Ella Does Squamish

oldsters prey for telemarketers- pathetic!

May 21, 2007

ED. I attended a ’seniors day’ fair some years ago and filled in a sweepstakes form. Within a week, I was receiving phone calls from a local time-share outfit. I complained to the organizers of the fair.
RCMP probe US senior scams
Toronto link alleged in use of database lists to plunder cash from frail hands
May 21, 2007 04:30 AM, CHARLES DUHIGG, New York Times
The thieves operated from small offices in Toronto and hangar-size rooms in India. Every night, working from lists, they called World War II veterans, retired teachers and thousands of other elderly Americans and posed as government and insurance workers updating their files.
Then, the criminals emptied their victims’ bank accounts.
Richard Guthrie, a 92-year-old U.S. Army veteran, was one of those victims. He ended up on scam artists’ lists because his name, like millions of others, was sold by large companies to telemarketing criminals, who then turned to major banks to steal his life’s savings.
The Iowa resident had entered a few sweepstakes that caused his name to be added to a database advertised by InfoUSA, a major compiler of consumer information. InfoUSA sold data on elderly Americans to known lawbreakers, regulators say.
InfoUSA advertised lists of "Elderly Opportunity Seekers," 3.3 million elders "looking for ways to make money," and "Suffering Seniors," 4.7 million people with cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. "Oldies but Goodies" contained 500,000 gamblers over 55, for 8.5 cents apiece. One list said: "These people are gullible. They want to believe that their luck can change."
As Guthrie sat home alone - surrounded by his Purple Heart medal, photos of eight children and mementos of a wife buried nine years earlier - the telephone rang day and night.
"I loved getting those calls," he said in an interview. "Since my wife passed away, I don’t have many people to talk with. I didn’t even know they were stealing from me until everything was gone."
continued ….
InfoUSA maintains records on 210 million Americans, according to its website. In 2006, it collected more than $430 million from clients like Reader’s Digest, Publishers Clearinghouse and Condé Nast.
But InfoUSA has also sold lists to a variety of marketers with more dubious intentions, including World Marketing Service, a company that a U.S. judge shut down in 2003 for running a lottery scam.
With files from Philip Mascoll

ON - Ombudsman report on gambling url

March 29, 2007

The report ‘A game of Trust: Investigation into the Ontario Lottery
and Gaming Corporation’ s Protection of the Public From Fraud and Theft
can be viewed on line at

http://tinyurl.com/2kat9u

—-

I read this report last night. I can’t even begin to tally all the money that OLG has spent in trying to ‘rehabilitate’ their image since the Oct. 25/06 broadcast by the fifth estate that looked at insider wins. I would advise all voters in Ontario to read this document and make a stink … all that money that has been paid out to suspicious lottery winners is your tax money. A pretty paltry sum of $100 million a year in the grand scheme of the total take from OLG goes to ‘charitable’ programs through The Trillium Foundation. The other revenue goes into the government’s general funds and is not accountable. I hope that it is a truly independent regulatory regime is set-up to address these issues. This is a real can of worms and the impact is being felt across Canada.

Moyers on America - “Corporate Crimes” (url)

March 17, 2007

Happened to catch this on television last night. Here is the description of the documentary:

"Capitol Crimes"

"It’s a dizzying scope of perfidy and politics that boggles the imagination, and although Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay have been brought down, the system remains as vulnerable as ever," says Bill Moyers. "The scale of corruption still coming to light dwarfs anything since Watergate. In one sense it’s the age-old tale of greed, but greed encouraged now by the way our system works. Deep in the plea agreements of Jack Abramoff and his cronies is the admission that they conspired to use campaign contributions to bribe politicians; campaign finance is at the core of the corruption. They took great pains to cover their tracks, and they might have pulled it off except for a handful of honest people, and the work of some enterprising print reporters, Senate investigators, and the ethics team at the department of justice. Following the money in this story leads through a bizarre maze of cocktail parties, golf courses, private jets, four-star restaurants, sweatshops - and the aura of chandeliered rooms frequented by the high and mighty of Washington."

for more information see http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/capitol/index.html

The Scoop on Paragon Gaming

November 15, 2006

Last week Alberta’s new River Cree Resort and Casino, the first Native casino in the province, opened.

