Gamblor’s World

Graham Andrews, Saskatchewan News Network, Regina Leader Post, Monday, May 07, 2007

SASKATOON — The provincial government will remain tight-lipped until at least June about negotiations concerning a Saskatchewan First Nations’ plan to keep all of their casino revenues and put video lottery terminals on some reserves.

The bands also have their sights set on what would be Canada’s first agreement to allow First Nations full jurisdiction over their gambling operations.

A top official with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) said last week that negotiations between the FSIN and the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) will continue until June. Vice-Chief Morley Watson said the FSIN, which operates the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA), wants to keep all the profits from its casinos.

Contributions from SIGA’s four casinos to the provincial government are expected to equal $15.4 million this year.

The First Nations gaming authority is also scheduled to open two more casinos in 2007, one at Whitecap Dakota Nation just outside Saskatoon and another in Swift Current.

“Unfortunately, we have to give $15 million to the province,” Watson said last week.

“Our First Nations leaders and communities feel that should be put back into developing our communities. “We want to be able to retain more of our profits that we earn.”

Deb Higgins, the NDP minister responsible for SLGA, was not available for comment, but a spokesperson said the government won’t reveal any details of the negotiations until after discussions have ended.

“During the current agreement, both parties have agreed that the negotiations won’t be brought up to the media,” said SLGA spokesman David Morris.

“The discussions are ongoing and we’re not prepared to discuss those.”

If there are any major developments, Morris said, they will be announced after negotiations conclude.

Under the current agreement between the province and the FSIN, casinos operated by SIGA give 37.5 per cent of their profits to the provincial government. The First Nations Trust Fund, which was established in 2002 by the province and the FSIN, also receives 37.5 per cent of profits from those casinos. The remaining approximately 25 per cent of profits from SIGA’s casino profits go to the community development corporations associated with each of the four First Nations-run casinos.

In return for SIGA’s contributions to the province, the First Nations Trust Fund receives 25 per cent of casino revenues from the government-run casinos in Regina and Moose Jaw, which is expected to amount to an $8.4-million injection to the fund this year for a total trust fund balance of about $26.5 million.

In addition to keeping more money from First Nations-run casinos, Watson said SIGA wants the right to put video lottery terminals onto reserves where people can’t easily get to a casino, and where the chief and council would allow them. Eventually, FSIN wants total authority over its gaming, Watson said.

“We also want to look at having full jurisdiction over gaming, but that’s going to take a little bit of time,” he said, adding that, in order for that to happen, permission would have to be granted from the federal government and changes would need to be made to legislation such as the Canadian Criminal Code.

No other province’s First Nations have any similar jurisdiction over gaming, and SLGA’s Morris said he wasn’t aware of any proposals in other provinces.

As part of the 25-year gaming agreement between the province and FSIN, reviews are held every five years. Through that agreement, the provincial government has pledged to help First Nations develop proposals seeking full gaming jurisdiction from the federal government.

A SPECIAL REPORT ON GAMING AND FIRST NATIONS

With new First Nations-run casinos opening soon in Swift Current and south of Saskatoon, the gaming industry in Saskatchewan is about to get even bigger. In a special report on gaming and First Nations, which will appear in tomorrow’s newspaper, the Leader-Post and Saskatoon Star-Phoenix examine the industry and how it is affecting the province.

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007

Canadian Press, Monday, May 7th, 2007 Brandon Sun.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A device left in a casino parking garage exploded early Monday, killing a hotel employee who picked it up, authorities said.

The man was removing the device from atop a car when it exploded shortly after 4 a.m. on the second floor of a parking behind the Luxor hotel-casino, said Officer Bill Cassell, a police spokesman. He declined to describe the device, but said initial reports that it was a backpack were wrong.

Police said the blast was not a terrorist act but an apparent murder of a Luxor employee. No threat had been made against the Luxor, Cassell said.

“We believe the victim of this event was the intended target,” Cassell said. He said another hotel employee narrowly escaped injury when the device exploded.

Gordon Absher, a spokesman for MGM Mirage Inc., which owns the Luxor, said he could not confirm that the victim was an employee.

Aerial video showed no apparent damage to the parking structure, where entrances were blocked while police, firefighters and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents investigated.

There was little damage around the vehicle and the hotel was not evacuated, police and a hotel official said.

Cassell said the case was being investigated as “a homicide with an unusual weapon.”

