US
Casinos Had Best Month Ever in March, Winning $5.3B
ATLANTIC
CITY, N.J. (AP) — Inflation may be soaring, supply
chains remain snarled and the coronavirus just won’t
go away, but America’s casinos are humming right
along, recording the best month in their history in
March.
The
American Gaming Association, the gambling industry’s
national trade group, said Wednesday that U.S. commercial
casinos won more than $5.3 billion from gamblers in
March, the best single-month total ever. The previous
record month was July 2021 at $4.92 billion.
The
casinos collectively also had their best first quarter
ever, falling just short of the $14.35 billion they
won from gamblers in the fourth quarter of last year,
which was the highest three-month period in history.
Three
states set quarterly revenue records to start this
year: Arkansas ($147.4 million); Florida ($182 million),
and New York ($996.6 million).
The
numbers do not include tribal casinos, which report
their income separately and are expected to report
similarly positive results.
But
while the national casino economy is doing well, there
are pockets of sluggishness such as Atlantic City,
where in-person casino revenue has not yet rebounded
to pre-pandemic levels.
“Consumers
continue to seek out gaming’s entertainment options
in record numbers,” said Bill Miller, the association’s
president and CEO. He said the strong performance
to start 2022 came ”despite continued headwinds
from supply chain constraints, labor shortages and
the impact of soaring inflation.”
The
trade group also released its annual State of the
States report on Wednesday, examining gambling’s
performance across the country.
As
previously reported, nationwide casino revenue set
an all-time high in 2021 at $53.03 billion, up 21%
from the previous best year, 2019, before the coronavirus
pandemic hit.
But
the report includes new details, including that commercial
casinos paid a record $11.69 billion in direct gambling
tax revenue to state and local governments in 2021.
That’s an increase of 75% from 2020 and 15 percent
from 2019. This does not include the billions more
paid in income, sales and other taxes, the association
said.
It
also ranked the largest casino markets in the U.S.
in terms of revenue for 2021:
The
Las Vegas Strip is first at $7.05 billion, followed
by: Atlantic City ($2.57 billion); the Chicago area
($2.01 billion); Baltimore-Washington D.C. ($2 billion);
the Gulf Coast ($1.61 billion); New York City ($1.46
billion); Philadelphia ($1.40 billion); Detroit ($1.29
billion); St. Louis ($1.03 billion); and the Boulder
Strip in Nevada ($967 million).
The
association divides most of Pennsylvania’s casinos
into three separate markets: Philadelphia, the Poconos
and Pittsburgh. Their combined revenue of nearly $2.88
billion would make them the second largest market
in the country if judged as a single entity. It also
counts downtown Las Vegas, and its $731 million in
revenue, as a separate market.
Seven
additional states legalized sports betting and two
more added internet gambling in 2021.
The
group reported many states saw gamblers spending more
in casinos while visiting them in lower numbers compared
to pre-pandemic 2019.
The
average age of a casino patron last year was 43 1/2,
compared to 49 1/2 in 2019.
Americans
bet $57.7 billion on sports last year, more than twice
the amount from 2020. That generated $4.33 billion
in revenue, an increase of nearly 180% over 2020.
Internet
gambling revenue reached $3.71 billion last year,
and three states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Michigan — each won more than $1 billion online.
West Virginia’s internet gambling market reached
$60.9 million in revenue in its first full year of
operation, while Connecticut’s two internet casinos
reported combined revenue of $47.6 million after launching
in October.
News
$8
Million in Online Poker Funds Seized by Washington
State Authorities - 8th January 2011 (Credit:
Poker News Daily)
As
reported by Forbes Magazine, Federal prosecutors have
seized nearly $8 million from financial institutions
in Washington State that were holding money for processors
of major online poker sites like PokerStars, Full
Tilt Poker, UB.com, and Absolute Poker. The move reportedly
came in the past two weeks and is the latest in the
Department of Justice’s crackdown on online gambling
in the U.S.
Online
poker sites have used payment processors to carry
out transactions with customers before and after the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA)
went into effect in 2006. However, the Department
of Justice stepped in and began seizing funds from
banks across the U.S. in recent years, creating havoc
for poker players wondering whether their online bankrolls
are safe.
According
to four civil forfeiture complaints filed in Federal
court in Seattle since October, Federal prosecutors
seized cash in accounts at Bank of America, J.P. Morgan
Chase, Wells Fargo, and SunTrust. The money allegedly
belonged to payment processing firms like Arrow Checks,
Secure Money, Etegrity Processing, Anaya Trading Solutions,
and Blue Lake Capital Management and Logistics.
The
largest of the forfeiture cases, filed in December
and involving $5.1 million, centered on Arrow Checks.
A Washington State task force was notified by a witness
in June that he had received a payout check from Arrow
Checks that came from online poker winnings from PokerStars.
The investigation tracked more than $20 million of
wire transfers from Canada and Texas to Arrow Checks
accounts at Bank of America controlled by Scott Seguin
and Justin Sather, court documents say.
Federal
prosecutors claim that Seguin and Sather were operating
an unlicensed money transmitting business and violated
the Federal Wire Act of 1961 “because online
gambling is illegal in Washington State,” the
Forbes article said.
The
article also revealed that other payment processors
operated six bank accounts at SunTrust and Wells Fargo
controlled by Sanjay Panya that Feds say represented
proceeds from Full Tilt and Absolute Poker. The Feds
seized $1.3 million in the accounts connected to Panya
in November, claiming he was operating an unlicensed
money transmitting business violating the Wire Act.
The
other payment processor companies involved in the
civil forfeiture actions were run by Brian Kenny and
Javier Carillo, both of whom court documents say facilitated
payments to Washington State residents derived from
online poker play at Ultimate Bet, now UB.com.
In
June, Federal authorities in New York seized bank
accounts worth $34 million belonging to 27,000 online
poker players. The accounts were managed by Allied
Systems and Account Services, which handled cash for
various online poker sites. Ahmad Khawaja, who owned
the payment processing companies, reached a $13.3
million civil forfeiture settlement with the U.S.
prosecutors in August before exiting the country.
Then,
in November, the U.S. Government seized funds from
popular payment processor eWalletXpress. After weeks
of questions regarding the reason behind the company’s
“technical problems” on its website, eWalletXpress
revealed to its customers that it had been served
a warrant by authorities. The processor allowed customers
to cash out their remaining balances and then shut
down its U.S. operations in December.
This
latest news is yet another blemish on the status of
poker in the Evergreen State. Washington’s Supreme
Court upheld a 2006 state law last September that
made it a felony to play online poker for money. The
ban being upheld caused PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker
to cease providing real money poker for Washington
residents shortly thereafter, resulting in many high-stakes
online players having to make difficult life decisions.
(Credit:
Poker News Daily).
It
may seem difficult but it is important that all citizens
across the world stay updated with Internet Betting
laws. Below you will find what we understand as the
laws to online betting in certain areas of the world.
US
Internet Betting Laws
The United States of America has the most ambiguous
online casino laws in the world. They have passed
laws to ban banks from allowing transactions that
are deemed illegal, but no one has any idea what the
United States considers legal or illegal. Currently,
all US citizens are advised to check with local laws
before gambling online. Even the online casinos aren't
sure if you should be allowed to bet at their site.
Some companies don't allow US players, others allow
some US players, and some could care less where a
player is from.
UK
Internet Casino Laws
The UK is the first major country to completely legalize
and regulate online gambling. The Gambling Act of
2005 was passed while Prime Minister Tony Blair was
in office. Blair had a flair for expanding gambling,
but when Gordon Brown took over as Prime Minister
in the UK he provided a tax structure that was so
high that most online casino companies were not urged
to relocate to England. Today, all web branded casinos
that are in a UK approved jurisdiction are legal for
UK citizens to play at.
International
Online Betting Laws
As the world gets deeper into the 21st century and
the Internet becomes a more common cultural tool more
and more countries are realizing the reality that
is Internet gambling. Currently, Spain, Italy, Germany
and other countries have moved to legalize and regulate
the industry, while few still look to protect their
homeland gaming monopolies. It is extremely important
to check all local, state, and federal laws before
participating in any online gambling activities.
