, Mr. Spota said. He added that on a typical cross-country run,
the smugglers could stash the vehicle with enough marijuana to yield $1
million to $1.5 million in street sales.
In raids on Dec. 14, investigators seized $1 million in cash, including
$600,000 from Mr. Tarnofsky's home, Mr. Spota said. Of the 17 people
arrested, 14 have been charged with promoting gambling in the first degree,
including Mr. Tarnofsky, Mr. Gerrato and Frank Lonigro, 33, of Hauppauge.
Three others were charged with fourth-degree conspiracy to possess
marijuana. Both charges are felonies and carry a maximum prison sentence of
four years, the district attorney's office said.
Mr. Gerrato was previously convicted of promoting gambling and, in 2001, was
sentenced to five years' probation, Mr. Spota said. Detectives were still
looking for Andrew Petrone, 34, of Freeport, a lawyer who, according to the
authorities, participated in the marijuana operation. He was arrested in
June for possession of a controlled substance in an unrelated case, Mr.
Spota said. He pleaded guilty and was scheduled for sentencing next month.
All the defendants were released on desk appearance tickets, and were
scheduled to appear before a judge in March, the authorities said. Mr. Spota
added that the investigation was not over. "I am sure it's a much larger
operation," he said.

Online gambling firm Partygaming has confirmed it is in talks to buy the
gaming assets of smaller rival Empire Online. Analysts said the deal could
be worth about $40m (£20.4m), and would probably include Empire's Noble
Poker and Club Dice Casino websites. Shares in Partygaming rose 2.5% on the
news in mid-day trading in London. The company has been refocusing its
business after it pulled out of the US market following the tightening of
anti-gambling laws there. Partygaming previously made 75% of its earnings in
the US. Analysts have been expecting a wave of consolidation in the industry
ever since the US moves began.
Empire said it planned to become an investment company after selling off its
internet gambling assets. The firm's Online Casino generated revenues of
$30.2m in the first six months of 2006, while its Online Poker site made
$8m.

Part two in a series of news reviews covering the online casino and gambling
sector. May - Las Vegas Sands win a casino licence to build the first
casino in Singapore, costing three billion dollars. A bid from Coventry to
operate one of the super casinos in the U.K was thrown out by the
government, leaving the city's officials demanding answers. Kent town,
Dartford, suffered similar fate, where as Sheffield went the over way and
was put on the shortlist of candidates. The full list of candidates in
competition for the UK's first super casino was announced: Blackpool,
Wembley Stadium, Cardiff, Glasgow, the Millennium Dome, Manchester,
Newcastle upon Tyne and Sheffield were all short-listed. Two men were jailed
in Nottingham after they raided a casino and escaped with £45,000. They
received a total of 22 years in prison. Kerzner International sells their
casino operation to its management in a $3.2 billion deal, netting the
Cayzer family $237 million. June - As the world cup begins, bookies reveal
they are having a hard time as all the favourites seem to be performing as
expected. However, they appear to be crocodile tears, as a survey conducted
by Nielsen/Net Ratings showed that approximately 2.5 million Britons went on
to gambling sites, with bookies doubling their winnings to over £1 billion
from the last world cup in 2002. Lads' mag, Maxim, agrees to lend its name
to a £640 million Las Vegas hotel and casino. 32Red buy Littlewood's ailing
Bet Direct in a deal for over £11 million and was met with open arms by
investors. However, that optimism would not last the whole year as Bet
Direct turns into the industries hot potato. There are calls in Australia
for revenue gained from betting on sports events by gambling companies to be
put back into the sport. The French National Lottery is accused of cheating
players by printing scratchcards in a predetermined fashion. A successful
businessman, Robert Riblet, went on to file a two million Euro lawsuit
against the lottery. Tessa Jowell confirms that the UK will host an
International Gambling Summit, scheduled for October, in an attempt to unify
the various legislations of the numerous regulatory bodies. July - In a
massive shock to the gambling industry, David Carruthers, chief executive of
online gaming group BetOnSports, was arrested as he changed planes in
America en route to Costa Rica. He was charged by American federal
prosecutors with racketeering, conspiracy and fraud.

Shares in online gambling companies plummet as panic spreads throughout the
industry and many close their US facing businesses. Sportingbet were amongst
the worst hit, losing 50% of its revenue as almost £1 billion was wiped from
the market in days.

UK Deputy Prime Minster, John Prescott, reacted angrily to claims of
corruption over his friendship with Philip Anschutz, as the US tycoon looks
to open a super casino at London's Dome.

Top Irish jockey, Kieren Fallon, loses his appeal over allegations he was
involved in a betting scam but always maintained his innocence.

The government announce that casinos, betting shops and online gambling
websites will be allowed to advertise on television from next year, under
new proposed laws in the Gambling Act.

Ladbrokes return to the casino industry after a gap of more than five years
when it opened the £5 million Ladbrokes Casino and Sports Bar at the Hilton
in Paddington, London.

Rank look into the possibility of selling its world-renowned restaurant
business, the Hard Rock Café for a potential £500 million.

August
The government face more criticism as it's revealed that Anschutz
Entertainment Group (AEG) have admitted they have started building work on a
casino at the Millennium Dome. AEG claimed it would be too costly to wait
for a decision on the location of the UK's new casinos. Many see this move
as antagonising and somewhat presumptuous.

The world's very first strip poker tournament was hosted by Paddy Power in
London. Winner John Young from Slough generously gave the £10,000 prize
money to charity.

After the world cup in Germany, bookies report record figures with over $2
billion wagered would wide. William Hill announced that punters were betting
almost £30 million per day.

Spain begins to look more closely into the possibility of regulating
gambling as a partnership between William Hill and Codere hint at a possible
relaxing of laws.

Harrah's eyes a potential buyout of the UK's Stanley Leisure and London
Clubs International.

Ladbrokes announces that it will not be entering the US market, although the
decision was not final and would be up for review in the coming months. That
review would turn out to be very brief indeed.

There is speculation that PartyGaming is the prime candidate for acquiring
the Victor Chandler Group which includes an online casino, online poker
room, sportbook and telephone betting operation.

"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing but only after
they've exhausted every other possibility." --Winston Churchill(1874-1965),
former Prime Minister of England Sometimes, when a snake tries to swallow a
porcupine, it gets stuck in its throat and the predator has no choice but to
spit it out. The neoconservative Bush-Cheney administration, under the
pro-Israel Lobby's influence, thought that Iraq would be an easy meal, to be
savored while doing an easycakewalk, in the words of neocon Ken Adelman: "I
believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a
cakewalk." Now, the Bush-Cheney administration will spend the next two years
it has left attempting to extricate itself from the morass they have brought
upon Iraq and upon the United States. According to former U.N. General
SecretaryKofi Annan, the U.S. is 'trapped in Iraq', and faces a no-win
situation. This is reminiscent of what former Secretary of State Colin Powel
is reputed to have said to George W. Bush before the military invasion of
Iraq: "If you break it; you own it!" How long and after how many more deaths
will this Iraq quagmire last? The geopolitical consequences of having a
country like the United States trapped in Iraq are enormous.
The Iraq conflict is turning into another Vietnam war-like fiasco. Already,
the Iraq war costs more in nominal terms than the Vietnam war and 58 percent
of Americansnow believe that George W. Bush led them into a new Vietnam-like
mess. Even though the 10-wise-person Baker-Hamilton Commission has
unanimously recommended that the U.S. terminate its open-ended presence in
Iraq and begin its disengagement and "redeployment" from the country, and
even though fewer than 30 percent of Americans approve Bush's policies in
Iraq, you can bet the house that George W. Bush will not follow the
recommendation of his father's advisors. Instead of beginning an orderly
troop withdrawal in 2007, as recommended by the Baker-Hamilton Commission,
G. W. Bush would rather gamble and raise the ante, and will risk turning
Iraq into an even bigger mess than it is today. It's like Bush's SUV has no
reverse gear! In a last attempt to salvage a losing and misguided
enterprise, and deep in his continuous state of denial, Bush will throw good
money after bad and will send thousands of additional American troops to
"secure Baghdad" and give the impression of some stability in Iraq. In
reality, Bush's "new approach" for Iraq may well have the consequence of
enlarging the conflict, possibly bringing Iran, Syria, Turkey and Saudi
Arabia into the inferno. In other words, the neocon inspired Bush-Cheney
team will do exactly the reverse of what the Baker-Hamilton Commission has
recommended. No wonder former president George H.W. Bush is crying aloud in
public. The Bush-Cheney administration invaded a foreign country illegally
and now thinks that its presence there has become indispensable. That takes
some gall. Trying to save face with "a last big push" to give the impression
of "salvaging" the situation is not a real policy for solving the Iraq mess.
This will only perpetuate the on-going civil war in that country and pile up
more deaths on the already high mountain of deaths. It is a cop-out, but
sadly in line with what one would expect from a dysfunctional
administration.

