States in the US have been debating slots for some time now. Some legislators want the games in the market. They believe that no one can pass up the millions of dollars they would bring in. Take Hollywood Casino in Perryville Maryland for example. The casino opened at the end of November of 2010 and within four days it posted $2- million in revenue. With numbers like that it could easily bring in upwards of $50-million in just one month of operations. Of course opening day probably was a huge draw and most likely their revenue will taper off, but that still could leave $30 to $40- million in revenue on the table for the state. This is part of the reason why pro-gambling activists are pushing so hard for new legislation to allow the games. They believe that there are few other options that possibly could compete with that kine of revenue and supplement. States already have gone through hefty budget cuts and are trying to think of new ways to stop the cut backs. They want to go ahead with plans for expansion, development, roads, construction, education and public works. However, without some new money to fuel those plans, they may have a difficult time finding funding. Add to the issue the huge deficits most states are under and you have a true financial dilemma to deal with.

On the other hand though there are also anti-gambling activists fighting just as hard from the other side of the coin. They acknowledge that slots will bring in millions of dollars. That is a given– the games are popular and people love testing out new ones. Their concern though is that the cost of legalizing gambling is a large one. For example, let’s say gambling is legalized and a good slots parlor brings in $10-million per month. The crime rate will go up due to the move and so would addiction and money laundering, or so says the anti-gambling world. That could create a need for more policemen to manage crime, more money for addiction centers and more money for task forces to investigate illegal activities. Though states would bringing in huge dollars a large portion may have to go directly to the problems gaming creates.

Part two coming next.

The creation of racinos is causing some controversy in the market. A racino is a combination of race track and slots parlor. Race tracks these days are suffering. More and more are having problems. Since the recession, race tracks have had steadily declining numbers and it seems that nothing can revive them. They have tried building bigger races and bringing in more scheduled races, but nothing is working. As a last ditch effort, many are petitioning their home states in an effort to get approval for bringing slot gaming in. It is no secret that slots gaming is highly lucrative and that it is one of the final ways for economies, and race tracks, to try to save themselves. Slots are credited with bringing in 60% of the revenue that Las Vegas casinos have right now. They are the games that single handedly are allowing the casino market to continue to hold on. That is no small feat. This is why now race track owners are looking to the games as a means of building their own businesses up. There is a problem though.

Legislators are pushing for race tracks to get their slots, but not without an added cost to the public. Sure they can expand slots gaming, but it could threaten the markets for local gaming companies. For example, a land based casino is no doubt going to suffer some losses once slots are offered at race tracks throughout the states too. Plus, with the rise in the online market this too is thinning down the market. Though gaming companies are entering the market, there aren’t as many new gamers entering to support them at the past levels of performance. In addition, some states are hoping to put millions into the racing industry as a way to save it. They are taking a lot of criticism from anti-gambling activists. They maintain that race tracks are the last things legislators should be putting their money into…especially since the recessionary aftermath is still alive and well. Nothing is back to normal just yet and businesses are stressed financially. Is this the right time for legislators to earmark millions to a steadily-dying market like race tracks?

Many state legislators are looking for slots gaming to pull them out of the post-recessionary slump. They believe that slots are what it will take to turn things around. Even states that have long-established casinos are toying with increasing slots as a way to generate more income. Kansas is now joining in on the debate. The state legislators are debating whether or not this should happen in 2011. The lines are drawn up in the normal way. On one side, pro- gambling activists believe that the money slots would bring in is going to be well worth the efforts to create workable laws. Slots are the one thing that can bring in millions of dollars every month and help to turn things around. The state remember is under a heavy deficit right now and bringing gaming in would help to shore up state coffers. On the other side though is the anti-gambling side. They believe that though gambling could bring in money, it also brings in an inevitable repercussion of crime, corruption and addiction. If the state brings in millions, it could end up spending a huge part of that additional revenue on fixing problems gambling created in the first place. For example, if the state brings in an additional $5 million a month in revenue from a slots parlor, that could bring with it more thieves looking to rob the casino and patrons. This could necessitate the use of a heavier police force to work with. The cost of employing more officers, or even creating task forces specifically focused on gambling, could cost the state millions every month too. The benefits would quickly be worked out with the cost involved.

The debates are still raging, but Kansas officials are trying to see if they can expand gambling and slots play to the southeastern area of the state. State Representative Bob Grant is hoping to convene next year and bring up the issue once again. He believes that it could be the difference between problems with finances, and finding the budget needed to continue with public programs and expansion. State residents will have to wait until 2011 to see what happens with the issue, but they too are forming their own opinions on what should happen.

There are a lot of ways to get around the law. People know it. Thieves know it. This is one of the problems that legislators are having when it comes to making the rules. They are coming up left and right with issues due to lacking bills. The most egregious one of which was the 2006 UIGEA. The law was supposed to stop online gambling. In the end, it did little to help. In fact it created more misunderstandings than anything else. For example, one of the biggest challenges it created was by never defining what “gambling” exactly was. This left the door open for interpretation. Right now the US is in a state of every-state-for-themselves when it comes to gambling. some are allowing slots in due to the huge tax revenue dollars and others are not. They believe that slots will bring in crime and cause more addictions than they are worth. Laws are not in order to manage gambling or slots play and that is causing a huge amount of confusion to the market.

