The police team under the guidance of puttur assistant superintendent of
police Dr P S Harsha raided a gambling den at Kashigudde near Kokkada and
arrested nine persons. An amount of Rs 1,127 was confiscated from them.
Uppinangady sub-inspector R Ramesh, Sampya SI Nagaraj and police constables
Vishwanath Rai, Devraj, Raghuram, Deviprasad, Uday, Krishnaiah, Surendra,
Monappa, Lokesh, Krishnappa and Suresh were involved in the raid.2 injured
Puttur: Two persons sustained injuries in an accident between a car and a
motorbike at Daddalapalike near Periashanth. Kayarthadka Milk Producers
Society secretary Raghav Gowda and Venkappa Gowda were returning from their
relatives house at Hirebandady when a sumo coming from Bangalore moving
towards Dharmasthala knocked Raghav Gowda and Venkappa Gowda. Uppinangady
police have registered a case. Theft at temple Mangalore: Unidentified
culprits gained entry into Guru Vidyanatha Daivastana at Bejai Kapikad road
and broke the lock and stole gold and silver worth Rs 30,000 on Monday. A
theft case has been registered at Urwa police station on Tuesday. Suicide
Mangalore: Sunil (40) of Kollam of Kerala, who was residing in a rented
house at Minakalya in Panambur.He hanged himself on Monday. An unnatural
death report has been registered at Panambur police station on Tuesday.
Vandalism Kasargod: An unidentified person on Tuesday night allegedly beat
the temple priest at Madhur Madanantheshwara Siddivinayak temple. It is
reported that the person broke the idol of lord Shiva. The police arrived on
the spot. Inquiry is under progress.

BSF soldier missing

Hubli: Border Security Force (ESF) soldier Shekhappa Gulappa Navalgund is
reportedly missing since May 6. In a complaint lodged at railway police
station, his wife Neelamma stated that Shekhappa departed from Hubli station
by Delhi Express train but neither reported to the duty nor came back home
at Pashupathihal in Kundagol taluk.

The missing is 5’8″ in height and of dark complexion. He was wearing sky
blue shirt and chocolate brown trouser while departing from Hubli station.
If any information about the missing is found, contact Hubli railway police
station or dial (0836) 2364751.

A national gambling watchdog group has raised new concerns about lottery
scratch cards sold in Ontario, charging that current practices are unfair
and misleading to the consumer. The Gambling Watch Network filed a letter
with Ontario’s ombudsman complaining that scratch tickets are sold even
after the top prizes have been won. Brian Yealland, the group’s spokesman,
said retailers should stop selling tickets if the buyer has no chance of
winning the jackpot. (CBC) “People go on purchasing those tickets although
they have no chance of winning, and it seems to us that this is a breach of
the understanding one has in buying a ticket,” Yealland said. This practice
has been the subject of scrutiny and lawsuits in the United States, causing
some state lotteries to include disclaimers on the tickets explaining that
some prizes may already be won. In Iowa, instant win tickets are pulled from
stores once the grand prizes have been claimed, said Tina Potthoff, a
spokeswoman for the Iowa State Lottery. “We want to make sure our players
have a chance to win the top prize every time they purchase a ticket,”
Potthoff said. “If by chance a top prize is missing and they only have a
second- or third-tier prize, we feel that’s false advertising.” A spokesman
for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation said players can call a
toll-free number printed on the back of each scratch and win ticket to find
out which prizes are still available to be won.

Northampton County’s human services department is trying to prepare for an
influx of gambling and alcohol addicts a Lehigh Valley casino may create.
During a council budget hearing Tuesday night, county Councilman Ron Angle
said it doesn’t matter which Valley proposal is chosen, Northampton County
will be affected. Angle asked if officials have begun assessing costs and
programs. “The drain on human services is definitely going to be there,”
Angle said. “I think you need to get geared up for it.” Sands BethWorks
Gaming LLC wants to create a South Bethlehem casino on former Bethlehem
Steel Corp. land and Tropicana Pennsylvania LLC is vying for an East
Allentown casino. Kathleen Kelly, the county’s mental health program
administrator, said the county is collecting data and department workers
plan to attend free training seminars sponsored by the companies and run by
the Pennsylvania Council on Compulsive Gambling. The state has promised to
provide funding for the increase in services, but Kelly said she hasn’t
received a figure from state officials. Kelly said Northampton County
contracts out for drug and alcohol services, and does not have specialized
services to handle gambling addicts. Officials said residents can use
self-help groups such as Gamblers Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous, but
Human Services Director Ross P. Marcus said the Valley has a limited number
of GA groups. Kelly said the state is also creating a hotline. “I hope we’re
not relying on the state hotline to take care of our problems here,” Angle
said.