Noam Lanir, owner of the Empire Online, will sell his remaining shares in
the gambling company to rival PartyGaming for USD 40 million. A year and a
half after the company was put up on the London Stock Exchange, Lanir seems
to be heading out of the gambling business. Lanir will use revenues from the
sale of Empire, which total USD 300 million, to invest in real estate. The
sale deal with PartyGambling, the world's largest operator of gambling Web
sites, is expected to be finalized by the end of the week. Experts said
Lanir's decision is a signal that the two remaining Israeli online gambling
companies traded on the London Stock Exchange, 888.com and Playtech, will be
selling their shares in the future over US law banning online gambling. The
US Senate approved a the law on September 29, making it illegal for US
banks, credit card and companies to make transactions carried out in the US
to online gambling companies. Empire was worth USD 928 million when first
traded in London, but its shared fell significantly in recent months. The
company is estimated at USD 244 million today after its shares fell by 80
percent.

Ford Motor Co. had offered him and its 75,000 other U.S. hourly workers a
choice of buyout packages. One option: A $100,000 lump-sum payment to walk
away forever. No job and no health care. For hourly workers at Ford, making
a decision on the buyout offers required a combination of economic
calculations and soul searching. For Swiercz, 40, who has two ex-wives and
pays $157.50 each week in child support for his 14-year-old son, taking the
buyout would be the equivalent of a third divorce. The math just didn't
work: The cheapest health insurance he found cost $450 a month. With child
support, he'd pay $1,080 each month before he paid rent or put gas in the
car. He chose to stay on the production line at Ford's Woodhaven Stamping
Plant. The decision feels "100 percent" like a gamble, he said. He's
gambling that the plant will stay open. He's gambling that, if it does,
enough workers will take buyouts so Ford can avoid layoffs there. He's
gambling that a worker from a closing plant who has more seniority won't
bump him off the job. "A lot of people I talk to say, 'It's just like craps:
It's a roll of the dice,' " he said. Some 38,000 Ford workers -- roughly
half of Ford's U.S. hourly work force -- said they would take one of Ford's
eight buyout packages.
The last will be gone by fall. Workers who are staying are every bit as
nervous as those starting over. The Woodhaven plant still runs three shifts.
Workers there got good news the Friday before Christmas that it will stay
open. The buyout and the future have been the dominant topic of conversation
there for six months, Swiercz said. "You talk to 25 people a day, that's
what 10 people are talking about," he said. "Not, 'How are your kids?' or
'What are you doing for Christmas?' (It's) 'You taking the buyout?'
"Everybody's worried about everything now," Swiercz said. Auto workers, who
can make $60,000 a year without overtime, and more than $100,000 with it,
"know they're never going to make this kind of money again," said Denise
Brooks, who has worked for 131/2 years at the Brownstown Ford plant. Cynthia
Allison was a single mother raising a daughter, Donielle, and getting
welfare before she got a job at Ford's Dearborn Truck plant. Nothing had
prepared her for how physically punishing it would be. Her first day, "I
kept saying, 'The money, Cindy, the money. A future for you and for Donny.'
When I got off that 4 a.m. shift, each step I took, my head said, 'Boom.
Boom. Boom.' " Allison is taking the $100,000 buyout and planning a future
without her $27 an hour salary. She's moved from a $1,200-a month apartment
in suburban Southfield to a $700 apartment in Detroit. She has no home
phone, no cable, she's stopped shopping for everything but necessities, she
no longer eats at restaurants and she's bartending nights. She's not bitter,
saying: "Thank you. Thank you, Ford, for helping me raise my daughters,
making it possible as a single parent. I don't want them to think I didn't
appreciate the time. Without them, I couldn't have done a lot of the things
I did for my daughters, or my family."

Rhode Island's minimum gambling age would be changed from 18 to 21 under
legislation that a freshman state lawmaker plans to introduce in the General
Assembly next week. "It's just a vice that might be with them for a long
time," Fellela, a mother of four, said Tuesday. "I think it's a way of
protecting them a little bit longer."
The bill would raise the minimum age required to gamble in the state's
licensed betting facilities, to buy state lottery tickets, and to bet at
racetracks or play Keno.
Larry Berman, a spokesman for House Speaker William Murphy, D-West Warwick,
said similar legislation was introduced in 2002 but failed to advance. He
said Fellela's bill would be formally introduced next week and then assigned
to a committee. Messages left at Lincoln Park and Newport Grand, the state's
two gambling parlors, were not immediately returned Tuesday. The Rhode
Island Lottery does not have a position on the bill, said lottery
spokeswoman Jennafer Rampone.

Israeli police have begun to crack down on internet gambling operators,
including those who run backgammon websites. Some of the more prominent
online gambling firms are run by Israelis including PokerStars, 888.com and
Titan Poker. While the majority of Israeli owned online gambling businesses
are based out of places like Gibraltar and The Isle of Man (similar to US
businessmen running internet gambling companies from Costa Rica and
Antigua), many of these websites contract employees within Israel for
marketing purposes. According to OnlineCasinoNews.com, reports suggested
that Major General Yohanan Danino, head of the Police Investigations and
Intelligence Unit, had notified Interlogic, which operates the Play 65
internet site, that both the police and the attorney general consider the
operation of a gambling site for backgammon games a criminal offence. The
official warned the company that it must cease to allow players on the site
to gamble real money on the results of the game, even though the game of
backgammon itself, or gambling with virtual money, is not prohibited.

A new bill being introduced in the General Assembly next week would raise
Rhode Island's minimum gambling age from 18 to 21. The bill is being
introduced by Deborah Fellela, a Johnston Democrat who was recently elected
to her first term. She says the legislation is aimed at helping teenagers
steer clear of gambling addiction and preventing them from wasting their
money. The bill would raise the minimum age required to gamble in the
state's licensed betting facilities, to buy state lottery tickets, and to
bet at racetracks or play Keno. Similar legislation failed when it was
introduced in the House in 2002.

The group collected pools from gamblers in Vietnam and transferred the bets
to betting firms abroad to earn a discount. At weekends when European
football matches play, the men averagely received pools around VND100
million (US$6,250) a night. All payments were made via banking system. Three
men seen as organizers of the ring include leader Nguyen Van Phu, 34, and
two assistants Nguyen Bao Khanh, 35, and Pham Quoc Hung, 35. Two other
offenders are identified as Doan Tien Giang, 40, and Pham Dinh Phong, 27.
The ring began its illegal affairs early this year, police said. In related
news, police in Ho Chi Minh City busted a major Internet football betting
ring Sunday, arresting 14 bookmakers and seizing money worth over VND7
billion (US$437,500). The 14 offenders confessed they were bookies working
for a major gang with close connections with betting firms abroad.

Online Gambling Insider wishes everyone a very happy and prosperous festive
season. May all your dreams come true, may the reels stop in the right
places, the cards fall right and the right teams win when you want them
to....Merry Christmas and plain old happy holidays from all of us here at
Online Gambling Insider!
We will soon announce our "Best of 2006", so stay tuned! In the meantime if
you haven't played there, we recommend you click here to visit the All Slots
Casino website, or read our All Slots Casino Review.

Penny Mann was just 15 years old when her father died in an automobile
accident. William Tejes, 45, was the manager of the water-treatment plant in
South Beloit, Ill., and a school board member. He was on his way to Chicago
for work when he lost control of his truck on an unsealed, wet county road
and hit a tree. In addition to daughter Penny, Tejes left behind a wife and
a son in college. But he also left behind a good life insurance policy, one
that carried the stricken family financially. "We could just grieve him and
not ... worry about the financial stuff," Mann said. "I knew [my dad] had
done what he needed to get done." But insurance agents say many Americans
put off buying life insurance. Nearly a third have no coverage at all,
according to a survey by LIMRA International, an industry trade group. It's
not surprising why: Few people are eager to consider their own mortality.
Cost is another reason why many people avoid buying an individual policy.
Wage earners need insurance most when their families are young, precisely
the time when they're most strapped, said Don Thompson, a Prudential
Financial agent who worked with the Tejes family. That's why term insurance
is so popular. A $500,000 policy for a young, healthy nonsmoker can cost
less than $300 a year. Term insurance allows level payments for the length
of the contract, usually 10, 20 or 30 years. The drawback is, once the term
is up, there is no more insurance.
Although buying term young keeps the premiums low, trying to get a new term
policy in middle age can be much more expensive, especially if health
problems such as diabetes or heart disease have cropped up.

