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The world’s largest online poker room has been busted by the Advertising Standards Authority out of Great Britain. PokerStars.com has been criticised by the advertising watchdog for implying that gambling could make a person more confident and courageous, according to the Guardian newspaper.
A PokerStars.com poster campaign ran with the headline “play mind games” and featured world poker champion Daniel Negreanu holding an ice hockey stick with the line “Poker is a sport of courage, conviction and confidence”.
Under the advertising code, ads are not allowed to link gambling with sexual success, an improved self-image or appeal to children or young people.
In the past a number of online gambling firms have been cited by the ATS for failing to comply with its strict advertising standards. I agree that all gambling companies should adhere to tight advertising laws so as not to further incidents of addiction.
No smoking laws need to be a fair playing-field says Calgary casinos. Faced with slumping profits, two Calgary gaming companies want the province to close a loophole in the smoking ban that permits gamblers to light up on First Nation casinos.
Gamehost Income Fund, which owns the Deerfoot Inn and Casino, reported last week that it made nearly a million dollars less in the second quarter of 2008 — a slide of more than five per cent compared to last year.
Sam Switzer, who owns the Elbow River Casino, estimates his profits are down by at least 25 per cent. Both blame at least part of the problem on the fact First Nations casinos can still welcome smokers in their facilities, despite a provincewide smoking ban imposed on Jan. 1. The discrepancy has dealt traditional casino owners an unfair hand, said Gamehost’s chief executive.
After Alberta’s smoking ban took effect, both the Tsuu T’ina Nation, which opened the $40-million Grey Eagle Casino last December, and the Stoney Nakoda Nation, which launched the $60-million Nakoda Entertainment Resort in the spring, invoked federal bylaw exemptions for Native lands.
That let both First Nations avoid the provincial Tobacco Reduction Act, which bans smoking in all public places and workplaces, including bars, casinos and bingo halls.
While Stoney band officials and executives from the company managing its casino declined to comment, Tsuu T’ina band council member Darryl Crowchild said the council would wait to meet and discuss the issue before commenting. Officials with the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, which oversees gambling in the province, said they would prefer to see the two First Nations casinos follow the rest of the province’s lead.
Les Hagen, executive director for anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health, said the province should use diplomacy to get smoking out of the Native casinos. In Manitoba, for example, the government struck a deal giving one of its two Aboriginal-owned gambling facilities 300 slot machines in exchange for an agreement to go smoke-free. I can’t help but feel the Canadian government is walking on egg-shells with this issue because of political correctness and their fear of upsetting the First Nations.
More policitical gambling bludners from Florida, where the state Supreme Court has thrown out an agreement Gov. Charlie Crist made that allowed the state to collect tons of taxes from the state’s tribal casinos. If no replacement deal is made, the federal government is likely to give the casinos slot machines tax-free. A majority of the Legislature might refuse any deal in order to take a high-profile stand against the expansion of gambling. The fear of such political posturing is why Crist tried to cut lawmakers out of the process.
His contract with the tribes was a good one but he was wrong to try to stretch his executive power. He gave the tribes the right to conduct table card games that would be illegal elsewhere in Florida. In December we urged Crist to submit his plan to the Legislature for ratification and not wait until the Florida Supreme Court ordered him to. The court was exactly right when it said last week that the governor lacks the power “to bind the state to a compact that violates Florida law.” This guy really comes across as a sleezy player.
As with most political hot issues,lawmakers failed to agree on setting a clear definition of illegal Internet gambling to go along with a ban on online betting passed in 2006. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department have been unable to finalize rules to implement the ban because Congress didn’t clearly define online gambling when it passed legislation less than two years ago.
The House Financial Services Committee voted Wednesday on legislation to require federal regulators to write a uniform definition of which types of gambling should and should not be allowed on the Internet, followed by new rules implementing the ban. The tie vote, 32-32, meant the legislation failed under committee rules.
Senate Republicans, pushed by then-Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, had attached the online gambling ban to an unrelated port security bill in a rush of year-end legislation in 2006. Banks and other financial institutions have complained that they are being forced into a law enforcement role because the Internet gambling ban prohibits them from accepting payments to settle online wagers without giving them a clear set of rules. I think it is just a matter of time till some smart politician (I know it is an oxymoron) figures out how to make some sweet tax dollars and the US reverses this decision.