A South African judge gave online gambling optimists pause for thought this
week in a judgement that unlicensed gambling in the country was illegal.
Online gamblers in South Africa could be fined up to Rands 10 million (GBP
735 000) or jailed for up to 10 years in terms of current legislation, which
will hopefully be reversed if the government decides to follow
recommendations to legalise the pastime following extensive research. But
this week the ruling in the Pretoria High Court was against online gambling.
Judge Willie Hartzenberg dismissed an application by Casino Enterprises of
Swaziland to allow residents of the populous Gauteng province to gamble
online. The casino had taken the Gauteng and the National Gambling Board, as
well as the SA Minister of Trade and Industry, to court. The basis for the
application was that although the wagering was done on personal computers in
Gauteng, the gambling was in reality taking place in Swaziland. The casino
stressed that because of this, the punters were not contravening the Gauteng
Gambling Act. However, the application was strenuously opposed by the
defendants, who argued that Casino Enterprises was not licensed to operate
gambling activities in South Africa. In his ruling, Judge Hartzenberg noted:
“In terms of section 15(1) of the National Act, nobody is allowed to
advertise or promote any gambling activity in the Republic which is unlawful
in terms of that act or applicable provincial law, and in terms of section
71(1) of the Gauteng act, nobody is allowed to advertise or disseminate any
information relating to gambling in Gauteng in respect of which no license
was issued.” When parliament passed the gambling laws, it took a number of
issues into consideration, including the fact that it had to guard against
people gambling irresponsibly and becoming addicted. “It was recognised that
gambling can be dangerous for individuals and that they have to be protected
by way of controls,” stated the judge, adding: “It was recognised that
gambling can be a great source of revenue for the province, which, if wisely
spent, can improve the standard of living.” To ensure that the government
achieved the goal of generating more revenue for its coffers, it had to
institute proper controls.

“One thinks of licensing of casinos and of a levy on turnover.

“All monies spent on casino gambling must contribute to the coffers of the
state or the province,” said Judge Hartzenberg.

The only way that the government could ensure that it maintained proper
controls of casino gambling was if only licensed casinos were permitted to
operate, he added.

In dismissing the plaintiff’s application, Judge Hartzenberg said: “It is
difficult to see why the Swaziland legislation, in terms of which the
plaintiff obtained its casino license, can have extra-territorial operation.

“In other words, why actions of the plaintiff within the borders of the
Republic are sanctioned by the Swaziland license.”

In a statement, the Gauteng Gambling Board hailed the court’s decision as a
groundbreaking one and maintained that online gambling was unlawful.

The board warned punters, organisations, banks and Internet providers which
advertise or facilitate online gambling that they would be prosecuted. It
said this would be enforced by monitoring Internet gambling.

Slot-machine casinos are opening in Pennsylvania despite the fact that the
state does not have a gambling addiction program in place to handle an
expected rise in compulsive gamblers seeking treatment. Although the slots
parlors are required to advertise the existence of such services, the state
has not set up a compulsive gambling hot line or a procedure to subsidize
gambling addiction treatment services.

A contingent of nearly a dozen New York City police offers arrived in Miami
Beach Monday morning to transfer several defendants being held in an “online
gambling” bust back to New York for a Tuesday arraignment. The sophisticated
Internet-based gambling scheme took in $3.3 billion in cash wagers from
40,000 bettors nationwide since 2004, authorities said. They announced
charges against James Giordano, 26 other defendants and three companies,
including one in Hollywood and another in Davie. ”This is the largest
illegal gambling operation we have ever encountered,” said New York Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly two weeks ago when the indictment was made
public. “It rivals casinos for the amount of betting.” Armed with arrest
and search warrants, law enforcement climbed over Giordano’s four-foot wall
and knocked on his front door. They arrested him and he remained in a Miami
prison awaiting transport to New York.
Gambling911.com sources located the plain clothed New York City police
officers at Miami Beach’s famed Clevelander bar at around 1:30 pm Monday
afternoon. One of the officers was seen scaring off a Boston Red Sox fan
and the poor misguided sap’s girlfriend. At the bar, officers met up with a
female FBI agent based out of Miami. She was not involved in the case. “The
Clevelander was like CSI New York Meets CSI Miami…but the officers brought
with them bad weather from the Northeast. The forecast called for clear
skies Monday but it rained the entire time the NYPD was at the Clevelander,”
our source disclosed.

The U.K. Gambling Commission said Monday that it has launched its new
conditions under which licences are granted to gambling operators and staff,
and new codes of practice, which all operators in the gambling industry must
follow if they want to run a gambling business in Britain next year. The
Commission said it will have significant new legal powers to monitor the
industry and to prosecute illegal gambling. It will also advise central and
local government on issues related to gambling. Set up in October 2005, the
Commission’s remit is to regulate the gambling industry in the public
interest. The new regulations will be summed up in licence conditions and
codes for the industry, the regulator said. Peter Dean, the Commission’s
chairman. “Britain’s gambling laws are undergoing wholesale reform and from
September next year all operators must be licensed by the Gambling
Commission”. “The conditions and codes set out the rules which operators
must observe to meet our three licensing objectives of keeping crime out of
gambling, ensuring that gambling is fair and open, and protecting children
and other vulnerable people”, Dean said. The Commission has powers to
prosecute operators who fail to maintain standards and can impose unlimited
fines on operators that breach their licence conditions.

As reported by Stuff: “A downturn in the number of gambling addicts seeking
help has led the Ministry of Health to review 12 problem gambling services
throughout New Zealand. “However, the ministry is not rushing into shutting
down the services just yet, because no one knows why the numbers of problem
gamblers looking for help are apparently dropping. “Nor does the ministry
know how long the downturn will last, deputy director-general for mental
health Dr Janice Wilson said. “…The smoking ban and gambling-limiting
legislation are both seen as contributing to lowering the numbers of people
contacting the help services, she said…”

Slot-machine casinos are opening in Pennsylvania despite the fact that the
state does not have a gambling-addiction program in place to handle an
expected rise in compulsive gamblers seeking treatment. Although the slots
parlors are required to advertise the existence of such services, the state
has not set up a compulsive-gambling hot line or a procedure to subsidize
gambling-addiction treatment services. Gene Boyle, who directs the state
Health Department’s Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs, says both are
months away. In the meantime, he says the state will lean on existing
providers, such as the Philadelphia-based Council on Compulsive Gambling of
Pennsylvania. The state’s first slots parlor opened November 14th at the
Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs racetrack in northeastern Pennsylvania, and
three more slots parlors are expected to open at racetracks in the next
three months.

Despite the potentially negative impacts of a federal online gambling law,
profits at Tyler Hancock’s online poker Web site are almost back to where
they were before the law passed in October. Hancock, an interdisciplinary
studies senior, runs FuturePokerPros.com, which makes its money by taking a
percentage of the
winnings of each player it recruits for other online poker sites. Hancock
said U.S. players dropped from 85 percent of his customers to 65 percent
after they got kicked off sites where they had previously played. He has
recruited more European and Canadian players to make up for the loss. “My
big players are never going to quit playing poker no matter what happens,”
Hancock said. About 10 large online poker Web sites have stopped offering
service to U.S. customers because the new law requires American financial
institutions to block online gambling transactions, said Michael Bolcerek,
president of the San Francisco-based Poker Players Alliance. U.S. customers
represented between 60 percent and 75 percent of these sites’ customers, he
added. The companies can make up for the loss by expanding their operations
in Asia and Europe, he said. Hancock said he will provide franchise Web
sites to some of his top European and Canadian customers so they can help
recruit other international players. These sites are identical to the
original. In return, Hancock gets 15 percent of the profits from the
franchises.
Attracting new recruits won’t be a problem, he added. “I’m getting new
players just by playing poker,” he said. Smaller, private companies like
Hancock’s are still serving U.S. customers while waiting to find out how the
federal government decides to enforce the law, Bolcerek said. This means
banks may not start actually blocking transactions until next July, nine
months after the law was enacted, he added. Hancock said the law is unfair.

“It’s a total invasion of freedom to do what we want as Americans,” he said.

Banning online gambling is also counterproductive, said Keith Furlong,
deputy director of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based Interactive Gaming
Council.

“While the bill sponsors may have good intentions, they’re not protecting
consumers,” Furlong said. “They have turned some of the most responsible,
legitimate public companies out of the U.S. market.”

Illicit companies could take their place, sparking the creation of the
online equivalent of speakeasies, Bolcerek said.

This could lead to an increased amount of fraud and unsafe online-gambling
transactions, he added.

The best way to deal with online gambling is by legally regulating it so
it’s safe for consumers and taxing it so it benefits the government,
Bolcerek said.

The federal government could raise more than $3 billion in tax revenues
annually from regulated online gambling, he said.

No matter what happens, Hancock said he hopes the online poker industry
continues to thrive.