Permanent insurance avoids those problems, but it costs a lot more. Several
different varieties -- whole, universal and variable life -- all use
premiums to build a cash value that can be borrowed. Different types provide
choices such as flexible premiums, investment options and guaranteed
returns.

After her experience as a teenager, Mann is a big believer in life
insurance. She has a $100,000 term policy that she bought with her husband
when they got married.

The couple are divorced, but her ex-husband became diabetic and would now
find it difficult to get an affordable policy, Thompson said.

It is hard to fault Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels for wanting to improve
funding for higher education. Whether privatizing the Hoosier Lottery is the
way to accomplish that, however, remains to be seen. It's a complicated
proposal. Daniels wants to franchise the lottery for a fixed term. The
contractor would be licensed and regulated, just like casinos and
racetracks, and would continue current payment levels to the state. In
addition, the state would seek an up-front payment and a percentage of the
operator's revenue above a certain amount. The current funding levels for
police, fire and teachers' pensions as well as motor vehicle excise tax
replacement and state and local capital projects would continue. Sixty
percent of the amount paid up front would be placed in a permanent
endowment, with the interest paying for scholarships that could be forgiven
if the student stays in Indiana for three years after graduation. Of course,
there are many other strings attached to the scholarships. The remaining 40
percent would be used to attract outstanding faculty to public colleges and
universities in the state. Attracting top talent takes money. The plan has
distinct benefits, including improving the state's lagging educational
attainment level, improving the quality of education and keeping the
brightest high school graduates in Indiana. However, there are many
questions that need to be asked. The state's funding for higher education
hasn't increased at the robust level it ideally should. But the universities
and colleges have rapidly increased tuition and fees, citing reasons like
the need to attract top talent.
With this boost from the privatization of the Hoosier Lottery, what
guarantees will be made by the universities' trustees to hold tuition
increases low and for how long? Without a guarantee, there's no way to know
college costs will be controlled to help students ineligible for the
scholarships. And what does this outsourcing proposal mean for controlling
the expansion of gambling in Indiana? While the lottery would still be
regulated by the state, a pause to reflect on the state's already high
reliance on gambling as a revenue source is worthwhile. To what extent would
additional products and perhaps marketing efforts be regulated?

What would be the effect on the casino industry? What would be the effect on
society?

Why would a private company be able to operate the Hoosier Lottery more
efficiently than the state? And if it cannot, and if a gambling expansion is
not in the offing, why would privatization make sense?

There are many other questions that need to be addressed. That cannot easily
happen if the lottery privatization is rushed through the General Assembly
at the same hectic pace as the Indiana Toll Road privatization.

Recent developments indicate the state-run lottery may be headed toward
participation in a gigantic global online gaming system - with giant
jackpots - never envisioned by California voters, says a watchdog group. At
the same time, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - who appoints lottery
leaders - is on record in support of expanding the games to some unspecified
degree, as well as the revenue it brings public education. "We learned in
litigation last year \ that there are people at the lottery who believe
current law allows them to enter into international lottery games," Fred
Jones, an attorney for the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion,
told lawmakers at a recent hearing. Lottery officials have said such a move
is not part of current plans. Even so, Democratic lawmakers are seeking to
rein in a lottery they feel is running amok after controversial decisions to
join the multi-state Mega Millions lotto game and approve the takeover of
California's lotto contractor, which is now indirectly controlled by two
Italian families. "They \ make decisions and we get to react to them," said
Sen. Dean Florez, a Fresno-area Democrat, who grilled lottery officials at
the hearing Florez said afterward he will introduce a bill that would
subject big changes in the state lottery to a vote of the Legislature. "We
ought to be in a more proactive situation," he said. The struggle over
control and oversight of the lottery is not new. It began with voter
approval of a state-run lottery in 1984. The outcome of the latest and
biggest surge in the battle, however, may well shape California's lottery
for years to come and determine whether it maintains the trust it says is
essential to its success. "What is important to us is the continued
integrity of the lottery," the agency's legal counsel, Donald Currier, told
lawmakers. The Lottery Act places integrity as second only to the sale of
tickets. At least one-third of the lottery's revenue goes to public
education and half is returned to players in prizes. Industry experts say
that without an untarnished image, gamblers lose trust in whether they have
a fair chance at winning lottery prizes, sales fall off, and schools don't
get the comparatively small but important stream of money they receive from
the games.
But lottery officials have consistently argued over the years that their
operation is unique - the only government entity set up solely to make
money. It's more like a business, they say, that needs independence from
legislative and political meddling to do its job. The tug of war has gone on
for years, until the lottery's recent approval of joining Mega Millions.

The move triggered an outcry from lawmakers and a lawsuit by a public-policy
advocacy group that resists gambling expansion, alleging the lottery had
exceeded its constitutional authority by extending a game outside the state.

A judge ordered a minor change in prize-claim periods to make Mega Millions
more fair to Californians.

But in the wake of the flap, the Schwarzenegger administration replaced many
of the lottery's top officials.

On the heels of that controversy, the new clash came over Italy-based
Lottomatica's purchase of U.S.-based GTECH, the lottery's on-line game
operator.

Despite questionable business practices by both firms, lottery officials
have assured critics that operations in California will continue unchanged.

The now foreign-owned GTECH is an industry giant, serving lotteries in 26
states and 50 countries.

"Our lottery has now taken on an international scope" and with it, the
possibility of global games, said Jones. Jones said voters over two decades
ago had no way of knowing where the lottery was going.

After putting the gang under watch for a period, the police, assisted by
forces from the central police department, moved in with 100 officers,
simultaneously raiding 13 premises. They caught bookies taking billions of
dong in bets. The 14 offenders confessed they were bookies working for a
major gang with close connections with betting firms abroad. The police said
some of the arrested men were skilled at using computers and were in charge
of classifying and summing up bets before sending them abroad. The gang's
clients were from the city and nearby provinces. The 13 offices in districts
10, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, and Thu Duc were all well-equipped with
high-speed Internet, LCD monitors, and laptops, the police said. They are
continuing with their investigations.

Inside this arcade, with its dim lights and cigarette smoke, 70 game
machines are running non-stop with their brilliant screens and electronic
sounds. There are 15 customers in the arcade. However, each customer is
using four, five machines at a time, so none of the machines are idle.
Across a two-lane road, not even 20 meters away, is a police box that
belongs to the public safety division of a police station nearby in charge
of gambling arcade regulation duties. After the "Sea Story" sensation this
June, gambling arcades disappeared following the nationwide extensive
crackdown drive by the prosecution and the police. However, they are back
now, and they are thriving. As gambling arcades begin to make their
comeback, people who had lost large sums of money on games such as Sea Story
are again gathering at the arcades, hoping to win back what they lost.
Consequently, the arcade owners are doing extremely well to the point that
there aren't enough machines to go around. Most arcades do not have
signboards outside and have covered their windows with black vinyl so that
the inside cannot be seen. At another arcade around the same time in
Donam-dong, Seongbuk-gu, a female employee is explaining in detail to the
customers about various functions such as "foreshadowing" or "successive
hits." "If you see a white diamond in the middle, you get the highest score,
and if the screen becomes dark with sounds like water bubbles popping, it's
a "foreshadowing" of a big score that is soon to come. We have "successive
hits" as well. It's really not that different from Sea Story."
"Foreshadowing" and "successive hits" are standards for judging whether or
not the game is a gambling game, and are subject to regulation. The games
that have become widely popular after the Sea Story incident are "Diamond"
and "Iceland Adventure." The titles and screens are slightly different but
the game process is nearly identical to Sea Story. Illegal exchanges of gift
certificates used as prizes into cash are also still going on. At an arcade
near Yeongdeungpo Station, a small change booth is located right next to the
entrance of the arcade. There, gift certificates with a face value of 5,000
won were being exchanged for 4,500 won in cash.

Most of the people who frequent these arcades are small business owners in
their 30s to 50s, and people who do manual labor. A few matrons in their 40s
or 50s could also be seen. Most of them said, "I've come to win back the
money I lost playing Sea Story."

A man we met in an arcade in Bongcheon-dong, Gwanak-gu, who said he was in
his 40s and did manual labor, said, "I lost 10 million won playing Sea
Story. I've come back in hopes of winning back my capital."

Following the recent reopening of such gambling arcades, the prosecution and
police have decided to extend the crackdown period, which had been scheduled
to end by December 31, until April 28, 2007, when the gift certificate
system will be abolished.

