CabriniGreen wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:37 am
@wiseguy
That article tells me 2 things...
1. The state doesnt actually control shit...
2. These gambling machine owners are lying through their fuckin teeth...
Clear as day...
The state simply regulates the video gambling companies. The problem appears to have been with the legislation itself, said to have basically been written by the companies themselves, and how they get a larger cut (35%) of the money in Illinois than in other states. The establishment owners also get roughly a third and the rest goes to the state. But it seems this hasn't been enough, or what was expected, compared to regulatory and social costs.
It does seem the state has done a good job of keeping organized crime elements out. You can look at the list from 2015 below and many of the biggest companies are national level operators who would be very careful about OC involvement since they could lose their license.
http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/ ... -Full.html
One article (see link below), however, did point out an interesting loophole. Basically, some have "slipped between licensing rules by ultimately acting as middlemen between bars and machine providers, where the middlemen persuade bar owners to sign exclusive contracts to get machines, then sell those contracts to licensed firms that actually provided the machines."
One guy that did this was Nicky Nichols, who the article talks about. Nichols is from Louisiana where his father in law was in the video gambling business in the 1990s and had ties to New Orleans mob member Frank Garacci. When the Illinois Gaming Board denied him a license, Nichols went this route. But it doesn't appear he's mobbed up. He was actually doing business with Vince Dublino, who was the rival video poker operator that got his place pipe bombed in the Sarno case.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct- ... story.htmlAll roads lead to New York.
