Nj-new Jersey Governor Chris Christie Calls for Atlantic City Budget Slim Down for Municipal Workers

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is no longer crisscrossing the united states on the presidential campaign trail, and as such the Republican, now in his second gubernatorial term, has more time for you to refocus their efforts on issues facing his own state.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said enough will do on Thursday, calling on state lawmakers to take control of the town. He made his situation loaded with colorful graphs showing the overspending that is reckless’s become rampant in Atlantic City.
No concern is more vital in New Jersey right now than Atlantic City’s current economic crisis. On Thursday, Christie told their fellow legislators that it’s in the city’s interest that is best to permit their state to assume control of its finances.
‘Even aided by the support plus the advice associated with Emergency Manager that we set up in 2015, Atlantic City took only modest steps to rein their costs in,’ Christie said during the statehouse this week. ‘They face a $100 million spending plan shortfall this year, $100 million budget deficit this present year . . . They are the true numbers, that is the math, and these are the important points, and there is no debate about this.’
Park Spot & Boardwalk Salaries
The governor highlighted what he believes to be gross overspending on municipal workers in Christie’s arguments. Armed with charts and graphs, he showed that 119 city employees were paid over $100,000 through the last year that is fiscal an amount which doesn’t even include the ‘Lamborghini-level’ healthcare and benefits package that accompanies those salaries.
Christie also stressed the fact that Atlantic City paid $6.6 million in 2015 to retiring public employees, primarily to compensate unused sick and vacation times. Part-time council people were collectively paid $300,000, an expense seen as extravagant in the eyes associated with the governor.
Unless the state legislature takes action to provide control of the flailing gambling mecca to Trenton, Christie states he lacks the power to renegotiate contracts with public sector unions getting the ‘exorbitant expenses of the town employees under control.’
Takeover could be the Only Solution
Christie is calling on State Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D) to urge the chamber to pay control of Atlantic City towards the state. Prieto opposes that path, opting in favor of the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program alternatively.
PILOT would allow casinos to pay taxes on a schedule that is fixed isn’t determined on property value or gaming profits, which academized essay writer websites have actually both significantly diminished over the years, as tourism to the area has fallen.
Christie believes the PILOT system is a short-term solution that won’t help Atlantic City’s long-term forecast. Financial analyst ensemble Moody’s generally seems to agree.
‘If just the PILOT bill passes [with no other measures instituted], the city will continue to face stress since the single bill is insufficient to restore Atlantic City’s fiscal wellness,’ the credit history corporation said recently. ‘ Although the PILOT bill creates additional revenues and avoids incurring casino that is additional liabilities, it is not enough to avoid crippling deficits of $30 to $40 million a 12 months, on the next five years.’
Christie believes public workers need to step up to the plate in the best interest of the city, but it appears some happen to be doing that.
After Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian (R) threatened a city closure of non-essential employees, various unions proposed paying employees every four weeks as opposed to two, a modification that would allow the federal government to continue operating before the next quarterly tax payments are received on May 1.
But that’s only one away, so action will need to be taken, and soon month.
DoubleDown Social Casino Illinois Customer Lawsuit Dismissed, Angry Patron Lost $1K in Virtual Chips
IGT’s DoubleDown multiplatform social casino site has survived a course action lawsuit attempt from a disgruntled Illinois customer who stated that the free video gaming platform offers ‘nothing more than camouflaged unlawful games of opportunity.’
IGT’s DoubleDown social casino overcome right back a class action lawsuit effort from a disgruntled Illinois on line customer this week, who claimed that its operations had been tantamount to ‘real’ gambling. (Image: onlinewin.minnim.org)
Plaintiff Margo Phillips blew $1,000 in real money on digital, value-less chips in the site before deciding she desired to claw back every play cent. Phillips claimed that because DoubleDown utilizes ‘gambling mechanics’ in its games, its tantamount to gambling that is actual.
Well, except for real money being involved, but besides that.
In a class action lawsuit filed during the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Phillips said she wanted the DoubleDown web site to down be shut and money refunded to customers in Illinois. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of all citizens of the state that has lost over $50 playing at DoubleDown, under the Illinois that is antiquated Loss Act (ILRA).
Claw-back Law Dragged Up
The 19th century legislation states that any Illinois gambler who loses $50 or more has the right to sue the winner to obtain the cash straight back. It also states that should the gambler that is losing sue the winner within sixth months, then ‘any person’ is allowed to sue with respect to all losers, for up to 3 times the quantity.
The legislation was originally built to protect destitute families who’d had their dollar that is last stolen relatives, that has been subsequently gambled away.
Phillips claims she began playing on DoubleDown in January of 2013, and soon began purchasing virtual (and value-less) chips with real money, once she had played through the supply that is original of chips. She argues, they had a monetary value, just like chips purchased in a casino, and therefore the services offered by DoubleDown were tantamount to illegal gambling because she paid for the chips.
According to Phillips, in addition to ILRA, DoubleDown was in violation of the Illinois customer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and was guilty of unjustly enriching it self through the use of ‘gambling devices,’ another no-no under Illinois state legislation.
The filing could have had to establish that online social casino games could be defined as ‘gambling devices,’ and that IGT had procured money from the plaintiff in an illegal manner.
Describe ‘Gambling’
But the judge, unlike Phillips, wasn’t buying any of it.
JudgeEdmond Chang noted that ILRA calls for a success and a loser from the outcome of a gambling proposition. The social casino site cannot lose anything from the proposition, and so Phillips was on shaky ground because virtual chips bought from DoubleDown cannot be cashed in for real money.
In fact, generally, Phillips was asking the court to reconsider the very definition of gambling as it’s construed in almost every state in the usa: particularly, the proposition that something of value is risked upon the outcome of an event or game that is susceptible to opportunity within the hope of receiving something different of equal or greater value.
While paying for digital chips constitutes a stake that is financial with no financial reward involved, no form of gambling has occurred, by any legal definition, at least.
In fact, one could say that Phillip’s decision to sue DoubleDown is a better example of gambling than something that happens in the social casino site. And in this instance, it absolutely was a losing bet.
Money Laundering and Suspicious Activity at Casinos Continues to Rise, FinCEN Reports
Money laundering is serious business.
Unfortunately for those in the casino industry, criminals have long relished the attractiveness for the floor cage as being the perfect instrument to clean dirty money into purportedly legitimate funds.
‘Washing’ cash by trading it in for chips and then cashing it away again has become a method that is preferred of laundering by criminals. Now FinCEN wants the industry to monitor itself for better prospective crimes being committed by patrons, and the issues have become worldwide. (Image: i5design.com)
Since 1996, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau regarding the United States Department of the Treasury, calls for institutions to file Currency Transaction Reports when a customer transacts over $10,000 in an individual day. In addition, federal legislation mandates that a suspicious task report (SAR) be completed if the patron is suspected of participating in the laundering of money.
With thousands of commercial banks in the United States, including smaller regional organizations, FinCEN is cracking down on money laundering by threatening non-conforming banking institutions with financial penalties.
With no choice but to comply with FinCEN, SARs filed by banking institutions rose from 288,343 in 2003 to 972,037 in 2013, a 70 percent increase in just 10 years. However, a unanticipated decline in SARs followed in 2014, and along with it came a rise in suspicious activity reports being filed by the casino, securities, and insurance companies.
What does it all mean?
Underground and Out of Sight
This week titled, ‘Losing Count: US Terror Rules Drive Money Underground,’ the argument is made that current FinCEN rules might actually be hampering the government’s ability to monitor suspicious activity and intercept potential terrorism in a Wall Street Journal report.
Afraid of facing significant financial charges for facilitating a suspicious customer’s request, banks are quickly closing accounts after filing SARs. This forces the perpetrator that is alleged use alternative solutions to move cash, and the funds effortlessly vanish from regulatory oversight.
‘What do we do, within the police force arena, once the money goes underground?’ FBI crimes that are financial Patrick Fallon pondered within the piece. ‘It’s what you don’t know that’s the frightening thing.’
Those who are indeed trying to facilitate money movement illegally may be drawn more and more to the casino cage as banks refuse to provide services for suspected launderers.
And while bank SARs dropped by nearly nine percent between 2013-2014, the reports increased in the casino industry by 69 per cent during the time frame that is same.
Gambling enterprises Feeling the Heat
FinCEN Director Jennifer Calvery said her office’s 340 employees are successfully safeguarding the usa system that is financial promoting national security, and SARs play a vital part in those efforts.
‘The information that casinos along with other banking institutions offer is employed to confront terrorist organizations, rogue nations, WMD proliferators, foreign grand corruption, and increasingly serious cyber threats,’ Calvery said in 2014. ‘Violating the BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) can result in FinCEN imposing civil charges against the casino it self.’
And imposing penalties they are, as Calvery’s team levied monetary fines on four gambling companies year that is last. Such as was the US Dept. of the Treasury’s $8 million penalty on Caesars Palace Las Vegas for what FinCEN found to be always a willful violation of the BSA and failure to adhere to SAR protocols.
The recent alleged participation of two Philippines banks in an $83 million cyber heist through the New York Federal Reserve has shined a level brighter light with this unpleasant issue, and you also can bet that regulatory arms worldwide will be moving into the casino industry for a closer look.
The list of web sites, which investigators have said were according to servers outside Italy and also been impounded, are as follows: www4.dgbpoker.com; www.pkgambling373.com; www.pkwildpoker.net; www.betfaktor.com; www.planetwin365.com; www.new5.betaland.com; www.new4.betaland.com; www.new2.betaland.com; www.new1.betaland.com; www.new.betaland.com; and www.betaland.com.
But based on CalvinAyre.com, two of the websites may have been targeted in error. Austria’s SKS365 Group, which operates Planet365, has categorically distanced itself from any involvement, stating that the criminal group had exploited Planet365’s brand name reputation to lure bettors to copycat sites.
OIA solutions Ltd, meanwhile, which has Betaland, says that Betaland.com has been closed to players that are italian over a year, and the web sites associated with the gambling ring which used the Betaland expansion did so without authorization and had been ‘rightly already darkened to access, as unlicensed.’
Tancredi Hyper Links
Italian authorities said that the ring also had links to Luigi Tancredi, a guy understood in Italy as ‘the King of Slots’ for his operations in the legal land-based gambling world.
Tancredi is thought to be the dog owner of DollaroPoker, and was arrested in January and accused to be the mastermind of the gambling ring that operated 12,000 gaming that is online lottery video terminals in pubs, cafes and gaming halls throughout Italy.