The only sign of Christmas on the casino floor is the poker dealer in the
Santa hat, and Darren White is glad for that: the subcontractor from Georgia
didn't come here to be reminded of the holidays, or anything, for that
matter, outside these flashy, noisy walls. He came for the distraction. And
Boomtown Casino in suburban New Orleans, like other casinos along the Gulf
Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi, is glad to provide it. Casinos, some of
which emerged from last year's damaging hurricanes as bigger, better
properties, are trying a range of tactics not only to draw players in _ and
make them feel at ease _ but also to get an edge in an increasingly
competitive marketplace. Heading into what is traditionally one of
industry's busiest weeks, halls are decked with decorations, both tasteful
and gaudy, holiday music is in rotation and casinos are trumpeting
traditional giveaways, dance parties and invitation-only soirees to bring in
players. "It's been a hell of a year," Boomtown's general manager, Dave
Williams, said in an interview at the casino in Harvey, La. This time last
year, many of the casinos, particularly in Mississippi, had not yet
reopened. Those that had, like Boomtown, had all the business they could
handle: construction workers here for the post-hurricane reconstruction
played Christmas Day, and folks in line waited, six-wide, to board the
riverboat on New Year's Eve, Williams said. Riverboat gambling revenue in
Louisiana hit a post-Katrina peak last December of $177.3 million, up from
$124.7 million in December 2004, said Wade Duty, executive director of the
Louisiana Casino Association. Since then, and as more casinos have come back
online, revenues have dipped nearer to pre-storm levels, he said. Meanwhile
in Mississippi, where there's an all-out effort to market Gulf Coast casinos
with hotels and other amenities as tourist destinations, gross revenue is
seemingly on pace to top last year, in spite of dips recorded this fall by
that state's tax commission. There are also two fewer casinos open now on
the Gulf Coast than before the hurricanes, 10 versus 12, said Becky Clark, a
staff officer with the Mississippi Gaming Commission. Casino operators are
confident heading into 2007, when further industry expansion is set to help
fill what some managers see as an almost insatiable appetite for the kind of
escapism _ from gambling and shopping to pampering _ casinos are peddling.
Boomtown is eyeing both a new gambling boat and hotel as part of its
proposed, $145 million expansion. One more casino also is set to open on
Mississippi's Gulf Coast sometime next year, Clark said. Casinos hope to
draw in crowds this coming week, building from low-key Christmas buffet
specials to pull-the-stops New Year's parties, meant as much to hail the
industry's rebirth as to draw in new customers with music and drinks and
to-be-announced promotions. Some casino hotels are completely booked leading
to New Year's Day.

"New Year's Eve sets the tone for your property," said Kerry Andersen, a
spokeswoman for southwest Louisiana's L'Auberge Du Lac casino, near the
Texas border.

This year, the offerings will include, among other things, an
invitation-only show with The Temptations and The Four Tops and a dinner.
The night tends to be the casino's biggest of the year, she said.

"You want to have the Golden Ticket," Andersen said, "the party everyone
wants to be at."

That's true nationwide, said Andy Holtmann, editor of the Casino Journal, a
trade publication. "For a lot of casinos, it's kind of a necessity," he said
of a New Year's Eve bash. "You have to take some marketing risks here," and
aim to set the casino apart from the competition, he said.

Some Gulf Coast casinos are preparing for an influx of customers as early as
Christmas Eve, a traditionally quiet day, and certainly by Christmas Day.
Many places are decorated, if not on the playing floor, where Christmas
lights would almost surely be dimmed by the flashing lights of slot machines
anyway. Visitors to Boomtown are greeted by faux alligators pulling Santa
and his sleigh.

For many families, cooped up in close quarters such as a federally issued
trailers, "It's almost like a savior thing," said Beverly Martin, executive
director of the Mississippi Casino Operators Association. "'The casino's
open, let's go down there, because there's a limit on what we can do here.'"

That daily game of toto might just become 10 per cent more expensive.
Organiser of chance events, toto, lotto and betting games will pay a 10 per
cent income tax on the outcome of sport competitions and chance events,
Bulgaria's Parliament resolved, giving final approval to the new Corporate
Income Tax Act. The National Assembly budget and finance committee proposed
that the rate of this tax be eight per cent, but the Cabinet, which moved
the bill, proposed a 10 per cent tax rate for all gambling activities,
Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on December 18. Deputy Finance Minister
Georgi Kadiev told Parliament that about 25 million leva were collected in
income tax from gambling organisers in 2005. A reduction of the tax rate to
eight per cent for all types of gambling activities would lead to a 2.5
million leva loss for the exchequer, while a 10 per cent rate for all such
activities would result in an extra budget revenue of 5.5 million leva, two
million of which would come from the Bulgarian sport totalisator, leaving a
net revenue of 3.5 million leva, Kadiev said. The rate of tax on income from
organised lotteries, raffles, bingo and keno games will be 12 per cent, the
MPs resolved. The same rate will apply to income from organised games of
chance where the value of the bet consists of an increased charge for a
telephone or other telecommunications link. Parliament also set taxes on
organised games of chance played on gambling devices. Meanwhile, an entirely
new Value Added Tax (VAT) Act and regulations for its application were voted
on in view of Bulgaria's European Union membership. The VAT rate remains 20
per cent and will apply to all realised goods and services on Bulgaria's
territory, excluding the tax-exempt ones. After Bulgaria's EU accession, the
mandatory threshold for VAT registration will stay unchanged at 50 000 leva.
Some of the existing provisions in the current VAT Act are also present in
the newly adopted law. New names have been introduced for many of the
concepts, such as: place of delivery, tax event, internal delivery in the
community and internal acquisition within the community.

Bulgarians are already talking about taxable deals and zero-rate taxable
deals. VAT shall be charged on almost all goods and services that are bought
and sold within the EU.

However, a number of countries have accepted, in addition to the standard
VAT rate, a reduced tax for more sensitive groups of commodities.

Therefore, Bulgarian firms trading with EU companies should be aware of the
procedures and rates followed by other EU members.

The VAT rate cannot be lower than 15 per cent, while reduced tax cannot be
lower than five per cent, according to EU legislation. On goods and services
exported from the EU, there will be no VAT charged.

VAT is calculated on the imported commodities and services to equalise their
value with that in the community.

VAT is levied on goods imported from third countries to any EU member state,
from which moment they become internal for the community and are VAT exempt
when moving within EU territory. The new VAT Act eliminates the customs
offices at Bulgaria's borders with EU countries. From January 1, they will
only function in case of export to or import from third countries.

Two new concepts will be introduced for the trade between EU firms
registered under VAT - internal delivery in the community that will
supersede the export, and internal acquisition within the community that
will supersede the import. In fact, that means that when a Bulgarian company
supplies commodities to another country and the recipient is also registered
under VAT, that delivery shall not be treated as export any more but as
internal delivery, taxable by a zero VAT rate. In this case the Bulgarian
supplier will have to issue an invoice without charging VAT. The tax will be
calculated by the recipient in compliance with the efficient rate in the
country for which the goods are intended.

The situation will be the same in the reverse example. The European supplier
will effect an internal delivery in the community without calculating VAT
and the Bulgarian company that will receive it will charge VAT in compliance
with the efficient VAT rate in this country.

But if a firm registered under VAT supplies commodities to another country
and the recipient is not registered under VAT, the regime of internal
deliveries in the community and acquisitions cannot be applied.

Distant sale will be then the case, i.e., the supplier sells the commodity
with VAT calculated according to the rate efficient in the country of its
registration.

When a firm from the EU effects supplies to Bulgarian companies, which are
not registered under VAT and for each one of the previous and the current
years the turnover of distant sales exceeds 70 000 leva, that company will
have to register under the VAT Act in Bulgaria.

The new VAT Act maintains the threshold for obligatory registration - annual
turnover of 50 000 leva, including in it already taxable by zero-rate
deliveries.

The possibility for voluntary registration, irrespective of the size of
turnover remains, i.e., non-registered persons engaged in economic
activities who did not have grounds for that by the end of 2006, will be
able to register under the VAT Act as of January 1 2007.

After Bulgaria's EU accession, all companies registered under VAT will be
given a new unique identification number that will replace the existing VAT
numbers. For Bulgarian companies it will be formed as BG + BULSTAT of each
company.

Parents are being urged to think about the gift of time, rather than
materialistic items this Christmas. The Problem Gambling Association says it
is very common for people to gamble in an attempt to get themselves enough
money for presents but they often end up in a worse position. Youth Services
Project team Leader Lauren Cundall says many people underestimate how
valuable time spent together is. She says things such as reading stories and
parents talking about how they spent Christmas as a child can mean so much
more than the latest ipod or CD. Ms Cundall says homemade vouchers for
something like a day at the beach, is a great idea which could create
memories to last a lifetime.