So states are left to do their own decision making when it comes to slot machines and how they are going to operate. Some states are pushing for some slots activity. They know that slots make up about 60% of the Las Vegas revenue. It is no secret that the games are big business and that makes they highly coveted in the market. Some states are putting them in casinos and race tracks. Others are pushing to have them in bars and pubs. Of course the states take a good portion of the revenues that come from them, as do the counties and the cities they are located in. But the money-making potential is what is the huge draw for legislators. Still, not all legislators are on board. Some are still hesitant and they believe that slots are the most addictive games in the gambling market. They believe that if they allow them in, they are going to create more addicts than their jurisdictions are ready to handle. Not to mention the further problems like job loss, family dissolution, foreclosure, repossession, etc. Only time will tell which ones wins out, but right now legislators are doing a hefty job of fighting it out.

Alabama is one of those states that is having a rush of illegal gambling activities. The state just realized a new illegal slot machine ring. There is some controversy though. The owner of County Crossings has long operated his own bingo machines in his establishment. It hasn’t proven to be an issue with locals knowing full well about his operations. They know that he is operating a slew of machines that all offer excellent gaming. So far he has contributed to the market not only in tax revenue but also in employing people to run County Crossings. He is now in for a fight however. Legislators want to shut him down because slots gambling is not allowed in the state of Alabama. The games have long been denied approval in the area and that isn’t scheduled to change anytime soon. The governor is a strong anti-gambling backer and has reiterated his intent to never allow the games into the market. The owner of County Crossings however is ready to fight.

County Crossing’s owner has been operating the games though slot machines are illegal for a reason. He believes that his games are not slots, rather they are bingo games. Therefore they don’t fall under the same heading as gambling games. Though the law does not allow for “bingo games”, things are sketchy on what he can do to protect his livelihood. For a few months now there have been threats of a raid on his facility and he is trying to come up with ways to avoid that. His latest petition is for the law to come in and arrest him. He believes that this would allow him the chance to speak up for himself and make his own case on why his games are not gambling in nature. He should be allowed to still operate them and wants the opportunity to prove his case. Only time will tell whether or not he will get the chance or if legislators are just going to go ahead with the all-out raid that they were planning. Hopefully he will get the chance to state his case—either to a judge or via his lawyer if he is arrested in the end.

Maryland is a state that has long been embroiled in the question of bringing in gambling via slots. There is a strong part of their market that wants the games. They see them as great pastimes with the added benefit of bringing in much more in tax revenue dollars than any other market would allow. They also believe that the games would also bring in jobs. For example, if a state approves a 1,500-game slots parlor, it will inevitably need more manpower to operate it. This could be great news for locals. There is a problem though: the anti-gambling faction. These are a group of equally passionate legislators and organizations that believe in anti-gambling as a means of protecting the public from problems. Right now there already is a 1,500-machine slots parlor within the state and it already is performing well. Legislators want to push it though—they want to expand gambling and bring in even more money…and that is where the problem is.

Gamblers like to wager at slots parlors—history has proven that slots games are the most potentially addictive games on the casino floor. Though gamblers are aware of how much a poker table’s buy-in is, for example, they may underestimate how much they pay into a penny slots game over any given hour of wagering. It’s easy to be fooled by the “penny slots” sign and think that you are going to wager much less than you actually do. Legislators are pushing for more slots parlors in Maryland, but other groups are stating that now they are just getting greedy. If they continue to push the market into more gambling choices, it will increase the number of problems the state has to deal with. And the state already has a huge deficit to manage. Does it have the resources to now police more slots parlors? Does it have the resources to now offer addiction services to gamers who need help with their gambling habits? Since the state already has a huge deficit, most likely the answer is no. Anti-gambling groups cite this as a huge flaw in the thinking of legislators who are pushing for more gambling games to enter the state.

For months now Kentucky has been embroiled in debates over gambling. It seems as if the state is constantly having some argument over the hobby. At first the state wanted to keep slots out of the market. They noted the rise in crime and corruption as the reason for wanting to keep gambling out. Legislators then made the move to seize more than 140 online gambling domain names. They announced that the reason for the seizure is to keep citizens safe from gambling. Next the state turned the tables and changed their tunes. The reason is that they saw the huge revenue potential avaialable with gambling and how bringing it into the state can considerably help pay down the deficit and fund future programs. 

The big debate now is how to expand the market of gambling though. Some legislators want to see slot machines brought in to clubs and bars, while others say that it has to be casinos and gambling locales. All people involved are worried about the negotiations and what plan of action to take. No one knows for sure what plan will prove to be the most lucrative and everyone is weighting in on their opinion. There are many who want to see slot machines across the state as they say that it is good for business and that they will get more revenue from them if they are more apparent. They say that they should be accessible to all consumers and by placing them around the state they will be. 

