Here are three newsworthy items that, on a slow news day, would merit a post of their own. But, since there’s no crying in online discussion of gaming, I’ve combined them into one.
Item: Mississippi Gulf Coast casinos were spared the worst from Hurricane Ivan, and will reopen today:
Coast casinos to reopen today following storm
If you want to help the victims of this natural disaster, donate to the Red Cross.
Item: Virginia legislator pushing to legalize card games in private clubs. This is a follow up a a previous post about police being busted for hosting a poker tournament. House minority whip Chap Petersen wants to make card games unambiguously legal in such circumstances:
�Virginia law is dealing a lousy hand to poker players who want to gather with their friends and enjoy a game,� Petersen said. The Virginia Beach tournament, organized by a city police officer, had attracted as many as 150 participants and featured a $4,500 pot. Before it was shut down, it had been held at the FOP headquarters on Birdneck Road about once a month on Sundays since December.
Petersen said that poker is not outlawed by state statute and that Virginia law allows four exemptions to its prohibition on gambling: bingo games and raffles held by charitable organizations, off-track pari-mutuel betting, gambling held in private residences and the state lottery.
Legislator wants to legalize card-game gambling at private clubs
Nothing, it seems, will stand in the way of poker’s expansion. Why aren’t the presidential candidates asked for their positions on this issue? And why not settle the election by a no limit Hold em game?
Item: Labor demonstration on Atlantic City Boardwalk. From AP:
Waving signs that read “No Contract, No Peace” and “Contract Now,” an estimated 5,000 casino-hotel workers Thursday marched along the Boardwalk and onto the beach in a boisterous show of union solidarity. There were no arrests or reports of violence, police said.
It seems a remarkable coincidence that the Local 54 contract expires just before the Miss America Pageant, when national attention is focused on Atlantic City. Whoever thought that one up is a genius. Hopefully, all this will be settled without a strike.