These may be dark days for the online gambling business, but you would never
know that from talking to Calvin Ayre, the founder and president of Bodog
Entertainment Group, the online sports book and casino. A recent crackdown
on Internet gambling by U.S. regulators and lawmakers has seen several
online casino executives thrown in jail and has plunged the industry into
chaos. But none of that fazes Ayre, the 45-year old Saskatchewan-born
entrepreneur who turned Bodog into one of the most recognizable Internet
gambling brands. "The power of our model is now being realized as we are
witnessing a surge in popularity in all of our digital entertainment
properties - including gaming - and we don't see this changing," he said in
an e-mail interview from Bodog's headquarters in Antigua. Both Bodog and
Ayre have been flying high for the past year. In addition to growing its
gambling business, the company has continued moves into mainstream
entertainment with a record label, a poker TV show that aired on the Fox
Sports Network in the U.S., and Bodog Fight, a pay-per-view extreme fighting
competition. Ayre has also graced the covers of both this magazine and
Forbes, where he proclaimed himself one of the latest additions to the
exclusive billionaire's club. Of course, that boast was based on the value
of Bodog before the U.S. authorities began cracking down and before the U.S.
government enacted the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in
September, effectively banning Internet gambling by making it illegal for
U.S. financial institutions to process the Internet wagers of American
citizens. While some have called the new legislation unenforceable and
riddled with loopholes, it has been enough to convince many Internet gaming
companies and investors to fold their hands, sending the shares of publicly
traded gambling operations into free fall. On Oct. 2, the first day of
trading after the passage of the new U.S. law, shares of Gibraltar-based
Party Gaming PLC - which runs PartyPoker.com and trades on the London Stock
Exchange - plummeted from US$2.08 to US$0.87 per share. On the same day, 888
Holdings PLC shares dropped from US$2.86 to US$2.11, while Toronto-based
Cryptologic (TSX: CRY), which produces software for the online gambling
industry and recently announced it will be moving its headquarters to
Ireland, fell from $24.63 to $19. Whether online gambling is illegal in the
U.S. boils down to a matter of interpretation. Prosecutors maintain that
using the phone - or the Internet - to take bets from American gamblers is
illegal. As a result, most publicly traded companies have said they will no
longer do business in the lucrative U.S. market. But Ayre - and other
private gaming companies - maintain that U.S. authorities have no
jurisdiction over their business, since they operate in countries where
online gambling is legal. What isn't in dispute is how devastating
abandoning the U.S. market will be to online casinos. Party Gaming, for
instance, reported that in the first six months of 2006, more than US$512
million, or 77% of its US$661 million in revenue, came from U.S. wagers.
Gibraltar-based 888 Holdings PLC, operators of Casino on Net - one of the
largest online casinos - reported that during the same period more than 52%
of its US$165.3 million in revenue came from Americans. Bodog has no plans
to abandon the U.S. As a private company, it doesn't have to reveal its
earnings, but Ayre says last year it processed a total of about US$7.3
billion in wagers - more than three times the volume from 2004. That
translated into revenue of about US$210 million, with about a 26% margin to
the bottom line. Ayre claims Bodog's revenues are on track to reach about
$300 million this year. Before the crackdown, revenues like that would have
made Bodog worth billions. During the height of investors' love affair with
online gaming, many large Internet casinos were trading at 20 to 25 times
their earnings, says Spencer Churchill, an analyst with Toronto-based Clarus
Securities Inc. Now there are really no baseline metrics to value online
gaming. "You really have to look at each company on a case-by-case basis,
looking at their exposure to the U.S. market and the potential for growth in
other markets," he says.
How much Internet gaming companies are worth is now anyone's guess.
London-based Sportingbet PLC - operators of ParadisePoker.com, one of the
most popular online poker sites - announced in October that it was selling
its U.S. business for a mere US$1 to a private company in Antigua. The
difficulty valuing online gaming companies right now is one of the main
reasons Ayre is not on our own Rich 100 this year. But the fact that the
Internet gambling sector is in such disarray, doesn't mean that he isn't
rich - or that the online gaming business is not profitable.

Ayre still refers to himself as a billionaire on the Bodog website and in
the company's promotional materials. "In light of the recent growth in all
of our digital entertainment properties, including gaming, music and
television, I would now say that a conservative valuation of our company
would be well over one billion," he says.

Nine people arrested on gambling charges during a Dec. 15 raid by Fort Wayne
Police and Indiana Excise Police were formally charged with felonies in
Allen Superior Court on Thursday. According to police reports, undercover
police officers raided three businesses, an unmarked suite in Quimby Village
and a building next to The Venice Restaurant on Goshen Road. They seized
more than 50 gaming machines - including Cherry Masters - and more than
$21,000 cash. Charged with professional gambling were: Dessie A. Doty, 47;
Tina L. Muncie, 29; Danny L. Wasson, 42; Deloria J. Mitchell (a.k.a. Lori
Sanders), 51; Patricia E. Carpenter, 62; Todd M. Perkins, 37; and Sandra K.
Graf, 57. Steven A. Larimore, 55, and Ronald G. Huston, 56, were arrested at
Steve's Pool and Games in New Haven. They've been charged with promoting
professional gambling.

"The cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza appears to be
holding even after militants fired rockets into Israeli territory." This was
how the BBC's Radio Four described the situation around the Gaza Strip a
couple of weeks ago; in other words, the new definition of a cease-fire is
one in which the Palestinians continue firing Kassams while the IDF holds
its fire. This quote was originally noted by Charles Moore in The Spectator
magazine, but while he used it to pillory the BBC, it is now obvious that it
is also the way that the Israeli leadership understands the cease-fire.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with the backing of Foreign Minister Tzipi
Livni, who in recent months has been receiving a much wider place in the
national decision-making process, has decided - despite the opposition of
Defense Minister Amir Peretz, most of the other ministers and the IDF's high
command - that Israel can afford to absorb two or three Kassams a day
falling in the western Negev, in return for a general feeling of relative
calm and a favorable international climate. Olmert's calculation is that the
firings are mainly haphazard, with little chance of hitting a civilian
target and causing major damage. Most of the rockets on Thursday fell within
the Palestinian territory, and at this stage, it is better to keep the IDF
on a leash. He's being helped also by the mainstream press which has been
content over the last few weeks to relegate the Kassams to the back pages;
Benny Sela and the murder of Tair Rada are sexier stories. The feeling among
Israel's diplomatic corps is that this is a period of grace for the country.
The major enemies - Syria, Hizbullah and Iran - are beginning to suffer from
international isolation and all that the world is currently demanding of
Israel is that it lends Abu Mazen a helping hand. The argument is that the
Kassams are being fired by Islamic Jihad and other groups opposed to the
Palestinian president and retaliating with a large-scale attack will just be
playing into their hands. Israel apparently has more to gain by staying put.
Much better not to cause any new problems for George Bush, who is busy right
now burying the Baker-Hamilton report's recommendations and gearing up for
the US's last big push in Iraq. If we manage to keep our backyard quiet,
there's also a chance that the powers-that-be will finally get serious about
the Iranian nuclear program. All this seems to make perfect realpolitik
sense, especially since the IDF hasn't achieved that great a track record in
dealing with the Kassam threat, even when it was allowed to roam and fire at
will. Every resource was used - manned and unmanned aircraft, artillery,
tanks and special forces, backed up by every available intelligence asset.
Hundreds of terrorists were killed, but the firings didn't stop and Israel's
image suffered when the international media preferred to focus on civilians
killed in Beit Hanun rather than on the people of Sderot living under
constant bombardment.

The only problem is that we tried this policy before and it blew up in our
faces. Ten months of restraint around Gaza ended with the capture of Gilad
Shalit in June.

Two weeks later, six years of ostensible calm on the Lebanese border were
ended abruptly by the Hizbullah attack at Zarit, the death of eight
soldiers, the abduction of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser to an as yet
unknown fate and the rest of the summer's disasters.

Not retaliating might create the illusion of quiet for the majority of the
local population and a few temporary points in the diplomatic arena, but in
the rough neighborhood we live in, it's merely interpreted as a sign of
weakness. The Kassams might be mainly a demonstration of opposition to Abu
Mazen's weak attempts to establish control, but the longer they're allowed
to get away with it, others are going to take advantage and join in.