The Luxor, a pyramid-shaped hotel at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, has more than 4,000 rooms and 6,000 employees.

COREY LAROCQUE, Niagara Falls Review, Monday, May 07, 2007

The seeds of discontent about the role Casino Niagara and Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort play in their host city appear to be taking root just days after city council pointed them out. But the casinos’ spokesman said they have always been committed to helping Niagara Falls, but have to make sure their business is profitable first.

City council passed a resolution Monday saying the “symbiotic relationship” between the casinos and the city needs to improve. There has always been an expectation the casinos would be more than a cash cow, raising money for the provincial treasury.

Whether it’s talk about employee relations with their 5,000 associates, competitive practices that hurt existing businesses, or the perception they’re backing away from their support of community groups, there seems to be more grumbling now than ever before.

Heart Niagara director Karen Stearne said she noticed a change in February when her agency ran Fit for the Future, a daylong event for Niagara’s health-promotion agencies to promote their services to families. They rented the Fallsview Casino’s ballroom and found the staff was all business, right down to charging them a $105 fee for each electrical outlet they wanted to use.

“I thought it was the attitude of not trying to foster relationships in the community that was sad to me,” Stearne said.

She talked to Mayor Ted Salci and Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor about what she perceived as a “shift” in the casinos’ approach to community groups.

“I just need to understand why they are shifting from the community,” she said.

The casinos do what they’re supposed to, locally - providing employment generating economic spinoffs. But they’ve also had to respond to a changing gambling industry, said Greg Medulun, the casinos’ public relations manager.

“Frankly, we can’t be either of those things - be an economic generator and employ so many people - if we’re not competitive within our own industry,” Medulun said.

Coun. Jim Diodati complained the casinos are becoming a “black hole” - a phrase associated with the problems communities face when casinos come to town and draw existing tourism business to them.

The change is tracked to a year ago when Art Frank became president of Niagara Casinos. Frank delegates Medulun to speak publicly on his behalf.

Mayor Ted Salci has been more diplomatic, saying he respects the job Frank has. But the mayor also says Niagara Falls feels more “detached” from its biggest employer than it ever has.

Recently, Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce members have also talked “informally” about changes in the way the casinos relate to the community. The chamber’s government affairs committee, a group of business people who look at the effect of political issues on business, is scheduled to discuss the casino at their regular meeting Wednesday.

“It’s certainly something the chamber of commerce has had some discussion about,” said president Carolyn Bones.

As the voice of the city’s business community, the chamber occasionally takes formal positions on political issues. In the past, the chamber polled its members on issues like municipal amalgamation, the ward system and the business impact of Canada’s stance on the war in Iraq.

“Perhaps there’s a way for us to reach out to our members to see if they feel that detachment as well,” Bones said.

Despite city council’s perception, the casinos stand on their 10-year record of corporate citizenship, Medulun said.

“Perception is always difficult to gauge,” Medulun said. “There may be groups or pockets of individuals that may not look to the casino favourably. There are often times, as big businesses go through their cycles, difficult decisions have to be made.”

One restaurant owner in Chippawa said he has lost business to the casino.

Bus-tour groups make up a significant part of Betty’s restaurant clientele. But earlier this year, a company out of Florida told owner Joe Miszk they wouldn’t be stopping at his place any more because the groups were getting free meals at the Fallsview Casino’s buffet.

“They’re getting free dinners there. How can you compete with something like that?” Miszk said, adding Betty’s is losing “hundreds of buses” this year.

Miszk said he understands the casino needs to look after some of its high rollers by giving them complimentary meals and hotel stays. But the bus-tour travellers he has lost are average American tours, he said.

Losing that business will be a challenge, but the restaurant has other clientele to cater to, Miszk said. But he questions what that kind of competitive practice does to the local economy, especially since one of the selling points of having a casino would be the increase in spinoff business it was supposed to bring.

“I’ll survive. It can be more detrimental to some than to others,” Miszk said.

The casinos offer food vouchers as part of their group-tour business, Medulun said. In the past, they’ve also used gambling tokens as incentives. They need to attract a lot of people into the building to remain profitable.

“It’s an extremely competitive market. What’s most important is we operate in a profitable manner to ensure the long-term viability of our 5,000 employees,” Medulun said.

Diodati points to changes at the Niagara Falls International Marathon as evidence the casino is backing out of some of the community groups it has traditionally supported.

For 10 years, the marathon has been associated with with Casino Niagara, then with both casinos.

