[ Regulators use 'velvet glove' in Cannery deal ][ Beating the odds: university gets a law changed to create a casino laboratory ][ Gambling debts splinter a friendship, lead to murder ][ Gambling addict rips Tennessee police spokesman ][ Manager jailed for stealing from store ][ Missing cabbie in debt ][ Hooked on games of [...]

[ Customs man 'crazy' for pokies ][ Is it skill or gambling? Poker players watch as SC judge considers legality of Texas hold 'em ][ Revel casino in Atlantic City delayed ][ Revenue tumbles at Arizona casinos ][ Court allows former Fry's exec to sell Ferrari, forbids him to go near company ][ A game [...]

[ Study: gamblers who lose bet more ][ The week before the Super Bowl can be difficult for gambling addicts ][ Gambling increases due to recession ][ Woman who looted church draws 2 - 6 years in jail ][ Little league coast arrested for allegedly stealing from club ][ Fears of gambling endemic as NHS [...]

Lots of fun this Tuesday afternoon, including two separate cops gone nuts:
[ Ex-New Bedford police officer admits embezzling from Washington Club, gets probation ][ Cop embezzles $450K; sentenced to 3 years ] [ Accountant accused of stealing $1.6 million from law firm ][ Gambler stole from his bosses ]

The big AP story of the week: wild stuff.
Worth asking: Heavy gov’t involvement means decriminalized casino gambling is a joint public-private venture. Now. States need money; perhaps they should spawn new business lines. But which lines? Of all the enterprises our governments might launch to (a) generate new revenue and maybe (b) enhance their [...]

[ More hard-pressed states take a chance on gambling ] [ Family Secrets defendant gets 20 years ] [ 9 injured in casino bus crash ] [ Man dies from Russian roulette injury ][ Students urged to know the score ]

[ Southeast Kansas gets no casino bids ][ CO casino gambling revenue down 12 percent ][ NE lawmaker looks to technicality to stop gambling bill ][ Competition causing Rhode Island to consider full casino gambling ][ Gambling their lives away ][ Dramatic downfall for Atlantic City's oldest casino ][ No money, so gambler burns himself [...]

55 percent of Alabama residents support casino gambling, maybe.
But this poll could be interpreted multiple ways. Only 19 percent of respondents support legalized casino gambling in the state without conditions.
Another 36 are in favor, if the funds generated are used to support education.
Which percent are in favor if the casino-derived funds [...]

The Wall Street Journal reports:
Atlantic City’s oldest casino hotel, Resorts Casino Hotel, now risks foreclosure, highlighting how New Jersey’s flailing gambling industry is coming under increasing strain.
On Thursday, Column Financial, a commercial lending subsidiary of Credit Suisse Group, filed a petition with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission seeking to begin foreclosure proceedings against [...]

[ Slot machine distributor sentenced in child-porn case ][ Fla. priest pleads guilty to pilfering church funds ] [ Court decision shrinks Wis. tribe's reservation ][ Lawmakers cool to casinos at Vt Ski resorts ][ Gov's former fundraiser admits to tax charges ][ Nevada casinos' '08 profits shrink by two-thirds ] [ Miss. player, casino [...]

“He says he’s there for me but he’s not — he’s just there.”

Let’s accept basic reality. I have to buy toothpaste. Shucking and jiving has limits when it comes to one’s toilette. Not that I haven’t been vigorous with the bristles. But who am I impressing? It’s myself and it’s the mirror. I have no dentist. Last person who got his way in there was an NYU [...]

1/14/2009, 8:17 a.m. CSTThe Associated Press
THIBODAUX, La. (AP) — A Houma man has been booked with cruelty to a juvenile for allegedly leaving his 3-month-old child strapped in a car as he gambled at a casino in Larose.
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said Monday that the baby was left in the car [...]

The Wall Street JournalJANUARY 1, 2009, 10:14 P.M. ETby Dale Buss…Also to blame for the uptick in antigambling sentiment is the industry’s poor record as an economic multiplier. In locale after locale, citizens are realizing that they were snookered by politicians’ promises that casinos would provide a problem-free explosion in jobs and income from tourism. [...]

Four minutes into the new year I was taking Dump One for Aught Nine. I know because I texted the roommate; the exact time was recorded. Four minutes. Poised on the can, I was glad about it, also. New years bring with them expectations, the opportunity for rebirth. And where there’s opportunity as grand as [...]