It may be early to judge, but Gary Bettman might have really done it this
time. You never know with the NHL owners of course, but this latest fiasco
over the Pittsburgh Penguins just might be the one clanger that will open
their eyes to who is running their league. Research in Motion head Jim
Balsillie was all set to pay a monstrous amount of money to buy a team with
very low revenues, even though if everything went well and the rink had been
built by the casino group, it would have been several years before he saw
any type of return. Here was a guy so keen to buy a team that he was going
to put up $175 million US for a franchise that has exceptional players
playing cheaply right now, but with a collective bargaining agreement in
place whereby he would have virtually no chance to hang onto all those
players once they reach their free-agent freedom date. And what happens?
Bettman steps in at the last minute and puts 24 conditions on the deal, the
most onerous of the bunch being that he couldn't move the franchise for at
least seven years after competition of the sale no matter what the outcome
of the arena situation in Pittsburgh. Apparently he was terrified Balsillie
was going to move the team to Kitchener, where a new rink is planned.
According to Balsillie, these conditions came right out of the blue and were
introduced at the last minute and as such he walked away from a deal that
would have raised the value of virtually every franchise in the NHL. If the
Penguins were worth $175 million, how much are the Rangers, Wings, Avalanche
and Canucks worth? And Penguins owner/front man Mario Lemieux, who was
finally looking at his dream of putting hockey behind him for good and
getting his money out of what he never wanted to be involved in, saw it all
blow up in his face. No matter what happened after the sale, Mario would
have been a good guy who fought the good fight to keep the team in
Pittsburgh. If it moved, it would have been the ugly Canadian owner's fault,
not his. He would have had his money and been the town hero. Now he's
looking at still trying to peddle this team elsewhere, likely for a lot less
money, all because Bettman wasn't confident of being able to discourage
Balsillie from moving later in the process. And Lemieux is so stunned, he's
blaming the guy who wanted to pay him all that money for what happened,
blaming Balsillie for walking away from the deal.

At what point do the owners figure out they might be further ahead with a
commissioner who knows something about the game and the degree to which it's
still suffering under the dominance of these coaches, 70 per cent of whom
insist on playing some sort of roving trap whereby nobody even attempts to
score five-on-five? They just hang around and wait for penalties which come
in droves courtesy of a sea of officials who appear to be paid by the call.

At what point do the owners notice that their fan base is disappearing for
very good reason? The game is almost totally lacking action and emotion, an
entertaining game a surprise instead of the norm.

State police investigators say a retired trooper has turned to a life of
crime. KATC's David D'aquin was there when the former enforcer was read his
rights. CJ Melancon was a long time Louisiana state trooper. Now police say
he's running a gambling operation used by more than 1,000 people per week.
He's accused of money laundering and felony gambling. He and his son Shannon
Léger own a downtown Lafayette bar. His son is accused of felony gambling as
well. In all twelve people were arrested Thursday. Carlos Palma and his wife
are accused of running a separate organization. Norris Léger and his wife
Pamela are accused of running yet another gambling organization along with
delinquency of a minor. The Legers, the Palmas and the Melancons are all
from Rayne and are all accused of having their own gambling operations. The
others who were arrested are accused of actually taking the bets for them.
State police arrested folks in Rayne and Lafayette Thursday and all were
either booked into the Acadia parish jail, or the Lafayette parish jail.
State police had been investigating for the past year. "The bottom line is
when the law is broken; we have an obligation not only to ourselves as an
agency, but to the people of Louisiana to enforce those laws. That is what
we did here." The investigation is still open and state police expect to
arrest several more people as this operation continues.

The USA might have tried to ban online gambling simply to regulate it down
the line, at least that's what Italy is in the process of doing. The latest
news from that government is a plan to auction off as many as 17,000
gambling licenses including permits for online casinos and poker rooms. The
start of 2007 will mark a complete turnaround by the Italian administration
on online gambling. The biggest European gambling firms are lining up to bid
for licenses in this rapidly growing sector of the market. Coral have an
Italian-language sports betting website up and running and also have
established a B&M presence in Genoa, while William Hill is partnering up
with Codere in Spain and is known to be very interested in the prospect of
moving into Italy. Finally Ladbrokes has already done a deal with Pianeta
Scommesse several months ago and followed that up in November with the
purchase of three betting shops in Turin (home of Juventus). There is a
split down the middle in the EU when it comes to online gambling. In the one
corner we have the United Kingdom now joined by Italy, Belgium, and Spain as
proponents of the regulation of the industry. On the other side with rapidly
diminishing support we find Germany and France (what a surprise for anyone
with a knowledge of European history) with a reactionary stance of local
protectionism. Our pick? The Allies will win this one as well - besting the
Hun and his Froggy pals on the battlefield of free trade! The small European
nations will fall into line once the big guns have decided which way to go
and sooner rather than later Europe will be the global leader in online
gambling.

Your after-tax income belongs to you. You are free to spend it, invest it,
waste it, burn it, or tithe it--and none of that is any politicians'
business. But if some lawmakers have their way, soon you won't be able to
gamble your money away on the Internet. In October, the Senate passed a bill
enhancing port security, and attached to the bill is a title banning
acceptance of credit cards or other payment instruments to process gambling
transactions. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on October
13. Earlier versions of the anti-gambling legislation would have required
banks and Internet service providers to essentially spy on their customers,
sifting through all financial transactions. Unsurprisingly, credit card
companies didn't want to be deputized as online hall monitors, responsible
for ensuring that outfits for which they process card services remain
gambling-free. Thus, the latest version of the bill no longer obliges credit
card companies and banks to identify firms engaged in gambling. Instead, the
Treasury Department and Federal Reserve would be required to collect a list
of online gambling Web sites within 270 days. After that, banks and credit
card companies would be prohibited from making payments to companies on the
list. Dressed Up as a Security Issue
This new approach might address privacy concerns, but it runs roughshod over
individual freedom and fails to address another argument by the
legislation's
advocates. As Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), argues: "Internet gambling is a
national security concern because it can be used to launder money, evade
taxes, and finance criminal and terrorist activities." In the post-September
11, 2001 world, politicians should be concerned about shady financial
goings-on on the Internet. But legislation that enjoins cumbersome
government bureaucracies to determine which companies are officially
considered gambling operators will punish legitimate online businesses. Just
as there have been plenty of false positive identifications in the federal
airline no-fly list, it is highly probable some non-gambling sites will end
up on the government's list. Meanwhile, the measure practically invites
phony, fraudulent operations, whether or not credit card firms work with
them--there is more to the Internet than above-board Web sites, and lots of
places to hide in cyberspace--and new gambling sites are sure to pop up as
soon as the government lists the old ones.

And even if the government were to correctly identify all gambling sites,
punters could still bet using credit cards from foreign banks and other
non-U.S.-based payment methods.

Gambling Web sites are best monitored not by regulators but by online
gamblers themselves. Consumers have the incentive to look for endorsements
and seals of approval of the businesses with which they transact, and to
avoid fly-by-night operators. Most people who choose gambling as a pastime
realize the odds of winning are long and that the house usually wins. And
while gambling is a problem for some, others enjoy the challenge or just
think it's fun, and are able to contain addictive impulses.

Legislation is notoriously slippery. What constitutes "gambling" is often in
the eye of the beholder or legislator. Earlier versions of the bill had
exempted such activities as fantasy sports. Even investing can be a "gamble"
in the sense that "the opportunity to win is predominantly subject to
chance," as the legislation defined "gambling."

'Principle of Autonomy'

Apparently, only some gambling is bad. One gets the impression the real
motive behind the legislation is not to protect against crime or terrorism
but to legislate behavior. As Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) noted in opposing
earlier anti-gambling legislation: "If an adult in this country, with his or
her own money, wants to engage in an activity that harms no one, how dare we
prohibit it. ... The fundamental principle of the autonomy of the individual
is at stake."

Government should not turn vices into crimes--even granting the notion that
gambling is a vice, which is questionable in the context of today's
Congress. Perhaps pork barrel spending is a more serious vice, one to which
Congress should direct its attention. How significant are gambling losses,
really, when compared to wasteful government spending for which citizens are
forced to foot the bill?

Once we travel down the road of regulating behavior on the Internet, there
is essentially no limit to government's ability to regulate behavior
anywhere. Washington should mind the federal budget casino instead.

Germany's highest court dismissed a complaint by Internet sports betting
company Sportwetten Gera GmbH against a ban imposed by the state of
Saxony-Anhalt two years ago. ``Sportwetten Gera wanted the immediate ban to
be abolished,'' Rainer Nitzschke, director of the German association of
private sports betting companies, said by telephone today. ``This didn't
happen. Customers from Saxony-Anhalt will therefore be excluded from the
company's services.'' Germany's Federal Constitutional Court rejected the
complaint because the company didn't suffer a ``major disadvantage'' as a
result of the immediate ban, according to a statement published on the
court's Web site today. The complaint was filed after Saxony-Anhalt's
government ordered the company to stop accepting wagers in the region, it
said. The court on March 28 ruled that the German states can uphold their
monopoly on the country's gambling industry until the end of next year.
After that time, they will have to boost efforts to fight gambling
addiction. State governments have already banned Bwin Interactive
Entertainment AG, an Austrian Internet sports betting company, from
operating and are boycotting Fluxx AG, an Internet lottery agent, to drive
out competition.

