Jax Kennel Club to open poker room near Regency Square Mall

[Tacachale]

From the TU:

Gambling addiction groups wary of new Jacksonville poker room

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-02-28/story/gambling-addiction-groups-wary-new-jacksonville-poker-room#ixzz1nmeGuBnE


By Adam Kealoha Causey

A new Jacksonville poker room may seem a sure bet for the owners’ pocketbooks, but gambling addiction support groups and community leaders say BestBet Jacksonville could be a bad deal for card players.

Florida gambling addicts cite card games as the second most frequent cause of their financial woes, according to the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling. Slot machines rank No. 1.

Television should take part of the blame, said Brian Kongsvik, who runs the Florida council’s help line. A nearly constant offering of blackjack and Texas Hold ’em shows glamorizes poker.

“At any given time of the day or night you can turn on one of the sports channels and there’s going to be a tournament on,” Kongsvik said.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-02-28/story/gambling-addiction-groups-wary-new-jacksonville-poker-room#ixzz1nme6O0FT

From medicinenet.com

Estimates of the number of people who gamble socially qualify for being diagnosed with a gambling addiction range from 2%-5%, thereby affecting millions of people in the United States alone. Although more men than women are thought to suffer from pathological gambling, women are developing this disorder at higher rates, now making up as much as 25% of individuals with pathological gambling. Other facts about compulsive gambling are that men tend to develop this disorder during their early teenage years while women tend to develop it later. However, the disorder in women then tends to get worse at a much faster rate than in men. Other apparently gender-based differences in gambling addiction include the tendencies for men to become addicted to more interpersonal forms of gaming, like blackjack, craps or poker, whereas women tend to engage in less interpersonally based betting, like slot machines or bingo. Men with pathological gambling tend to receive counseling about issues other than gambling less often than their female counterparts.

http://www.medicinenet.com/gambling_addiction/article.htm

So yes, gambling can be addictive for 2-5% of the people who try it.  Does that mean that it's good policy to try and keep the other 95% of adults from enjoying gambling if they decide to?  It's going to happen whether it's legal or not.  Shouldn't it happen out in the open where the occasional problems can be dealt with without the threat of prosecution?

Well, part of the problem is that a good amount of the revenue gambling venues make is from this small percentage of problem gamblers. This isn't just a problem with poker rooms, but with all gambling venues (including tribal venues, which is why I know about it). The problem is much worse with fast-paced Vegas-style games like slots than in non-banked poker games. There was a study a while back, which I'll try to find, that found that up to 60% of revenue from machine gambling came from problem gamblers. This is clearly a problem.

[urbanlibertarian]

Ok, so when this happens with legal gambling the gamblers with a problem can be identified and offered help.  I realize the establishment has a disincentive to help these people if it will decrease revenue but they are way more likely to care if they are operating out in the open and trying to maintain a reputation as a responsible business.

[JeffreyS]

When is the MJ tournament and what is the Bounty on Stephen Dare?

[mtraininjax]

Wow, I can see the gravy train of gambler's anonymous coming soon. Broken homes, broken dreams, and we blame it all on freedom of choice. Same as smoking, its an addiction. Great! Next we'll hear, I was born a gambler. Its not my fault I blew the Christmas present money at the gambling hall, the devil made me do it. Love it!

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Is it really that hard?  Just take the advice of our silver-tongued (and haired) elders:

http://www.youtube.com/v/kn481KcjvMo?

You can't lose.  At worse, you break even.

[Coolyfett]

Is it really that hard?  Just take the advice of our silver-tongued (and haired) elders:

http://www.youtube.com/v/kn481KcjvMo?

You can't lose.  At worse, you break even.

i agree

[Gators312]

Crime is down in area surrounding Regency Poker room

http://www.news4jax.com/morning-show/Crime-down-near-Best-Bet-Poker-Room/-/1875838/12341196/-/on6j1c/-/index.html

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -
Robberies, drunken fights and gambling-addicted clientele is what residents living next to the Best Bet Poker Room in Regency were expecting to encounter.

But in their first month, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is reporting the exact opposite and local businesses said they are actually reaping the benefits.

Most people in the area said the poker room has been a huge success.

Lou Salameh with The Sheik Restaurant said, "A lot of people have had some mixed feelings about bringing the bad element to the area, but we haven't seen any of that."

Salameh said he's been pleasantly surprised by the increased business he's noticed in just the past few months at his restaurant The Sheik.

While there's no real way to determine exactly where the customers are coming from, he has a pretty good idea.

"We have seen a lot of foot traffic in the area," Salameh said. "The poke room being open 24 hours, I get here very early in the morning and the parking lot is just full."

The Poker Room is just one block away, where one month revenues have surpassed everyone's expectations.

New statistics reveal Best Bet made more than all 24 Florida Poker Rooms, raking in more than a million dollars in a month.

"It's quiet. Nothing eventful," said Karen Jackson who lives next to the Poker Room.

"The only activity is over there. You see a lot of cars over there. It's good."

Jackson said her neighbors were concerned about crime, but JSO officers actually report a decrease, comparing this year and last.

Violent crime is down more than 26 percent. Property crime is down more than 24 percent and overall crime has dropped by more than 24 percent.

The locals and business owners we spoke to said the trend is encouraging, and are willing to bet, better days are ahead.

"It's a good thing and if it's help the local businesses, I'm all for it," Salameh said.

[Captain Zissou]

Crime is down in area surrounding Regency Poker room

THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN IF THEY PUT IT IN AVONDALE!!!! PEOPLE WOULD BE PEEING IN THE STREETS AND SMASHING BEER BOTTLES ON HOUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The lengths that people go to in this town to monger fear is amazing.  If they put that much effort into supporting their community, we would be in a much better situation.

[Bativac]

So wait a minute. Wait just a minute. Are you trying to tell me a well lit and well maintained building and parking area with a regular influx of paying customers results in less crime than a blighted building and an abandoned parking lot?

So instead of forcibly trying to remove undesireable elements, you bring in desireable elements and the stuff you don't want naturally recedes?

[fsujax]

maybe they should open one up Downtown!

[cline]

maybe they should open one up Downtown!

That won't happen.  They would have opened up in the old dog track on McDuff if they wanted to be close to downtown.  Instead they transferred the license from McDuff to the Regency location and spent millions in renovations.  Plus it is only about 7 miles away from downtown.

[duvaldude08]

I have said this repeatedly,all you have to do to get rid of the "element" is make them uncomfortable. For example, if our downtown began to flourish the homeless would feel uncomfortable. They would not feel welcomed. They would either leave downtown all together or just hide. Of course there are the ones who dont give a damn and will beg you for money anyways.