Politicians are ever-fond of the notion of using casinos as surrogate police, tasking them with collecting delinquent child-support payments. Louisiana has actually been doing this since 2011 and hit the jackpot: $2 million-plus to date. So where do deadbeat dads like to play? Boomtown Belle is the winner, collecting $191,006 to date and also boasting the single largest monthly haul. They’re also pretty keen on Harrah’s New Orleans ($185,256), Hollywood Casino Baton Rouge ($177,494) and Eldorado up in the Bossier City-Shreveport market ($177,392). So if you’re a deadbeat parent in Louisiana and you gamble, you’re shooting dice with Big Brother.
* The casino industry has done pretty darn little to support Rep. Dina 
Titus (D-NV) but she’s not holding any grudges. In fact, she’s authored a bill to eliminate the federal handle tax on sports wagers. Imposed only in Nevada and Delaware, the tax constitutes a tiny fraction of a point and, when asked where the money went, the Internal Revenue Service couldn’t account for it. As Titus puts it, “This seems like a penalty being paid by Nevada.”
Cantor Gaming CEO Lee Amaitis, who set the process in motion when he asked Titus’ office for an accounting of the money, is supportive. He’d pay a Nevada handle tax instead (although he’d really like to put his handle tax money toward infrastructural improvements). Even archrival William Hill is onboard with the legislation. It seems like plain old common sense, even if Nevada vs. Congress is a David-and-Goliath proposition.
* Hundreds of political refugees, from Bosnia to Bhutan (with Iraq and Eritrea thrown in), are getting a chance to experience America‘s bounty, courtesy of Pennsylvania casinos. Rivers Casino‘s refugee staff is double the percentage that prevails elsewhere in Allegheny County. Local churches and synagogues are helping funnel needy people from exile to employee, with some landing jobs that pay $28/hour. As Presque Isle Downs‘ Paul Jericho put it, “Once they learn the system, they’re given a chance to perform equally with all the other dealers. It’s a meritocracy, and it gives them the chance to live the American dream.”
The biggest learning curve has been adjusting not only to Pennsylvania vernacular but the rough language gamblers are wont to use. “People make jokes here that are different from what someone would say in Nepal,” says dealer Pashtu Pati. A Rivers pit boss, Tanka Ghimirey confirms what Pati says but advocates casino work as the path of opportunity: “People should think about working here. They have great benefits, and the upper management reaches out to us. They want us to succeed in America, and we want to live the American dream. We’re a good bet.”
Forty percent of Jericho’s dealers are refugees. “If you’re a no-show, you’re fired,” he says of them. “But when you have the work ethic that these men and women have, you don’t have to worry about that.”
* GardaWorld is $21,000 poorer now it will have to reimburse Revel for a lost bag of cash it carelessly left atop an armored car. No wrongdoing was found in the incident, which saw a GardaWorld vehicle tooling around Atlantic City with a clear, plastic bag of Revel megabucks up there for anyone to take. The reimbursement, alas, won’t be even a drop in the bucket of Revel’s financial problems.