Three separate gambling operations in Selma were taken down simultaneously
as police made five arrests and seized 17 video gaming machines, each valued
at $8,000. A sixth person is wanted by authorities, who police said ran an
illegal gambling and bootleg liquor operation. There were five machines
seized at the Lawrence St. Grocery in Selma on Wednesday. Marcus Hopkins,
53, was arrested and jailed on $3,000 bond, police said. Six gaming machines
were seized at The Variety Shop. Joe Ford, 62, and Gidget Lewis, 45, were
charged and jailed on $6,000 bond. The third location was a house where
police seized six gaming machines seized. They arrested Corey Horton, 23,
and Georgia Carter, 36. Horton was jailed on $500 bond and Carter on $4,000.

The Moscow City Duma amended a law on Thursday that manages gambling
industry, making requirements for owners of casinos and slot-machine halls
stricter. The gambling industry is unfazed by the changes as no laws can
surpass the new federal law which nearly bans gambling in Russia in 2009.
The Moscow legislature passed the city law a day after the State Duma passed
a similar federal blueprint, moving all casinos to four gambling havens in
2009 and laying down requirements for the operation of casinos and
slot-machine halls until this time. Moscow has made the federal norms even
harsher, binding city casinos to have the area of at least 3,000 sq. meters
(800 sq. meters in the federal law) and no less than 200 sq. meters for game
arcades (100 sq. meters in the Russian law). A casino in Moscow must have at
least 30 gaming tables and slot-machine halls must have at least 60
machines. Currently 32 casinos and some 140 gambling halls in Moscow meet
these requirements, Moscow Deputy Mayor Iosif Ordzhonikidze says. The
official noted that the city budget would not suffer after some gambling
establishments are closed down because most small gambling firms evade tax
paying. Lavrentiy Gubin from Storm International which operates slot-machine
halls says that "requirements of Moscow authorities are quite feasible,
though the minimal area for casinos is probably set too high." Gambling
companies are more worried about the margin of net assets for their
companies. "Not all of the 32 casinos will be able to drive up their assets
to $23 million," Gubin noted.
Boris Belotserkovsky, co-owner of Ritzio Entertainment Group, estimates that
the Moscow law will halve the number of casinos in the city and will leave
only 25 percent of slot-machine halls working.

Seen as yet another indicator towards liberalization of gambling
restrictions in Europe, the Italian government has announced that it will
auction off 17,000 licenses for betting shops, kiosks, casinos as well as
for online casinos, poker rooms and sportsbooks. This is in preparation for
January 1st, when all Italians will be able to legally play online poker. In
spite of not being sure what the potential for the new Italian market is,
initial reports say that Betfair, William Hill and Ladbrokes are poised to
grab their share of the auctioned licenses. In fact, the European Union
Commission just Dec. 20 cleared William Hill's proposed joint venture with
Codere to enter the Italian gambling market. This enables them to exploit
betting licences being issued by the Italian regulatory authorities in the
new year.
Europe's 50 billion euro (approximately $65 billion US dollar or 130 billion
pound) market has become even more critical to the gambling sector since the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was signed into law by
the USA in October, making it illegal for financial institutions to handle
online gambling transactions from US residents. The loss of US players
caused many legally-licensed companies to lose upwards of 50-60% of their
value overnight. It also caused many publicly-held companies to either sell
off US-facing parts of their companies or go private to avoid shareholder
lawsuits. Many companies are now regrouping around Europe with new games
offered in a variety of languages. Several large U.K operators appear
well-placed to take advantage of the new European laws. Gala Coral already
operate an Italian-language site and a betting shop in Genoa, William Hill
has a venture with Spanish firm Codere for Spain, and Ladbrokes completed a
deal with Italian firm Pianeta Scommesse back in August as well as buying
three betting shops in Turin last month. Meantime, many other countries such
as Spain and Belgium, who had formerly viewed gambling as marginally
acceptable, are now moving toward regulating the sector. This is due in
large part to increased access to gaming brought about by advances in
technology, because more people have access to the Internet, and because of
now-possible controls for regulation, enforcement and protection of minors
and at-risk users. Greece, Ireland, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic
are watching closely to see how early adopters fair.

Simultaneously, the European Commission is trying to ensure that any changes
to gambling laws across Europe comply with rulings by the EU that countries
not interfere with healthy competition. According to a judgment by the EU's
highest court, member states may place curbs on private gambling operators,
but these must be "non-discriminatory, proportionate and consistent".

This especially presents a challenge to countries, including Germany France
and Poland, to justify that present laws are not simply there to protect
state-owned gambling and lottery monopolies.

Charlie McCreevy, EU internal market commissioner, has already brought
infringement proceedings against at least half a dozen countries for
restrictions on betting markets.

Last month McCreevy told the European parliament that there is "Not a
chance," for consistent Europe-wide legislation on internet gambling at this
time.

A German court has announced that it has rejected a constitutional challenge
to a ban on online sports gambling from an internet sports betting company.
The company was not named in court papers. The nameless company has quoted a
March 1990 judgment in the state of Thuringia, going back to the days of
East and West Germany, which permitted sports betting. However, a following
ruling in 2004 banned internet betting with immediate effect. Although the
name of the company has been kept under wraps, news that shares in Austria's
Bwin.com fell 2.8 per cent perhaps offered some light on the identity,
particularly after Bwin has been at odds with the German state officials
recently. Germany's 16 states are currently in the process of drawing up a
law to prevent internet gambling completely in an effort to protect the
monopoly enjoyed by its state-run lotteries. The reasoning behind this
decision seems to go against the desire of the European Union to open up the
market, with Bwin claiming that if the law goes ahead their business model
would become obsolete. However, Bwin, who are currently the biggest
bookmaker in Germany, received some slightly better news earlier this week
as a Bavarian regional court suspended an order which attempted to ban Bwin
from accepting bets from Bavarian residents. "Bwin can continue to offer
sporting bets in Bavaria and to accept bets from Bavarian customers," Bwin
said in a statement.
The ruling, one of many pending court cases with German states, means that
Bavaria cannot enforce a ban before the main court case is heard.

Rotorua gaming machine venue Whiskey Jack's has been ordered to close for
breaching the Gambling Act. The Gambling Commission backed a Department of
Internal Affairs' decision not to renew the venue's licence. First Sovereign
Trust, which operates the machines at Whiskey Jack's, has been told to shut
up shop immediately. Internal Affairs decided not to renew Whiskey Jack's
licence because the venue continued to be used as a gaming shop, which the
Gambling Act forbids. The trust appealed, but the Gambling Commission
endorsed the decision. There had been serious breaches over a long period of
time, the commission said.

A bill that would close most casinos and slot-machine halls in the country -
including Moscow and St. Petersburg - cleared a third and final reading
Wednesday in the State Duma. To become law, the bill still needs the
approval of the Federation Council and of President Vladimir Putin, who
submitted the draft in October.
The bill received the support of 428 out of 450 deputies, indicating that
the law is certain to be adopted. The bill calls for the creation of four
zones for legal gambling - the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, the Primorsky
region on the Pacific coast, the Siberian region of Altai and the southern
Krasnodar-Rostov area.
Casinos and slot-machine operations elsewhere in the country would be banned
as of July 1, 2009. Gambling experts have have voiced doubts that the areas
will be able to draw enough visitors to make gambling viable there.

Protecting children and preventing crime and disorder have been revealed as
key policies of Lancaster's new gambling policy. Members of the city council
have also agreed to help residents living close to businesses involving
gambling to have a say on new licences. As part of the Gambling Act 2005,
the council is set to take on responsibility for premises for licensing
gambling, granting permits for gaming machines in clubs and institutes,
regulating gaming machines in pubs and clubs and registering lotteries,
among others. The approved policy was drawn up after consultation with more
than 70 individuals and organisations, including parish councils, licensed
trade associations, betting shops, amusement arcades, leisure companies and
Lancashire Police.

