New York’s big score; Tribe wins in California

Various law enforcement agencies are richer to the tune of $9.6 million after nailing an offshore betting ring that extended all the way to PanamaPanama. The case started humbly enough, with some Albany County jail officers found to be involved with the illegal Internet gambling sites. Joined by other constabularies, the Albany County Sheriff’s Department worked its way up the food chain. The FBI‘s Boston, Miami and Oklahoma branches became involved, conducting literally tens of thousands of wiretaps, not to mention monitoring other forms of electronic communication.

Since the skein began to unravel when Albany officers intercepted a $4 million wire transfer to Legendz Sports, its sheriffs’ office gets the bulk of the asset forfeiture — money that must be put toward the cost of law enforcement. Albany got $4.7 million, the FBI received $1.9 million, the IRS pocketed a $1.6 million tranche and Saratoga and Florida‘s Broward County got smaller amounts.

* Penn National Gaming dodged a bullet when a federal court ruled in favor of Jamul Indian Village‘s $360 million tribal casino, which is Hollywood-Casino-Jamulbeing financed by Penn. Some local church busybodies have been trying to thwart construction, saying the Jamul didn’t have title to the land in question. U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller replied, “The court is aware of no statute or regulation, and the parties have cited none, that would require the NIGC or BIA to review or approve a management contract before the subject casino is constructed or operated, or to approve construction at all. To the contrary, the IGRA implies the Tribe may construct and operate a casino on its own land without a management contract.”

The opposition has promised to appeal. A fine bunch of Christians they are: Trying to take bread out of the Jamuls’ mouths because a casino puts their pious noses out of joint.

* Given the overwhelming backing of the manufacturing sector and the unanimous approval of the Nevada Legislature, it was a mere formality when Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) affixed his signature to a bill permitting skill-based slots in the Silver State. The new machines should be an easy sell to the casino industry, considering that they have a 12% hold.

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