Gamblor’s World

Letter The Leader-Post, Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Where is the money? In its May 8 edition, the Leader-Post had a section on SIGA (Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority) casinos.

I live on the White Bear First Nation. Where is the money that is supposed to go back to the community? The programs do not exist and, if they do, what are they? Why is the reserve only getting paid $42,000 for lease rights for the next 10 years? Why are there no reporters talking to the everyday people where the casinos are? How come the White Bear casino will not hire its own people?

What happened to the nation that is to look after its own?

Claudette Parisien, Carlyle

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007

© 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

Lee Greenberg, CanWest News Service, Wednesday, June 13, 2007, Windsor Star

TORONTO - One senior executive was fired and another stripped of his title Tuesday as the fallout from a scandal involving
allegations of fraud and suspicious insider wins at Ontario’s lottery corporation widened.

Michelle DiEmanuele, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s interim chief executive, announced the changes Tuesday afternoon.

Ingrid Peters, the OLG’s vice- president, general counsel, legal and compliance, was fired after eight years with the company. She earned more than $267,000 in 2006, according to documents of the province’s top public sector earners.

“On behalf of the Corporation, I would like to thank Ingrid for her years of service with OLG,” DiEmanuele writes in the terse, four-paragraph note.

In another move, Walter Fioravanti was removed from his position as vice-president of human resources but will remain with the company. He earned approximately $251,000 in 2006, according to public documents.

Insiders say the shuffle — which brings to four the number of executive casualties stemming from the scandal — was in the works for weeks.

Peters and Fioravanti join Duncan Brown, the company’s former chief executive officer, and Alan Berdowski, the company’s former chief marketing officer, as casualties of a scandal exposing rampant incompetence at the provincial lottery corporation.

continued ….

By GARY RIVLIN
Published: June 13, 2007

excerpt ….

“The vigor of their efforts is stirring the ire of some Asian activists and others. “If the casinos singled out African-Americans and marketed to them as heavily as they do Asians, I’d imagine there’d be this huge political outcry,” said Timothy W. Fong, co-director of the Gambling Studies Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The marketing has been so aggressive, and the penetration so deep, we’re starting to see alarming increases in the rates of problem gambling among Asians.””

continued at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/business/13vegas.html?em&ex=1181880000&en=497728caadcc8f9c&ei=5087%0A