Why am I not surprised that on Wednesday, the Austin American-Statesman,
Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram all reported that a
proposal to broadly expand gambling in Texas is in the works in Austin? Hey,
gambling-expansion proposals have emerged every two years in Texas since the
early 1990s, just before each Legislature convened. What is different about
this proposal? This plan would authorize casinos on the state's three Indian
reservations - presumably, Class 3 casinos where players play against the
house and not each other - and it would put video lottery terminals in the
state's ailing horse and dog tracks.
The plan would also authorize 12 "resort-style casinos," two each in Houston
and Dallas, one each in Bexar, Tarrant and Travis Counties, one in Galveston
and another in South Padre Island. Three more would be in places chosen by
the Texas Gaming Commission, the über-gaming agency created under the
proposal.
Unlike earlier proposals, this plan teams up Indian reservations, horse- and
dog-track interests and full-blown casino developers, interests that have
been competitors in the past - always unsuccessful ones. According to
proponents, the whole package will generate $1.6 billion annually for the
state, money they envision spending on college tuitions, which have been
skyrocketing since they were deregulated, and children's health insurance in
a state that leads the nation in uninsured kids. Anyone familiar with the
Texas budget will tell you that $1.6 billion per year is not chump change.
And arguments already being advanced by gambling proponents are familiar
ones that aren't really in dispute. Texas provides Nevada more gamblers than
any other state except California, its neighbor, and there are more direct
flights from Texas to Las Vegas than to any other destination. The Lone Star
State is also surrounded by states with legal gambling. Go to any of these
state-line gaming emporiums and you are likely to find Texas plates on well
more than half the cars in the parking lots. Nor is it difficult to find
places to risk money in Texas. Eight-liner emporiums are everywhere and
pro-sports betting is ubiquitous in virtually every larger workplace and
many watering holes. And yes, there's no shortage of gaming still available
online. But what are the chances of this proposal moving forward? In a
phrase, it won't be a slam-dunk. Winning two-thirds margins in both House
and Senate to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot won't be easy for
lawmakers who plan to return to the local church to talk about their service
to the community. Then, winning voter approval won't be simple or easy.
Pari-mutuel betting finally made it on its eighth try on the ballot.
And however overstated, there will be the talk about the criminal element
casinos bring. And far more reality based, there are also very real
connections that will be made between widely accessible gaming and
obsessive-compulsive disorders and low-grade property crimes. Hardest to get
around, however, will be that none of Texas' previous gambling expansions -
bingo, pari-mutuel race tracks and the Texas Lottery - have delivered the
revenue promised.

Online gambling continued its rise in 2006 despite some tough decisions by
the US government to restrict the practice in America. Major sporting events
such as the World Cup pushed traffic on gambling sites even higher, with
research group Nielsen//NetRatings claiming that more than one million UK
punters went online on the first Saturday of the competition to read match
reports and place bets. This success actually caused problems for online
betting operations such as BetUK, Sporting Odds, Bet365 and Betfair, all of
which suffered delays with their sites. However, the positive start did not
last too long and in July the US fired the first shots in a looming war with
online gambling companies by arresting the chief executive of Betonsports.
David Carruthers was arrested at Dallas Fort Worth airport while
transferring to a connecting flight to Betonsports' headquarters in Costa
Rica. He was charged with conspiracy to offer bets to US citizens. The court
also filed charges against company founder Gary Kaplan, media director Peter
Wilson and nine other employees. Betonsports finally succumbed to pressure
from the US authorities in August and stopped accepting bets on its site.
That decision came just a few weeks before a new US law was introduced to
outlaw online gambling. Public companies lost more than £4bn of their market
value and millions of customers as they were forced to shut their US
operations.

Pennsylvania gambling regulators cleared the way Wednesday for Philadelphia
to become the nation's largest city with a casino, while rejecting Donald
Trump's bid for a slot-machine parlor and plans for another casino near the
Gettysburg battlefield. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board chose from
among 13 groups of casino giants, politically connected investors,
celebrities and nationally known developers when it awarded five licenses
for standalone slot parlors. Philadelphia will surpass Detroit as the
largest U.S. city with casinos. Winners include groups led by billionaire
Chicago-based developer Neil G. Bluhm and the Connecticut-based Mashantucket
Pequot Tribal Nation; each plans to build on the city's riverfront. "We're
thrilled and delighted. We're very excited and we're going to build a great
project," Bluhm said. "We want to do something really special here." The
gaming board rejected an application by Trump's casino company for a casino
in northwest Philadelphia. And it rejected a proposal by Isle of Capri
Casinos Inc. to build a gaming house in Pittsburgh. The board awarded 11
permanent slots licenses, each allowing as many as 5,000 machines. Six
licenses are earmarked for the state's horse-racing tracks. So far, two
racetracks -- Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and Philadelphia Park -- have
opened slot parlors under conditional licenses, and racetracks in Chester
and near Erie are expected to open slot parlors in the next two months. Gov.
Ed Rendell rejuvenated a 25-year drive to legalize casino-style gambling in
Pennsylvania by promising that slot revenues will help reduce property taxes
and revive the state's declining horse-racing industry. The law passed in
2004 authorized up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 sites.

Garish or goofy or grim, Russia's casinos and slot-machine halls are some of
the most vivid testimony to communism's collapse. But, under legislation
approved Wednesday by Russia's lower house of parliament, the $6 billion
industry is to be driven out of Moscow, St. Petersburg and most of the rest
of Russia. Once the bill is signed into law, gamblers will have only until
mid-2009 to lay their bets in Russia's major cities. After that they'll have
to go to a remote part of Siberia or three other regions distant from
Moscow. "These are repressive measures - essentially they amount to a ban,"
said Yevgeny Kovtun, vice president of the Association of Gambling
Businesses, which unites about 30 gaming companies. With the exception of a
drab national lottery, Soviet citizens had no outlet for their speculative
urges. That changed with the chaotic arrival of capitalism: Neon-decked
casinos sprouted in big cities, some offering prizes of luxury cars or $1
million in cash. Slot-machine halls have appeared throughout the country,
sometimes even next to schools. Russia's oil-driven economic upswing of
recent years sent new cash to the gaming tables. But a public backlash has
grown. "This is a business based on vice. It brings no good," said Vladimir
Medinsky, deputy chairman of the parliament committee that drafted the
legislation. "It hasn't been banned altogether, because it is a natural vice
and should therefore be controlled," he said. The zones, which are currently
infrastructure-free wilderness, are in the Altai region in Siberia, the
rainy Pacific coast region of Primorsky, the Kaliningrad area along the
Baltic coast and an area in Russia's south between Rostov and Krasnodar.
Industry players say that while limitations are needed, a complete ban
except for the gaming zones is harsh and could kill the industry. The
restrictions, they say, assume Russians will be ready to jump on a plane and
fly to the taiga - the sub-Arctic forest region - to make a bet. "In the
U.S. people know about Las Vegas from childhood, but in Russia gambling
tourism doesn't exist," Kovtun said. "Before, a person would pop into a
casino or slot-machine hall between the metro and his house. Now ... the
gaming companies will have to entice him to the Pacific coast."

Under the new legislation, no new gambling institutions will be allowed to
open as of the new year, and by summer only those with assets worth more
than $23 million will be allowed to continue working, killing off smaller
operations.

Dr. Zurab Illiich Kekelidze, deputy director of the Serbsky Center for
Social and Forensic Psychiatry, said citizens of the former Soviet Union are
more vulnerable to gambling's pull.

"They have no psychological immunity to casinos and to slot machines,
because in Soviet times they didn't exist," said Kekelidze, who treats
patients with pathological gambling dependency.

While Kekelidze welcomed the creation of gambling zones, he said efforts
should be made to educate people about gambling and provide better treatment
and counseling for addicts. Otherwise the gaming zones could act as "levers
of psychological instability," in poor regions like Kaliningrad, he said.

Lavrentii Gubin, a spokesman for Storm International, which runs six casinos
and 26 slot-machine halls across the country, warns that only big gaming
companies will survive the tough new rules, allowing illegal gambling to
flourish.

Although the government has said it is willing to allocate billions of
dollars to build infrastructure, "so far not a single company has said it is
interested in the project," Gubin said.

December and January are Arnie Wexler's busiest times. Four more bowl games,
including the Papajohns.com Bowl, increase the angst for Wexler, a
recovering compulsive gambler in New Jersey who works with addicts. "When I
stopped in 1968, all of the games were on Jan. 1," Wexler said. "Now they're
all spread out. It's not good for the gamblers. As long as they have another
day, they still have their dream alive and can bail out." ESPN purchased the
inaugural Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham mainly to add television
programming. One million or so TV sets won't be tuned in simply for the joy
of watching East Carolina play South Florida. Birmingham's bowl will attract
three times the betting action than if this matchup was a regular-season
game, said