Connect with us

Rhode Island

Rhode Island Senate Approves Raising Casino Credit Limits

Published

on

Rhode Island Senate Approves Raising Casino Credit Limits


Posted on: June 9, 2024, 11:35h. 

Last updated on: June 9, 2024, 11:35h.

The Rhode Island Senate last week approved legislation to allow the state’s two commercial casinos to lend higher amounts of cash to high rollers.

Rhode Island casinos Bally's credit
Bally’s Twin River Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton in Rhode Island could soon be allowed to offer high rollers larger amounts of credit after legislation advanced in the state capital last week. Currently, casinos are limited to extending up to $50,000 in cash to gamblers after performing credit checks to make sure they’re good for such advances. (Image: WPRI)

Senate Bill 3040 seeks to amend the state’s gaming regulations to permit Bally’s Twin River Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton to double the credit they can lend to VIPs and other gamblers wishing to bet big.

Under Rhode Island’s present rules, the two brick-and-mortar casinos can lend up to $50,000 per player in cash. SB3040 would take the cap to $100,000.

The state Senate on Thursday voted 28-5 in favor of the measure. It now moves to the state House of Representatives where it’s been directed to the chamber’s Finance Committee for initial review.

Bally’s asked state Sen. President Dominick Ruggerio (D-North Providence) for the higher lending line. The Rhode Island-based gaming corporation said the amendment is needed to allow its casinos to compete with gaming resorts in neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts where there are no limits.

Opponents Raise Problem Gambling Concerns

State Sen. Sam Bell (D-Providence) was among the “no” votes for SB3040. He pondered why a casino should need to allow a gambler to lose more than $50,000 in a single day.

Advertisement

This is bad,” Bell declared. “Going into debt from gambling is dangerous. We should not maximize profit when it comes to an addictive product.”

Bally’s says many high rollers have the financial ability to weather such losses. Extending credit isn’t to provide gamblers with money they don’t have but to provide them with an easier, safer means of obtaining large sums of cash than carrying tens of thousands of dollars in bills into the business.

Credit, or “markers,” must be repaid by the player within a certain timeframe, typically 15 to 45 days. Casinos also don’t lend markers to players without doing a credit check.

The Bally’s Lincoln and Tiverton credit applications require players to provide two banking accounts that are verified by a third-party service. Applicants who falsely complete a credit application are subject to criminal liability for perjury under Rhode Island’s General Laws.

The Rhode Island House has until June 30 to pass the casino credit bill to Gov. Daniel McKee’s (D) desk.

Casino Smoking Remains

Legislation introduced in February to overhaul the state’s clean indoor air law that provides indoor smoking exceptions for Rhode Island’s casinos and pari-mutuel wagering facilities won’t reach McKee’s desk this year.

Advertisement

In May, House Bill 7500 was tabled by the House Finance Committee to allow a “further study” to be completed on the economic implications of forcing gaming venues to go smoke-free. Rhode Island’s Public Health and Workplace Safety Act passed in 2024 allows for indoor casino smoking.

Bally’s in 2022 announced that tobacco smoking would no longer be permitted at table games.

A grassroots coalition of Bally’s casino workers continues to lobby state lawmakers in Providence to pass legislation to free their workplaces of secondhand smoke. Ruggerio, however, one of the most powerful lawmakers in the heavily Democrat-controlled General Assembly, is opposed to such a change.

The Senate president last year said gamblers who don’t want to be around tobacco smoke should “stay home” and gamble online. Ruggerio is a smoker himself and has battled cancer in the past.



Source link

Advertisement

Rhode Island

Bodycam footage shows moments police respond to Pawtucket shooting

Published

on

Bodycam footage shows moments police respond to Pawtucket shooting


Police bodycam footage shows the moments officers arrived to the scene of a deadly mass shooting in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

The shooting on Feb. 16 at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena killed Rhonda Dorgan and Aidan Dorgan, the ex-wife and son of the shooter, who died by suicide.

Gerald Dorgan, Rhonda’s father, died from his injuries this week. His wife, Linda Dorgan, and family friend Thomas Geruso remain hospitalized.

Around five minutes after the first officer arrives, he beings helping paramedics with a man who identifies himself as Aidan. Twelve minutes in, Aidan Dorgan is transported to the hospital, where he would later die from his injuries.

Advertisement

For the last 10 minutes of the footage, the officer then begins helping paramedics transport the other three gunshot victims.

The video ends with police prepping witness interviews.

The shooting rocked the Pawtucket community. Chris Librizzi, head coach of the Blackstone Valley Schools hockey team impacted by the shooting, said the players and coaching staff “are devastated over the events that took place at Lynch Arena on Monday and intimately affected one of our teammates.”

As authorities continue investigating the shooting in Pawtucket, three patients remain in critical condition.

“We will lean on each other and support one another, as we have always done as a team,” he added.

Advertisement

Pawtucket police said two handguns were found at the scene after the shooting, a Sig Sauer P226 and Glock. Other weapons have been seized at the suspect’s storage unit in Maine.

Investigators continue reviewing all video evidence from before, during and after the shooting, including surveillance footage from the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, police body-worn camera footage and other records — a high school sports livestream captured the shooting from a distance — police said.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Rhode Island

Man killed in RI shooting; suspect involved in Mass. car crash that killed 2 others

Published

on

Man killed in RI shooting; suspect involved in Mass. car crash that killed 2 others


A man has died after a shooting in Cranston, Rhode Island, and investigators say a suspect was later involved in a car crash in Swansea, Massachusetts, that killed two other people.

The shooting victim was found Thursday on Legion Way, shot multiple times in the chest, Cranston police told NBC affiliate WJAR-TV. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he later died. His name has not been released.

The suspect initially fled on foot, setting off a shelter-in-place order while investigators searched the area.

Police said Friday that investigators identified a suspect vehicle, which was later spotted by Massachusetts State Police. A trooper followed the car down Route 6 and Interstate 195, but stopped when it crossed back into Rhode Island. The car was later involved in a crash on Route 136 in Swansea, Mass.

Advertisement

Swansea police say that crash on Route 136 (James Reynolds Road) resulted in the deaths of two other people.

According to the Swansea Police Department, two officers saw a white Infinity G37 speed past them around 12:18 a.m. Friday on Route 6, otherwise known as Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Moments later, officers observed that the vehicle had crashed into the side of a blue Subaru Ascent that had been traveling southbound on Route 136.

Both vehicles sustained catastrophic damage, police said.

The vehicle that was struck was fully engulfed in flames. First responders and bystanders tried to extinguish the fire, but both occupants — a man and a woman — were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Their names have not been released.

The 28-year-old Infinity driver, who struck the victims’ Subaru, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries and later into custody by Cranston Police. They have not been publicly identified at this time.

Advertisement

Swansea police said they are aware that the Infinity was the subject of a police pursuit, and know the driver was wanted in connection to the Rhode Island homicide investigation. While Swansea police had been alerted to be on the lookout for the suspect’s vehicle, however, they say they were not involved in the pursuit and were not pursuing the vehicle at the time of the deadly crash.

The crash in Swansea is under investigation by Massachusetts authorities, including state police and the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. Meanwhile, Cranston police said they would give an update on their investigation around 1 p.m.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Rhode Island

RI House speaker unveils housing bills for 2026. What to know

Published

on

RI House speaker unveils housing bills for 2026. What to know


play

  • Rhode Island House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi has introduced a new package of housing legislation.
  • Highlights include allowing property owners to divide single-family lots and legalizing single-staircase, four-story apartment buildings.
  • The package also seeks to expand the Homeless Bill of Rights and streamline the creation of emergency shelters.

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi is once again taking aim at the regulations he says are stifling new homebuilding.

The Warwick Democrat unveiled his sixth annual suite of housing legislation on Thursday, Feb. 26, a few weeks after announcing he would not be running for governor this year.

Advertisement

“We are still trying to play catch-up for all the years that Rhode Island was dead last in the country for new housing starts,” Shekarchi said. “While Rhode Island remains a relatively affordable option for people moving here from other states, our own residents are too often priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in.”

The legislative text of the nine-bill housing package, and with it the specifics of how it would work, were not available for Thursday’s news conference.

But highlights of the package, according to summaries, include:

  • Infill housing. Allow property owners to divide lots in single-family zoning districts, creating multiple dwellings instead of one, provided they have water and sewer service.
  • Parking maximums. Put new limits on how much off-street parking communities require for new apartment buildings.
  • Homeless Bill of Rights. Expand the state’s Homeless Bill of Rights to require 15-day notice to the occupants of encampments before local authorities clear them.
  • Emergency shelters. Let communities build temporary shelters, such as the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence, during a state of emergency.
  • Stairs. Legalize the construction of four-story apartment buildings with a single staircase.
  • Affordable housing taxes. Overhaul the tax system for income-restricted housing covered by the state’s “8 Law.”

Is land-use reform working?

Since Shekarchi was elected speaker in 2021, the General Assembly has passed dozens of bills he backed that tweaked state land-use statutes or streamlined the process for building.

Advertisement

How successful this approach has been is subject to debate.

Many local elected officials wary of development in their communities continue to rail against efforts to erode their power over construction.

Others in the growing Yes In My Back Yard movement see Rhode Island’s piecemeal approach as inadequate in comparison with the scale of the affordability problem and what other states are doing.

As evidence that his changes are making a difference, Shekarchi said Rhode Island saw a 70% increase in building permits in 2023 and a more modest increase in 2024. (Statistics for last year were not immediately available.)

Gov. Dan McKee’s 2030 plan calls for 15,000 new housing units built by that year.

Advertisement

Democratic primary challenger Helena Foulkes is slated to roll out her housing plan on Monday.

It is expected to include a millionaires tax to fund affordable housing, a revolving fund and target of 20,000 new homes.

What would the new laws do?

Letting property owners put multiple homes on a plot of land is one of the most direct ways that lawmakers can encourage the construction of more homes, but it is also one of the most controversial.

That’s especially true in areas zoned for large lots and single-family homes.

How far the new bill allowing lots to be subdivided in single-family zones goes is unclear. It is sponsored by Rep. Stephen Casey, D-Woonsocket.

Advertisement

Legislation setting maximum parking requirements for new developments, introduced by Rep. Joshua Giraldo, D-Central Falls, would apply to areas accessible by public transit.

Critics of off-street parking requirements say they make it harder to build new apartments and make the units that are built more expensive.

Shekarchi proposed the emergency shelter bill last year. It passed the House and died in the Senate.

It was the result of how long it took state officials to navigate Rhode Island’s building code and open the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence.

The staircase bill, sponsored by Rep. June Speakman, a Warren Democrat and chair of the House’s home affordability study commission, follows a wave of cities and states relaxing rules on how many exits are required in new construction.

Advertisement

Currently, the state building code requires two stairways in buildings with more than three stories, and fire officials have opposed all efforts to change that.

Speakman’s bill would allow four-story buildings with a maximum of 16 units with a single staircase.

Supporters of single-stair buildings say they allow development of small sites that would otherwise sit vacant and allow family-sized units with more light and better ventilation.

A previous Rhode Island single-stair bill would have allowed six stories, but it died in committee.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order in mid-February to study the idea.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending