
Three UTEP Miners basketball players have been suspended following allegations of illegal recreations wagering
If you’re a college sports fan, you almost certainly do not think much about the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) with regards to teams. Sure, you might have been aware of UTEP, but you are not too concerned when your chosen group suits up to try out them, and you will not be picking them to win a national championship in basketball or football anytime quickly. And when their basketball group is in the news headlines, you know it is probably not for anything they will have done on the court.
Three Players Accused of Betting on Games
And that’s exactly true for the headlines coming out of UTEP this week. Three players had been kicked off of the UTEP men’s baseball team after allegations had been made against them linked to gambling on sports. Those allegations fundamentally caused the school to report the gambling to the local FBI field office, and then eliminate the players from their team.
For those looking something similar to the 1994 Arizona State point shaving scandal, however, it does not appear that things went quite that far in this case. According to the college, none of the three UTEP players involved are accused of shaving points or games that are throwing and there’s no proof that any of them bet on games played by UTEP. Mentor Tim Floyd stated that the evidence he’s seen backs up this belief.
‘We evaluate every film after each pastime and we was not dubious of any behavior that they had been betting on any UTEP event,’ Floyd said.
The three players associated with the betting had been McKenzie Moore, Jalen Ragland and Justin Crosgile. Moore is probably the most prominent for the three: he had been a 6’6′ guard who led the team in scoring at 13.1 points per game. Crosgile and Ragland were both regular parts associated with UTEP rotation since well, with Crosgile playing 21 minutes per game and Ragland over a quarter-hour each night.
Moore and Ragland had been initially suspended from the team on December 28 after ‘a resident of [the UTEP] community’ offered the UTEP athletic department a tip about their alleged gambling. Crosgile’s involvement came to light more recently.
UTEP Games Not Especially Involved
While UTEP executive vice president Ricardo Adauto reiterated that the school understands the players weren’t betting on UTEP games, that won’t stop the players from facing some penalties that are harsh.
School officials haven’t yet said precisely what types of bets the players made. Nonetheless, if the allegations are accurate, each player will have to be suspended for at least an under ncaa rules year. Those same guidelines would then require the players to get rid of a 12 months of their eligibility after their suspensions end. Since all three players are in at least their year that is junior of, that effortlessly implies that their college basketball careers are over.
The school itself isn’t likely to face any penalties, and with the dismissal of the players, the school’s involvement in the case is likely over on the other hand.
Trinidad and Tobago Betting Stores Decry ten percent Betting Tax
Tale since old as time: Trinidad and Tobago’s government states sports books are underpaying, while local organizations say fees hurt their earnings.
An ongoing dispute between Trinidad and Tobago’s federal government and gambling shops regarding tax percentages stems from what business owners claim is ‘hurting racing’ by making punters angry and causing a significant decline in bets being placed. The island nation that sits north of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles is dealing with the classic battle of what the government wishes versus what the market that is actual keep.
Taxing Face Off
One local business owner on the tourist destination Peter George, owner of Fairchance Racing provider in Port of Spain, the area’s capital town says his very own business is now closed because regarding the tax issues, resulting in 300 individuals losing their jobs. George claims his business was siphoned so defectively over the course for the previous 36 months utilizing the 10 percent tax levy on every horse racing bet, that he merely made a decision to shut straight down.
‘We have lost in the last two to 36 months 40 per cent of our amount. We are hoping the national government gets our attention and calls us and claims what’s the issue and exactly what do we do to help,’ George said indian dreaming pokies free download.
‘ The legislation that is existing not workable, it is obsolete and no good towards the racing fraternity. The Betting Levy Board (BLB) is requesting more and more taxes from the pools and also this is burdensome,’ explained George, whose wagering shop is found on Queen Street. ‘We even get threats from the BLB, but the long and short of it is we cannot spend a lot more than we are gathering.
‘Everyone knows we need to have this legislation changed immediately,’ George added. ‘The racing pools are maybe not making the money they used to make in years gone by and within the last decade we have experienced the closure of at the very least ten pools. We can not go on aided by the ten percent turnover tax. It’s hurting race.’
George says that because customers must fork within the that income tax directly at the time a bet is put then leaving the betting shops responsible for turning those into the State that it has received a ‘punitive’ effect of driving clients away progressively within the decade because it was very first implemented. He added that as more options have been introduced in the last ten years for alternative ways to place wagers that don’t price clients that taxation, they have just taken their business elsewhere, including to unregulated and thus ‘tax-free’ underground bookmaking operators.
These operators have become brazen enough to source, seeking clients, George added.
‘They are coming into our establishment and soliciting our clients using the no tax effort. We would like the wagering stores to survive additionally the unlawful move of refunding the punters turnover tax must stop. It is illegal.
‘[The customer] gets the ability to do online betting, calling any place in the globe and acquire a tax-free bet, [so] there is certainly no reason for him to pay 10 percent tax on a bet,’ the frustrated betting shop owner noted. ‘ Nowhere in the global world is here a turnover taxation. [Only] in the Caribbean, Jamaica, Barbados or Guyana does such a tax exist. This might be impacting negatively on the industry.’
Needless to say, George is not alone in his displeasure on the levy that is disincentivizing the Bookmakers Association in that region is pushing for the flat annual licensing fee to change it.
Apparently underground operators aren’t the only danger to Trinidad and Tobago’s local sportsbooks; George noted that since 2011, betting volume in the outlets has dropped up to 40 % due largely to competition from area casinos, who lure punters with their slot machines.
‘They have actually free beverages and food that is free entice the punter in which he can sit and have fun with the slots all day,’ explained George. ‘ For the industry to survive we need to meet with the national federal government and workout something which is amicable to all and certainly will make sure that additional employees will be employed rather than delivered home.’
In 2012, the chairman that is now-former of Betting Levy Board, Kama Maharaj, reported the sports book industry actually took in billions, but had only paid out some $15 million in fees. Maharaj said that figure should have been nearer to $100 million.
Looks like somewhat of a standoff on the OK Corral for now, but also for George, your decision now rests firmly with changing the legislation that is existing be friendlier to his business.
Anti-Online Gambling Group Says Kids, Terrorists Will Be Next to relax and Play
Sometimes when hard and cold facts elude you, just simple ol’ fear-mongering seems like a good course to trot down. At least, that seems become the reasoning behind the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG) and a recent Facebook post, depicting a young boy of perhaps 9 or 10, who seems to be immersed within an poker game that is online.
Kids as Future Gambling Addicts
The post ran on December 27, 2013 and continues to be on the Facebook page as of this writing. Accompanying the photo runs the copy:
‘it is that kids will find ways to outsmart their parents if we have learned anything about the Internet. Gaming experts state that Internet gambling is in part intended to draw younger generation into gambling.’
Of course, they don’t tell you who these apparent harbingers of the future might be, but vagueness is the best gun whenever you’re pretty much pulling ‘facts’ out of your derrière.
Not surprisingly, seasoned pro-Internet gaming groups such as the longstanding Poker Players Alliance are firing back at these posts, and others that additionally feature stories about impending terrorist operations that could infiltrate online gaming web sites, move money around, and generally cause the end of the world as we realize it.
We couldn’t help but stop by the ‘Recent Posts by Others’ box and chuckle at some of the comments while we realize this is somewhat off the beaten path of hard news. a small sampling for your entertainment, with all their unedited grammar and poorly conjugated thought streams:
‘wow you sure are a greedy pig . and you’re saying to want to protect kids from online gambling , What a joke you have got a app to gamble on your own site . therefore the Coalition against online gambling is such a bloody joke , you are a piece of work .’
‘A gaming expert claims that more individuals that treat this page are up against the Coalition to avoid Internet Gambling and want you would focus your amount that is massive of and obviously time to good reasons instead of attempting to take away peoples choices. This is a New Mr. Adelson make use of your some time money for one thing more effective. year’
‘This site is a tale. We like to gamble but I have never lost any thing due to gambling to much. If any thing it has helped me out of some spots that are tough. It sucks that Alabama doesn’t always have a casino that is real play poker in only slots that are a guarantee lose for far more people. Poker is a way more skill game than slots will ever be. Plus people are going to gamble and spend some money .’
We have to admit, with the budget available to Sheldon Adelson the Las Vegas Sands CEO whoever vehement anti-Internet stance makes feeling only to him and their lackeys we think the writing and talking points on this site could be made at the very least a bit more believable and compelling. Perhaps next, the page may have a post claiming that most the earth’s poverty and hunger may also be attributed to online play; it would make about as much sense.
Other Billionaires Disagree
Regardless and despite Adelson’s virtually budget that is limitless throw more hysteria on this issue he’s benefiting from of his own medicine with some heavy hitters which are fighting right back. Fellow billlionaires George Soros, John Paulson and Leon Cooperman have actually all invested heavily in online’s success via the Caesars Entertainment subsidiary that is running the company’s WSOP-branded Internet sites.
It appears pretty obvious that CSIG is fighting a fire that’s long since converted into a blaze beyond control. A possible fourth in the near future we’re not sure how Adelson and his crew think they are going to turn back the hands of time with three U.S. states already legally operational and California. And, in fact, well-known irony of it all is that illegal operations are far more likely to be subject to infiltration that is illicit legal ones that have numerous watchdog features built into the whole regulatory set up of the sites.
Add to all this ammo the American Gaming Association which, as we recently reported, has taken in five heavy-hitters that are new manage to get thier message out and we are pretty sure that will not be to kick online gambling in the kishkes. Aside from the five we currently reported on, it seems that AGA CEO Geoff Freeman has recruited Jim Messina Obama’s 2012 campaign manager ‘to work on grassroots initiatives.’
In terms of the CSIG Facebook page which as of this writing has a pretty paltry 960 ‘Likes’ and far more derisive responses from visitors than not apart from giving some just-out-school interns a work credit, we are not entirely sure what they’re trying to accomplish with it.