The event that started out as Casino Niagara Marathon has gone through several different names. Last October, it was known as Fallsview Casino Resort International Marathon.

For 2007, it has dropped the reference to its sponsor and is simply the Niagara Falls International Marathon, reflecting the fact runners start in Buffalo, cross the Peace Bridge and run to Niagara Falls, race director Jim Ralston said.

The Fallsview Casino and Casino Niagara are both listed as sponsors on the marathon’s website.

“Everyone refers to it as the Niagara Falls marathon,” Ralston said, adding the name change brings it in line with the New York and Boston marathons.

“We had a meeting with the casino. They were fine with that.”

The casinos’ Cares Foundation, its charitable arm, is giving $60,000 to the marathon this year. That’s down from a peak of $80,000, Medulun said, but the casino told marathon organizers funding would be gradually reduced.

That decision was made before Frank arrived.

Ralston said the marathon has been “very lucky” to have the same sponsor for 10 years, a situation he said was unusual.

Marathons are different from other sports events because the athletes themselves help generate the revenue to run the event. The marathon attracts about 4,000 runners who each pay $80.

“The more people that we have, the more money we have coming in, the more self-sufficient we are,” Ralston said.

Since Diodati publicly questioned what he called a shift in the casinos’ approach, he said he has received numerous e-mails and calls from employees and former employees. They’re consistent in criticizing how the casinos’ treat their employees. Complaints centre around abrupt terminations, reduced hours, the perception management has replaced full-time workers with part-time and contract positions.

“Full-time employees are like ducks in a shooting gallery. They want as many gone as possible. It simply means more profit,” said one message Diodati shared with The Review after removing the sender’s personal information.

But Medulun said the casinos’ track record shows Niagara Casinos is “a formidable employer” where one-third of the employees have been around since Casino Niagara opened 10 years ago. Turnover is one per cent a month and Niagara has the highest wages among Ontario’s commercial casinos.

Over the years, they have adjusted the number of workers as the market changed, especially with the arrival of competition from Niagara Falls, N.Y.

“The landscape has changed so dramatically,” Medulun said. clarocque@nfreview.com

By KRISTEN LIPSCOMBE Staff Reporter, Halifax Herald, Monday May 7, 2007

Recovering gambling addict Debbie Langille said she learned a lot from a workshop Saturday at Saint Mary’s University, including how she likely got hooked on video lottery terminals.

One of the guest speakers at the day-long event was Roger Horbay, an Ontario expert in the software and mechanics of VLTs who travels the world to share what he’s learned with those who may need help.

Ms. Langille said Mr. Horbay’s presentation showed “just how deceptive these machines are, as well as how they manipulate the player.

“You can see how you’d become so easily addicted to them,” the Halifax woman said Sunday. “I always wondered, how did these machines get me? I’m an intelligent person.”

“I didn’t even want to gamble. I didn’t like gambling,” she said, explaining that Mr. Horbay helped her better understand what drew her to the noisy, flashy gaming machines.

The free workshop, called a Day of Help, was held for exactly that purpose: To help gambling addicts and their loved ones get a grip on the illness by garnering knowledge and coping skills. The first-ever event was hosted by GameOverVLTs.com, a non-profit group, and funded by the Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation.

“We covered everything,” said Ms. Langille, GameOverVLTS.com spokeswoman.

She said about 25 people showed up for Saturday’s gathering in the Loyola Building on the Saint Mary’s campus. Other speakers included Halifax lawyer Bruce Clarke and trustee Derek Cramm, who talked about how to protect your assets if there’s a gambler in the family, and Montreal addictions counsellor Sol Boxenbaum.

“He has a radio show that he does from 3 to 5 in the morning and it’s called Last Call with Sol,” Ms. Langille said. “It’s for people that that might be out late, that come home and want to talk about what happened.”

According to a news release issued by GameOverVLTs.com, Mr. Boxenbaum estimates 75 per cent of VLT players suffer from some sort of addiction and will probably harm themselves or their families.

Ms. Langille said her group filmed the workshop and soon will start selling DVDs of the day’s presentations on its website, in order to reach out to those who couldn’t attend Saturday and to encourage other regions to host similar events.

GameOverVLTS.com hopes to host another workshop this fall, she said.

“If we can just get one person to understand, it’s one more person than I had the day before,” Ms. Langille said.

( klipscombe@herald.ca)

© 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited