With critical comment swirling around it over the revelations, RAY has assured the public that its donations regulations are to be tightened up substantially.

The Finnish Youth Foundation received Euros 250 000 from the state gaming association this year, local media has reported. But the youth organisation contributed Euro 23 000 to the prime minister’s failed presidential bid. RAY says it is trying to determine specifically whether funding it gave was used to support Vanhanen’s campaign.

One-fifth of RAY’s annual donations to foundations have been earmarked for general grants, the press reports reveal. Currently 16 foundations are beneficiaries of RAY’s general funding, but in the future, the association says it will focus on giving specific grants that are easier to monitor.

RAY distributes over Euros 300 million in donations to some 86 organisations each year, with about Euros 65 million given in general grants that are more difficult to monitor.

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Hopa.com and sister site Scratch2Cash have over 40 scratch games each. Last month on Scratch2Cash, over Euro 26 million was won in total across a variety of scratch games and players, a company spokesman boasted this week.

The group posted a profit of GBP 452 000, a welcome reversal from a loss of GBP 347 000 in the previous year, and EBITDA up by GBP 542 000 to GBP 757 000 (FY 2008:GBP 215 000).

Betinternet achieved turnover of GBP 107.9 million - up 24 percent - thanks to increased marketing that included horse racing sponsorship activity. A new affiliate program helped boost customer acquisitions during the year, and improved in-running football betting facilities helped, too management said.

Group pari-mutuel subsidiary European Wagering Services (EWS), saw revenues grow by 6 percent to GBP 32.3 million.

“Although the gaming sector will never be completely immune to these [recession] external influences, it remains resilient, as it is able to offer alternative forms of entertainment for customers who choose to ’stay at home’ more often than previously,” said Webis managing director Garry Knowles.

“For the First Time, a Smaller Jackpot: Trends in State Revenues From Gambling,” released Monday, illustrates the motivation for states to examine casinos, video lottery terminals, and other gambling operations as potential sources of new revenue, with more than 25 states considering such proposals in the past year.

New gambling activities often provide a quick boost to state revenues, the authors remark, but generally do not keep pace with traditional tax revenues and government expenditures over time.

“The historical tendency for revenues from existing gambling operations to grow at a significantly slower pace than other state revenues may hold important lessons for states as policymakers consider further expansion of casinos, racinos, and other gambling activities,” Institute Deputy Director Robert B. Ward and Institute Senior Policy Analyst Lucy Dadayan wrote in the report.

The study found that most states reported lower gambling revenues over the past two years. Among those states that reported increases, such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina, it was noted that these have recently expanded gambling opportunities.

Racino revenues fared better in New York than elsewhere, with seven of the eight operations of this type achieving increases in the latest fiscal year. Statewide, patrons bet $12-billion at racinos.

The report reveals that US states generate revenues from four major types of gambling operations: state lotteries, casinos, racinos, and pari-mutuel betting. The largest source, lottery income, fell 2.6 percent nationwide over the last fiscal year, whilst casino revenues declined 8.5 percent and racinos increased 6.7 percent, with new racinos opening in Indiana and Pennsylvania.

Pari-mutuel wagering revenues declined by 14.8 percent in the period to July-March in 2009 compared to the same period last year.

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The Gaming Control Board has told the resort industry that properties need to control actions inside the nightclubs that traditionally lease space in casinos and are operated independently.

Planet Hollywood is the first hotel-casino to acknowledge it was at fault for the problems inside a nightclub that it doesn’t own.

“We didn’t execute proper supervision and we’re the message being sent to the rest of the industry,” gaming attorney Frank Schreck, who represents Planet Hollywood, said Friday.

Gaming authorities could be investigating as many as nine hotel-casinos about activities inside their nightclubs, which could lead to six-figure fines and other punishments.

Schreck, who represents several hotel-casinos and gaming companies, said he has advised clients they need to pay attention to what is happening inside their nightclubs.

“It can’t be ignored. The situation needs to be addressed,” Schreck said.

In April, the Gaming Control Board posted a stern letter of warning on its Web site, saying disciplinary action was being considered because of problems not only inside the nightclubs, but also at the properties’ ultra lounges and topless swimming pools.

The agency sent a similar warning letter in 2006. Gaming Control Board member Randy Sayre thought another missive was needed this year.

“I’m not going to write any more letters,” Sayre said Friday. “Having said that, I can indicate with great confidence that a few locations may not have gotten the message loudly and clearly. And these situations will be addressed.”

Sayre confirmed several hotel-casinos are under investigation by gaming authorities about activities inside their nightclubs and other venues.

“Some are more serious than others and we need to address whether or not these venues are conducting themselves under state and local ordinances,” Sayre said.

In an agreement with the Gaming Control Board that settled a nine-count complaint, Planet Hollywood agreed to pay $500,000 up front and another $250,000 in a year if changes are not made in the operation of the nightclub.

If no additional complaints are filed over the next 12 months, the $250,000 payment will be waived.

The Nevada Gaming Commission will vote on the settlement when it meets in Las Vegas on July 23.

“Planet Hollywood took this matter seriously,” Sayre said. “Sadly, they should have addressed some of these events sooner.”

The nine counts ranged from Privé employees removing drunk customers and dumping them in the casino unattended, or telling hotel security to remove them, to customers having to be hospitalized for drinking too much.

Privé employees and patrons were charged with physically and sexually assaulting customers.

The club reportedly admitted minors, who were then served alcohol.

Another count involved a Clark County Department of Business License citation for allowing topless and lewd activity. Privé reportedly failed to cooperate with the county.

Another count was based on the large increase in phone calls to emergency medical personnel and police since the club opened. The control board charged that prostitution increased around the club and the club did nothing to discourage the activity. Privé also hired people with criminal records.

Planet Hollywood admitted to all the allegations and admitted it didn’t maintain enough control.

Schreck said that aspect will change. He said the lease between Planet Hollywood and Privé has been rewritten. Planet Hollywood security officers, who formerly weren’t allowed to enter the club without a club employee, can now enter the club.

Also, Planet Hollywood can terminate the club’s lease if any of the conduct outlined in the nine counts continues.

“We’ve taken some pretty draconian steps to assert control,” Schreck said.

“Planet Hollywood wants to be a good corporate citizen and licensee. We stepped up to the plate and took responsibilities for the actions.”

Privé is operated by the Opium Group, a Miami-based nightclub company. A spokeswoman for Opium Group did not respond to phone calls or an e-mail message Friday.

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James W. von Brunn, an 88-year-old U.S. military veteran and white supremacist, was arrested after the Wednesday shooting, which killed Steven Johns and injured two others.

Von Brunn, of Annapolis, Maryland, USA, ran a website that contained among other things, racist and anti-semitic ravings.

Von Brunn’s website, which was promptly taken down after the shooting, featured a banner for Casino Tropez, which is licensed in Antigua.

Said one reader: “Had this dangerous fruitcake put an affiliate link to Amazon on his site, would you have ‘revealed’ his ‘ties’ to publishing? Other than embarrassing Casino Tropez and highlighting that they really should police their affiliates better, this article really just plays into the hands of those who would seize any tidbit of negativity to bash the gaming industry with. An embarrassing piece of ‘journalism’.”

Another commented: “Did you guys think of the damage this can cause the gaming industry which you guys apperantly feed off? As idiots (like the onwe who wrote and advertised this article) who might not know the industry might think that online gaming sites are actually involved with Nazis.”

Gambling911.com’s Payton O’Brien suggested that the link could have been part of an affiliate network featuring more than just online casinos and that Casino Tropez in fact may not have even known their banners were appearing on the von Brunn website.

Still, the von Brunn case highlights the need for all companies - not just online casinos - to review any website where their banners appear.

“Obviously Casino Tropez did not know where their banners were showing up,” says O’Brien. “If they did, we seriously doubt they would have allowed them to appear on a ‘hate’ website like von Brunn’s.”

Somach has contributed to the San Francisco Chronicle and most recently, The Globe, one of the leading super market tabloids. He is regularly featured on the Gambling911.com website. His work covering the online gambling industry extends back to 1997 as a featured columnist for the Las Vegas Sporting News (LVSN).

Delaware needs to fill a nearly $800 million hole in next year’s budget. Sports betting promised some help. Table games, somewhat more. But officials acknowledge the real money will come only from approving more casinos.

“I firmly believe that there’s a part of the market that isn’t being tapped,” said House Majority Leader Peter C. Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, who led talks that accelerated action on table games.

Schwartzkopf favors authorizing a new casino at the proposed Del Pointe resort in Millsboro, and said he was working for linkage of the final table-game vote and a bill that would allow a new gambling site. Delaware law now allows slot machines and gambling only at the state’s three racetracks.

Sen. George H. Bunting Jr., D-Bethany Beach, who co-sponsored Schwartzkopf’s bill, said fairness demands more casinos.

“The fair thing would be to have something for Sussex and something for Wilmington,” Bunting said. “We’ve given these three entities the largest subsidy in the state’s history. And they’re doing very well.”

Some lawmakers are predicting a special session in late summer or early fall for a final vote on details for table-game revenue-sharing and oversight, issues still being hammered out by a three-member panel under a 75-day deadline, which met — in public — for the first time Friday.

Approval would make Delaware the only state outside Nevada to offer legal gambling, including sports betting, in so many forms. Dealers could begin flipping cards within months.

“This will turn the sites in Delaware from slot houses to full-blown casinos,” said James S. Weinert, an analyst with Spectrum Gaming Group, a New Jersey research and gambling consulting firm.

The payoff: hundreds or thousands of new Delaware jobs and millions in revenues, with some groups claiming the revenues would surge most if the state approves at least one more entirely new casino.

Backers of one venture in Sussex claim their plan alone would boost state revenues by an estimated $85 million per year. An earlier casino plan for Wilmington’s Riverfront forecast a $90 million annual gain for the state, and $6 million windfall for the city treasury.

Hurdles remain, including a potential court fight over sports betting, a separate gambling addition approved for casinos over objections and threats of a legal challenge from the NFL and the NCAA.

Administration officials admit the gambling expansion remains one of Delaware’s few hopes for immediate growth in an economy wracked by plant closings and business contractions. Legislators openly conceded that worries about Delaware’s failing economy provided the political will that powered the changes through and could lead to additional venues.

Table gaming never got a single mention last year, when Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s administration issued a 111-page report on options for increasing revenues.

“If it weren’t for the financial problem we have, I don’t think it would have gotten to first base, any of it,” said Rep. Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View, who voted against casino gaming and tax expansions.
Transformation in 7 minutes

Markell floated table games, such as poker, craps and blackjack, as a new revenue source earlier this year while touring the state discussing solutions to the state’s budget crisis. He also initially recommended sports betting, an increase in the state share of casino proceeds and the opening of three new casino sites.

Table gaming was shifted to a back burner for this year, Markell spokesman Joe Rogalsky said, because of public reaction and concern about the complexities of managing and overseeing the new venture.

Then lawmakers came to a different conclusion while watching state revenues decline alarmingly.

On May 8, shortly after midnight, they abruptly bet the farm.

In seven tightly choreographed minutes, the House introduced and approved a surprise amendment that put table games on the front burner, pushing Delaware’s racetrack slot-machine venues into full-blown casinos.

The amended measure authorized sports betting at racinos, scaled back the tax and fee hikes proposed by Markell and declared the Legislature’s intent to see the startup of table games “as soon as possible” — all without a ripple of public debate over details or consequences.

In the only public explanation offered from the floor, Rep. Thomas H. Kovach, R-Brandywine Hundred South, said earlier proposals “did not go far enough to enable a maximum revenue stream for the state,” and “needlessly delayed” a fast-track casino effort that would yield good jobs “in these tough economic times.”

It sailed through the Senate days later with little comment, and was quickly signed by Markell. The only step left is for the Legislature to approve the rules that will regulate table games.

“Personally, I would welcome a special session,” to act on table-game rules, said Rep. John Kowalko, D-Newark South. “I think that the quicker we get that done, the quicker we replenish, at least temporarily, some of the funding that we’ve taken from [the casinos] and also the quicker we grow the industry.”
Getting people to Delaware

State revenue forecasters have predicted the state initially will get about $3 million next year from sports betting alone, an enterprise that amounts to only 1 percent of gambling revenues for Nevada casinos, according to the American Gaming Association.

Table games, in contrast, are expected to generate an amount equal to as much as 20 percent of slot-machine receipts, putting the potential state revenue increase into the tens of millions of dollars and possibly also increasing traffic and play at slot machines.

“I don’t think anybody was suggesting huge revenues from sports betting. It should be a bigger percentage of the pie than it is in Las Vegas,” Weinert said. “The real impact of sports betting is to drive visitation. Sports bettors tend to come with a spouse who might play other games, and they’re going to spend money on food and beverages.”

New Castle County Chamber of Commerce president Mark Kleinschmidt, once in line to manage operations at a proposed Wilmington casino, said the Legislature made the right choice.

“There was always a feeling that sports betting in and of itself was good, but wasn’t a ‘Wow,’ ” Kleinschmidt said. “When you combine slots and sports betting and table games, I think it is a ‘Wow,’ because it clearly gives us a competitive advantage over the other states, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Several experts say an expanded gambling presence could make the state a serious competitor to Atlantic City and would draw gambling dollars now spent in other neighboring states.

James R. Karmel, a Harford Community College professor and author of books on the gaming industry, said that Delaware might have dealt itself a winning hand this year, despite a downturn in the gambling economy and concerns about casino “saturation” in some areas, including Atlantic City.

The sole bright spots in New Jersey’s casino market currently, Karmel said, are sites that have pushed heavily into table games. One relatively new venture, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, gets 39 percent of its revenue from table games, while the table-game percentage for Jersey casinos as a group has grown to 31 percent.

“A lot would have to happen for Wilmington to become Las Vegas,” said Karmel, who manages the Web site GamingAtlantic.com. “But I do think there’s a possibility that a lot of the energy that has come out of Atlantic City … might shift to Delaware.”

Karmel added: “There is some sense that the table gambler might be more affluent and willing to spend more money on bars, restaurants, clubs and spas, maybe, than traditional slots players.”
No victory yet

A few more cards must fall before table-game supporters can claim victory.

The gambling bill approved last month created a three-member committee to recommend licensing fees and a formula for splitting revenues from table gaming.

Terms of the bill give the group until July 28 to submit a plan and report on administration and enforcement of the games. If no agreement can be reached, any one of the three can offer an option for lawmakers’ consideration by Aug. 12.

Close behind, several lawmakers predict, is a battle over a new casino for Sussex County, possibly followed by a gambling site in Wilmington. Some question whether the state can continue to justify a monopoly for three racetracks as gambling profits grow.

Schwartzkopf, the House majority leader, found sponsors from both parties and both chambers earlier this month for a bill that would allow construction of a casino at Del Pointe despite the lack of an active racing operation in Millsboro.

Sussex County, with the state’s highest unemployment rate, deserves a share of casino industry growth, Schwartzkopf said, adding: “There are some lawmakers who don’t want to do anything because they think it will hurt Harrington Raceway. I think that’s a shame.”

Preston Schell, the developer behind the proposed Del Pointe project in Millsboro, said that resort needs a casino license to make the investment work.

“I think it’s very irresponsible of the Legislature, if they continue to expand the market for our existing casinos by allowing table gaming while not entertaining the intention and wishes and really behest of Delaware taxpayers by considering additional venues,” Schell said.

“Sussex County has been left out of this economic opportunity ever since it began,” Schell said. “That is a direct result of the political influence of our three existing casinos. If they could have their way, they would have gotten slots and table games and nothing else, and would have held their monopoly.”

Midway Slots at Harrington Raceway, the southernmost of Delaware’s three racinos, is in Kent County, although it occupies Delaware State Fair land often considered the capital of southern Delaware’s farm community.

Schell said a Sussex casino could draw more visitors from areas around Washington, D.C., and could tap into Delaware coastal resort visitors, a group now seen as reluctant to battle traffic to gamble at Harrington or Dover.

Wilmington has kept up steady pressure for its own casino.

John Rago, communications director for Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker, said city officials strongly support a casino attraction for the state’s largest city. The most recent proposal envisioned a $500 million complex on the Seventh Street peninsula.

“I think it’s a logical thing to come up,” said Sen. Harris B. McDowell III, D-Wilmington North. “The unwritten tradition is that we have four political subdivisions,” including the counties and Wilmington. “In this particular case, they cut Wilmington out.”

Spectrum’s Weinert said Delaware should move cautiously on additional sites. Maryland, he noted, has authorized 15,000 new slot machines that could keep that state’s gamblers closer to home, and other states are considering new attractions.

“It depends on whether Delaware wants any potential new properties to cannibalize the existing properties,” Weinert said. “I think after the table games and sports betting stabilize, after about three years of operation and the regional markets have stabilized some, then it might be more appropriate to study what pockets of Delaware and elsewhere in the Northeast” might support new casinos.

Michael Pollock, also with Spectrum, predicted that Pennsylvania and other states will fight back.

“We fully expect, and we built it into our models, that Pennsylvania is going to be adding table games, and in particular that’s going to be a reaction to Delaware, which arguably is a reaction to West Virginia,” Pollock said.

Pollock also saw room for growth in Delaware, as gambling continues to grow nationwide.

“I think Delaware is an important and early state in the process, and table games are a very important piece of the future,” Pollock said. “It has experienced a resurgence in recent years in a number of markets, and there’s a lot of growth potential. A lot of relatively young and relatively affluent groups are tending to gravitate to table games rather than slot machines.”
A vulnerable industry

Despite predictions of an economic jackpot, some officials warned against leaning too heavily on gambling as a cure for Delaware’s economic woes.

“I think it’s a piece of the economic puzzle and can be an important part of our economic future, but it’s not THE future,” said Kleinschmidt of the chamber. “We still need to look at growing the economy through getting small businesses to grow and become middle-sized businesses. We need to work through the double challenge with the GM and Chrysler closing.”
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“Gaming is not going to replace those really good, blue-collar jobs. It certainly helps and, meanwhile, the state and chamber and others need to redouble our efforts.”

GamingAtlantic.com’s Karmel agreed that some data suggest the mid-Atlantic casino market already is saturated. Other signs point to new opportunities for growth.

“There is a potential with sports betting and table games that Delaware Park or Dover Downs might create such an attractive and large and wonderful type of casino that it starts bringing people in from outside the region,” Karmel said, growing the entire market.

Hocker said Delaware should be curbing state spending instead of promoting gambling.

“I think that’s the wrong way to try to build your economy — on the backs of the wage earner,” Hocker said. “For the state to benefit in this, somebody has got to be a loser.”

John Stapleford, a Delaware resident and economist with Moody’s Economy.com, was far more critical.

“It’s a regressive tax. It takes from low- and moderate-income people and redistributes the money to other folks. If you don’t believe that, go to any of the casinos. What you’re going to see is predominantly older people and minorities.”

Stapleford said Delaware should be aggressively pursuing more productive industries that are less vulnerable to economic downturns.

He added that Delaware would increase its tax revenues at the expense of some unable to afford the burden.

“It’ll give us a burst of energy,” Stapleford said, “a burst of sugar. But in the long run, it’s not a very healthy thing for economic development.”