But then there is the other side that says that by making slot machines accesible to the general public in a wide variety of areas creates an atmosphere for crime and corruption. They also believe that addictions will increase and the state government is not funded adequately to handle the added strain of bringing gamblers with addictions the proper resources they need to work through the issue. Without a way to handle the added psychological help needed, people may fall into more problems such as foreclosure, loss of friends and family and loss of employment. The debate rages and no one knows exactly where it is going to end up but most likely some form of gambling will be allowed into the state.

Maryland is having a hard time when it comes to managing slot machines and their legislation. The state wants slot machines and the people voted for slot machines, they just don’t like where the state is deciding to put them. Each of the locations that the state has tried to put them has failed except for Anne Arundel County. This location is the one that is a reality in the world of slots and the state.

The state has five locations to put slot machines in as per voter instructions. However, this is turning out to be a real problem as the slot machine operators can’t the machines up and running throughout the state. Ocean Downs looks like it is having a difficult time developing. The owner bought 800 slot machines and then refused to get any more as he said that the state needed to drop the taxes for holding the machines. Cecil County could be another competitor since the state purchased the land and is moving forward with the plans for a slot machine casino.  Baltimore is also having problems with the political changes needed to bring in slots.

Baltimore is having issues with politics and corruption – and who knows when they will be able to sort it all out. It could take some time for the city to work everything out. Despite legislators who want the slot machines in the state to bring in revenue, it is proving to be a difficult plan to implement. Most likely it will take some time for things to get up and running and for things to run smoothly. Experts everywhere agree that time is what is needed. Unfortunately, due to hefty deficits and financial shortfalls, the state doesn’t have the time it needs to get laws regulated. Only time will tell whether or not the plan will work. The state needs it though and legislators are working hard for the changes to come. The biggest issues are yet to be sorted out and legislators are hoping that things will move quickly. It will take some time, but the entire issue will need to be reviewed and sorted out.

Slot machine operators in Columbus have successfully gotten a temporary stay from the state of Ohio. Of course, there is still a decision to be made by the state on the final ruling, but getting a stay is the first battle in a long war. There is a court hearing scheduled for January 25^th and until that date, slot machines in the Spinners Café can continue to operate. It’s good news for the café because no one can debate how lucrative the games are. Whether they are in VFW halls, casinos, pubs, bars or racetracks they prove to be a vital contributing part of every business they are involved in. Even Las Vegas casino operators reported that slot machine make up about 60% of their overall revenue and have for a few years now.

The state of Ohio has been debating slot machines and made them illegal at one point. Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said that they were the same as Las Vegas slot machines and therefore were against Ohio state law that says that slot machines are not legal to operate in smaller establishments. The café argued that the games running were not under the category of slot machines though, but rather were just look-alike machines. They said that the games may play like slots, but they are actually “internet connected computers that use credits and not cash” to operate. They also believe that since the outcomes of the games are determined ahead of the gaming round, the games do not fall under the headings of “slot machines.”

Judge Harland H. Hale of the Franklin County Municipal Court agreed that the slot machines could stay for now but the decision holds only until the January ruling. He postponed judgment as to whether or not they actually were slot machines, and the courts across the state are having problems determining what they are. He said that they didn’t have to get rid of the ones that they had already, but they couldn’t add any new ones either. Until January 25^th the decision is in limbo and Spinners Café is on hold. The stay is good news though and allows them to continue to bring in as much revenue as they can before the deadline when a final decision is made.

The thing about slot machines is that they are very controversial. On one hand the machines themselves have been around for years. They are lucrative and fun. Gamblers have played the games for decades now and they have helped bars, pubs, businesses and casinos maintain their budgets. On the other hand, they also can open the door for crime since they are a form of gambling. They can encourage people to become addicted to them and create problems for society as a whole.

The argument is one that many states are taking on these days and New Hampshire is one of them. Ed Foley, the President of the New Hampshire State Building and Construction Trade Council summarized slot machines as: “Our own little stimulus program in New Hampshire.” Foley is talking about the deficit and budget problems the state is having. Since the recession one state after another has fallen into financial hardships. Budgets for 2010 are difficult to manage and many programs are being cut to scale back expenses. Things like expansion, infrastructure and education are all threatened by the hefty cutbacks and there are few ways to bring in extra money.

That’s where slots come in. New Hampshire is looking to use money generated from slots to pay for public programs already on the budget. Though it may be difficult, the state legislators are counting on millions of dollars slots gambling brings in every month, to sustain them throughout the next coming months. Opponents of slot machines in New Hampshire take serious issue with Foley’s description, however. They know the huge initiative Foley wants to embark on when it comes to building a slots casino with thousands of machines. One expert believes slot machines to be among the most dangerous games to be found in gambling.  According to Rhode Island clinical psychologist Robert Breen, he has seen social gamblers develop into full blown gambling addicts in a matter of only 13 months due to slot machines. The fact that the games are fast-paced and simple makes them even more of a threat to the gambling public. If they are allowed into the state in mass numbers like Foley would prefer, there must be some regulations and safeguards built into the system to avoid future problems with the games.