According to an Edmonton Sun report by Jenny Feniak, the opening of Alberta’s largest destination resort casino began "with the million-dollar invite-only VIP grand opening soiree with 1,500 of Edmonton’s finest patrons in attendance" (see http://www.edmontonsun.ca/News/Edmonton/2006/11/05/2241976-sun.html).

The River Cree Resort and Casino is a partnership between Paragon Gaming of Las Vegas and the Enoch Community Development Corporation – a subsidiary of Enoch Cree First Nation, a reserve where unemployment rates reach 65 per cent.

According to another article written by the Edmonton Journal’s Jim Farrell the casino revenues will be divided as follows: Paragon Gaming will receive 15% of gambling revenues from the River Cree Resort and Casino, the Alberta Lottery Fund will receive 30 percent, the Enoch Cree Nation will receive 30 per cent and the remaining 10 percent will be set aside for other First Nations in Alberta. The Enoch Cree First Nation Me’Cet Society, a not-for profit society, will also receive 15% and will distribute those revenues to local schools, social development and employment projects as well as towards job training. Revenues from the resort side of the casino will be split 55-45 between Paragon and Enoch (see http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=42c2246c-1b42-473a-9f64-6e8b81577ef7&p=2).

I hadn’t heard of Paragon Gaming so I decided to do some research.

On the Paragon Gaming website (see http://www.paragongaming.com/about.html), the summary of the company reads:

"Paragon Gaming LLC of Las Vegas is a developer and operator of gaming based properties. With extensive experience as both a principal and a consultant, Paragon prides itself in executing all aspects of the gaming industry, including casino management, market analysis, planning and development, financial structure, public affairs, government entitlements and approvals, and securing strategic partnerships.

A significant segment of Paragon’s business is partnering with Native American and Canadian First Nation aboriginal groups. Accordingly, Paragon has developed the ability and experience to effectively address the profound social and economic needs of its partners throughout the planning, development and operation of all Indian gaming facilities."

Aside from its stake in the River Cree Resort and Casino, Paragon Gaming recently purchased the financially troubled Edgewater Casino in downtown Vancouver, making it the first foreign-owned casino in B.C. It has also built and run the Augustine Casino, a Native American property in Palm Desert, California that opened in 2001; and is developing another Alberta gaming project outside Whitecourt, the $50 million Alexis Casino and Travel Plaza.

Since arriving on the Canadian gambling scene five years ago, Paragon Gaming has been primarily focusing on First Nation gaming projects. The Edgewater Casino, located in the Plaza of Nations that was built for the Vancouver 1986 World Exposition Fair, is the first property Paragon Gaming (or Paragon BC, ULC, a division of Paragon Gaming LLC) has bought as a ‘going concern’ instead of developing and managing it from the ground up [’going concern’ is a nice way of putting it as the former owners of the Edgewater Casino Inc. had been in bankruptcy protection since May, 2006 as a result of $29-million in debts it incurred since it opened in February, 2005].

The Paragon Gaming website goes on to say that "Paragon executives have operated the Sahara Hotel and Casino, as well as the Edgewater Laughlin, Colorado Belle Laughlin, Excalibur, Luxor, and Circus Circus casinos in Las Vegas which were owned by Circus Circus Enterprises. At the time of their construction, the Excalibur and Luxor were leading properties in the Las Vegas market and remain among the most profitable gaming resorts in Las Vegas".

The Paragon Gaming founder and CEO is Diana Bennett, the daughter of Las Vegas gambling pioneer Bill Bennett, who was the former chairman and co-founder Circus Circus Enterprises (now the Mandalay Resort Group). Bill Bennett ’s Gordon Gaming Co. bought the Sahara Hotel and Casino in 1995. Ms. Bennett’s career in the gambling industry began under the tutelage of her father, who was one of America’s richest men at the time of his death in 2002.

Paragon Gaming specializes in partnering with Native American and Canadian First Nation aboriginal groups to plan, develop and operate Indian gaming facilities. Its first partnership was with the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Mission Indians of California, near Palm Springs, a tribe that could only claim one adult member.

A brief history of the Augustine Band and the Augustine Casino, which opened in 2002, can be found at The Indian Country Today website (see http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1028034940). This story resembles that of the Pequot Tribe who run Connecticut’s Foxwoods Casino which was established in 1992.

