Amid the nationwide Election Day madness this week, THE state of Ohio passed a referendum that would allow the state to build casinos in its four largest cities. The gaming stocks love it, and the people of Ohio love it (the majority, anyway), but do you know who doesn’t love it? Mothers. They’re not content to ruin the lives of their own children. No, they have to make EVERYBODY miserable. Why should I be allowed to vote to overturn ridiculous laws that prevent me from doing what I want to do? Apparently because I’d be killing families, as this gratuitous ad seems to indicate. But I have no issue with that, either. That’s just less traffic between me and the blackjack table. –Ramblings of the Unmotivated.
Those of you hoping to lay down some sports betting in The First State this football season had better sit down. I should say “those of us,” actually: those great, visionary plans from the state of Delaware to offer single-game, multi-sport betting within its borders have been shot down in court.
A federal appeals court ruled Monday that sports betting in Delaware would violate a 1992 federal ban on such wagering, essentially halting the state’s plans to start taking bets next month.
Speaking for a three-judge panel, Judge Theodore McKee said Monday that the betting plan as currently envisioned violates the federal ban. A written opinion explaining the judges’ reasoning will be issued at a later date. via, via.
The unanimous ruling from the panel makes an appeal unlikely, which is a damn shame, because it seems like the federal government imposed the ban because they had nothing better to do. The leagues and the NCAA obviously oppose it; they’d rather see you spend $25 on a t-shirt than taking Boise State and the points. This truly is a sad day for America; I’ll just have to find some other medium to piss away my (not-so) hard-earned cash.
The No Fun League is in the midst of setting up a counterattack to a decision from the Supreme Court of Delaware that will allow betting on single games or multi-game parlays in 2009, a decision which should be forever known as Stodgy Bastards v. Awesomeness. The NFL will likely focus its challenge to the single-game betting proposal that many aspiring degenerates would prefer.
“The clear preference for those who wager on sports is to bet on a single game,” says Anthony Cabot, a Las Vegas attorney who specializes in gaming law. “It’s far more popular than simply offering parlay cards.”
“They have several avenues they can take,” Cabot said. “One way is to attack its legality under the state constitution.”
The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled that a sports lottery is legal under the state constitution when “chance was the dominant, determining factor” in that betting system. In their May decision to keep the sports lottery intact, the current justices didn’t directly address single-game wagering. [via]
And now New Jersey has already filed suit in federal court in order for that state to enjoy the economic rewards of people making poorly-conceived sports prognostications. I never understood why everyone, state AND federal, didn’t just legalize gambling and then tax the hell out of it. You’ll get way more than the 40 percent you’re taking out of my paycheck, you limey bastards. Unless, of course, the Giants manage to cover. Stupid Giants. [via]
Charles Barkley hasn’t been much fun since he was pulled over for DUI last New Year’s Eve. He’s said all the right things about being more responsible and blah blah he still wants to gamble.
“Nobody ever complains about gambling when you’re winning. I’ve never heard a guy say, Hey, I’m winning too much money, I’m going to quit gambling.’ But my gambling had gotten to be a problem. I said I was going to take some time off,” he said.
Barkley said on the air during the NBA playoffs last June he wasn’t going to gamble for “the next year or two” after he was sued by a Las Vegas Strip casino for failing to pay $400,000 in gambling markers, or loans. He repaid his debt to the Wynn Las Vegas casino along with a $40,000 district attorney’s fee.
Barkley said he has missed making bets during football season and likely would gamble again someday.
Charles, you wanna make a bet on football? Buy a UFL team. You’ll lose less money than if you took the points on Auburn the entire season. Yeah, obviously, there’s isn’t jack going on today if we’re yapping about stuff Charles Barkley might do. I might paint my entire body green and run down Washington Boulevard kicking in car windows while screaming “WE COME IN PEACE!” But that doesn’t make it news.
|AZ Central, via FanNation|
One of the great traditions in horse racing is coming to an end. Pimlico Race Course will no longer allow “race fans” to bring their own booze into the infield. From the New York Times (via 100 Percent Injury Rate):
“I’ve seen people get drilled by people randomly heaving cans of beer,” said Matt Schultz, 29, who lives in Baltimore and has been on the Pimlico infield for the Preakness the past four years. “I saw one girl literally get knocked to the ground by one.”
Organizers of the Preakness Stakes, the second event in horse racing’s Triple Crown, want a tamer experience on Saturday for the 134th running of the race. Fans can no longer bring their own beverages to the infield. Sixteen-ounce beers will be sold for $3.50, and they will come in plastic cups instead of unopened cans.
I get the safety issue, and $3.50 for a pint of beer isn’t a terrible price, but it’ll still be enough to price people out of spending an entire day there (and one would wonder what the point would be otherwise). But the people running these events need to realize how fun alcohol abuse can be. It’s as warming to the heart as a child’s laughter, provided that child is 27 years old with a 0.25 blood alcohol level.
Also resting in peace (hopefully): Wayman Tisdale. Sad. I guess.