Paragon Gaming gained approval from the National Indian Gaming Commission to operate as the casino’s management company for five years, the maximum time California law allows a tribal casino to employ an outside management firm. Paragon Gaming, after experiencing double digit growth year over year at the Augustine Casino property, turned over the management of the development to the Augustine Board of Directors in July, 2006.

Another earlier proposal by Paragon in 2001 to partner with the Maidu Indian Tribe in northern California to buy acreage at the Channel Islands Harbor in Ventura County and build a 250-room hotel-casino with slot machines and gaming tables was nixed.

According to an article in Gambling Magazine (see http://gamblingmagazine.com/articles/27/27-1049.htm), in order to "comply with legal restrictions on gambling operations, the group [Paragon] proposed to convert the land into an Indian reservation, an increasingly common end-run maneuver."

‘The Watchdog’, a writer of "lineage in the Cherokee tribe" writing in the Oxnard Journal, had this to say about Paragon Gaming’s proposal (see http://www.oxnard-journal.com/arc11.htm):

"How does this poor landless Maidu indian tribe propose to fund such a huge project? This is the point where this story takes a frightening turn. Enter PARAGON GAMING. Paragon is a Limited Liability Corporation that plans to develop gambling projects across the United States and Canada using Native American Indian tribes as a front."

The author goes on to say: "Kudos to Mayor Lopez and Councilman John Zaragoza who wasted no time taking a stand of opposition to the Casino proposal and no doubt see the project for what it really is, a Front for Big Nevada Gambling to grab a foothold in California. Once again, history repeats itself and big corporate money has found a loophole in the system by taking advantage of Native American Indians who will serve as a bona fide FRONT to cloak Paragon’s plans to build full-blown gambling casinos here in California and also nationwide in states where gambling is otherwise illegal. When Paragon left Port Hueneme, they said they would "find an indian tribe" and they did."

It appears that the Criminal Code of Canada is not being enforced with regards to private companies, such as Paragon Gaming, operating in the Canadian gambling market (for further discussion of this issue see the document Legalization of Gambling in Canada by Colin Campbell, Timothy Hartnagel and Garry Smith prepared for the Law Commission of Canada at http://people.douglas.bc.ca/colincampbell/gambling.pdf). The Criminal Code of Canada implies that only provincial governments can manage and conduct lottery schemes, which is interpreted to include all gambling enterprises in Canada except horse racing. It further suggests that all profits must go to public good, charities or religious organizations and that no profits can go to private interests, especially US interests.

Nor do Canadian First Nation groups have the same protections afforded tribal casinos in California where outside casino management firms, such as Paragon, can only operate a tribal casino for a period of five years before turning the operations over to the Indian tribe they have partnered with.

Unless the federal laws regarding gambling in Canada are enforced, there will be an influx of what "The Watchdog" calls "Big Nevada Corporate Gambling" in Canada.

by K. Ching

Ontario - New logo costs lottery agency millions

September 8, 2006

Ontario tax dollars at work … what about health and social programs?????

New logo costs lottery agency millions

MPP calls the change ‘extremely wasteful’

KAREN HOWLETT, Globe and Mail, 07/09/06

TORONTO — The Ontario Crown agency that manages the province’s casinos has become embroiled in controversy for spending up to $6-million in taxpayers’ money to re-brand the corporation.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., which had been known until recently as OLGC for short, spent between $4-million and $6-million to lop the C from its logo, chief executive officer Duncan Brown said yesterday. He was being questioned by Progressive Conservative MPP Joe Tascona at the standing committee on government agencies.

Mr. Tascona said in an interview after the hearing that the logo change seemed like an "extremely wasteful" exercise.

Mr. Brown said in the committee hearing that the new logo was just one part of the re-branding process. "It’s not about dropping a C," he said. "It’s about creating a brand that represents trust and integrity."

Mr. Brown was also grilled about why the lottery corporation’s contract with the advertising agency that created Premier Dalton McGuinty’s campaign ads more than doubled after the 2003 election. In 2004, Bensimon-Byrne received a new three-year contract for the lottery valued at $2.8-million. The firm’s previous three-year contract was valued at $1.4-million.

Lottery spokesman Joe Vecsi said a number of firms, including Bensimon-Byrne, were involved in the design and development of the new logo.

"Ontarians deserve an explanation for this Liberal-friendly advertising agency’s huge increase in its contract and they deserve to know why a Crown corporation is spending millions to drop a letter from its logo," Mr. Tascona said.

Yesterday was not the first time the ad agency’s government contracts have come under scrutiny. The Ontario government said in November that there was no political interference when Bensimon-Byrne’s total government contracts jumped to $6.3-million during the McGuinty government’s first full year in office from just $99,900 under its predecessor.

Ontario - Casino profits to be halved in 3 years

Casino profits to be halved in 3 years

Niagara, Windsor in most danger

Lee Greenberg, The Ottawa Citizen, Thursday, September 07, 2006

TORONTO - Profits at Ontario’s three border-area casinos, which have long been cash cows for the government coffers, will be slashed almost in half over a three-year period, a Crown executive said.

Beset by decreased traffic and increased competition, profits will decline $163 million by 2008.

"We’re anticipating that a series of events, which some people have described as a perfect storm, will have an impact," Duncan Brown, chief executive of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, said after appearing before a government committee.

"The source of revenue decline is focused on our large commercial casinos in the border regions," he said.

Increased U.S. competition, a rising Canadian dollar, a provincewide smoking ban and a decline in cross-border visits are all blamed for the casinos’ sagging fortunes, which are summarized in an OLGC document titled Four-Year Plan.

The projected decline in profitability is most extreme in Windsor and Niagara Falls.

The two Niagara casinos, which reaped $136.2 million net profit in 2005, are expected to fall to $32.8 million in profit in 2008. Profit at Casino Windsor will drop to $25.2 million from $101.1 million over the same period.

The hit, when added to capital expenditures, primarily at the Windsor casino, will amount to a nearly $500-million loss to the approximately $2-billion annual cash infusion the government receives from state-sanctioned gambling.

Mr. Brown told MPPs yesterday he expects profits to rebound significantly in 2009, nearly doubling at casinos in both cities.

Casino Windsor is currently in the midst of a $400-million expansion, which includes a 400-room hotel and a 100,000- square-foot convention centre that will include a 5,000-seat entertainment facility.

"We’ll be able to return Casino Windsor back to a position in the market that it previously occupied," Mr. Brown said, touting the new facility’s ability to bring in "a different, broader audience."

However, competition from neighbouring Detroit, which opened the door to gambling in 1999, is unrelenting. MGM Grand’s Detroit casino is also undergoing a complete revamp.

In Niagara Falls, where the government owns two casinos, Mr. Brown said changes to "management, marketing and operations" will lead to improvement in the business.

He also cautioned that "in both cases, of course, we’re also looking at the impact of border issues, change in the American currency and the impact of the smoke-free Ontario legislation."

Politicians on either side of the aisle cast doubt on the reasoning behind the company’s projected rebound.

"We’re projecting that revenues at our commercial casinos are going to go down over the next four years and then in the last year they magically go up by $500 million," said New Democratic MPP Gilles Bisson. "I just question where those numbers come from."

"The passport issue is going to be a problem," said Conservative MPP Laurie Scott, referring to U.S. legislation that goes into effect at Canadian land crossings in 2008.

New Zealand - Charities take stand against pokies funding

Charities take stand against pokies funding

1.00pm Friday September 8, 2006

Twenty charities have banded together and refused to accept the takings from pokie machines because they say the impact of gambling undermines their moves to help the needy.

The decision by the charities to join a No Pokies register set up by the Gambling Watch lobby group has been welcomed by the Public Health Association, which described the stand as "gutsy".

"There’s not a lot of funding around for charities, community groups and non-government organisations, so refusing pokie money takes real moral courage," said association director Gay Keating.

While charities did good work with their share of $300 million in pokie funds, Dr Keating said there was a bigger picture to be considered.

"The bottom line is that much of this money is sourced from people with a gambling addiction that is likely to have played havoc with their social, physical and mental health."

Problem gamblers found it harder to afford healthy food, heating, shelter, transport, medications and health services, she said.

"We know that poorer communities are hit hardest by losses on the pokies and other gambling. By choosing not to take ‘tainted’ money, these charities are acknowledging the harm caused by problem gambling."

- NZPA

Norway: Gambling machines to be banned from next July

August 25, 2006

Norway: Gambling machines to be banned from next July (22.08.2006)

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Norway: Gambling machines to be banned from next July.

(Norway).- The Government wants to ban all one-armed bandits

and slot machines from the  Norwegian market from July 1st next year,

the Minister of Culture, Trond Giske, has  announced.

All licenses for gambling machines expire on that date and none will be  renewed,

the minister said to the newspaper VG.  This means that 15,000 machines will be removed

by July 1st 2007 at the latest. The  government’s move comes after a prolonged public

debate recognizing the serious problems  the gambling machines pose

for an increasing number of people becoming compulsive  gamblers. Today

these machines are often located in public places, like shopping malls  and bars.

The government has wanted to give the football pools organization Norsk Tipping monopoly

on gambling machines, allowing a limited number under very strict regulations. However,

this case is pending before the EEA court, and even if this monopoly should be accpeted

by the court, it will not come into effect before 2008, according to Giske.

This means that Norway will be without gambling machines for at least 6 months.

Should  the EEA court refuse to accept the Norsk Tipping monopoly, the ban on

gambling machines  in Norway would be permanent, Giske says to VG.

The Norway Post

Information von Richard Honegger

Poorer communities have less to spend, more to gamble

August 5, 2006

Author:	Brogden, Marcus
	Source:	Stuff.co.nz
	Published Date:	Aug 01, 2006

	Full Document:
	NEW ZEALAND – The vast majority of problem gamblers also don’t seek help freely available to them, Ministry of Health gambling project team leader Shayne Nahu said. He said just 12 per cent of people classed as problem gamblers have accessed Ministry funded services. "This leaves a huge group in society who have a gambling problem but either have not yet acknowledged it or don’t know what to do about it. Many of these come from poorer communities. We have to work harder to reach and help these people." Problem gambling is characterised by symptoms such as feeling a loss or control over one’s gambling, being preoccupied by gambling, and lying to others to conceal the extent of involvement, the Ministry said. The reports illustrate the discrepancy in gambling between economically rich and poor communities. A 2002/03 New Zealand Health Survey showed almost two thirds of problem gamblers lived in 40 per cent of New Zealand’s most socio-economically deprived areas. Meanwhile a report titled Problem Gambling Geography showed around half of non casino gaming machines (NCGM) and TABs are located in the 30 per cent most socio-economically deprived parts of New Zealand. The area of the highest number of NCGMs was Greymouth – 136 per 10000 people, followed by Te Awamutu (92.1), Whakatane (91.4) and Hawera (89), while west Auckland had the least. The concerns come despite a drop in the number of people using problem gambling services. Statistics for 2005 show a 15.8 per cent drop in people using Ministry funded specialist problem gambling services and a 20.9 per cent decrease in the number of new clients. Mr Nahu said that smokefree venues, regulatory measures to prevent and minimise gambling harm, and increasing public awareness of gambling issues could be behind the drop. The Ministry has started two screening projects to train GPs and social service workers to identify people who may have a gambling-related problem or who may be at risk of gambling-related harm. Mr Nahu said the number of people being referred to problem gambling services is expected to increase as a result. The Ministry has responsibility under the Gambling Act 2003 for a public health programme to prevent and minimise gambling harm. It also funds a range of treatment services to support people and communities affected by gambling. Key findings of the 2002/03 New Zealand Health Survey include: • 1.2 per cent of the population are estimated to be problem gamblers • Maori and Pacific people are disproportionately affected • Almost two thirds of problem gamblers live in New Zealand’s 40 per cent most socioeconomically deprived areas • Significant risk factors include being between 25-34, Maori or Pacific ethnicity, lower educational attainment, being employed and living alone • Problem gambling is strongly associated with risky drinking behaviour and smoking • Problem gamblers are more likely to see themselves as having poor health Key findings of the Problem Gambling Geography report 2005 include: • Gambling opportunities are widespread through New Zealand • There has been a 13.4 percent drop in the number of non-casino gaming machines - 25,221 2003 (June 2003) to 21,846 2005 (June 2005) but their distribution remains relatively unchanged from 2003. • Around half of NCGMs and TABs are located in the 30 per cent most socio-economically deprived areas of New Zealand.

Squamish Bound

May 14, 2006

Christine is Squamish bound on Wednesday! Stay tuned….and she still has some work to do on a little movie project so stay tuned for that toooooooo…….

Lahey & Christine - Jan. 30 2006