\nR.I. legislative committee hears testimony about liens some casinos place on houses<\/p>\n
\tBY MICHAEL P. MCKINNEY AND KATHERINE GREGG
\n\tJOURNAL STAFF WRITERS<\/p>\n
\tPROVIDENCE, R.I. \u2014 Before a legislative panel Wednesday, Tom Hanson recalled how he had been unaware that a casino could put a lien on his house for debt owed.<\/p>\n
\tHanson, of Warwick, testified he had taken out more money than he\u2019d wanted to, tried to set up a repayment plan with a Connecticut casino. After he made the payments, it turned out he owed fees \u201cover and above\u201d that.<\/p>\n
\tThe House Judiciary Committee heard his testimony and that of Rep. Deborah Ruggiero, D-Jamestown, who is sponsor of a bill to prohibit casinos from putting liens on the property of Rhode Islanders who received lines of credit \u2014 also known as \u201ccasino markers\u201d \u2014 from casinos.<\/p>\n
\tRuggiero said one concern is family members who sometimes may be unaware their home is \u201cbeing used as a bargaining chip at a blackjack table.\u201d And committee member Rep. Robert Craven, D-North Kingstown, said the bill would help people with gambling or other issues to \u201cprevent them from destroying themselves.\u201d The bill was held for further study.<\/p>\n
\tA report by Channel 12 (WPRI) said numerous homeowners in Rhode Island, including Hanson, faced property liens after visits to Connecticut casinos. The WPRI report said, for instance, that Foxwoods Resort Casino took out liens on Rhode Island residences \u201c30 times mainly since 2004.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tMeanwhile, another bill introduced in the General Assembly would allow Twin River Casino in Lincoln to give up to $75,000 in \u201cinterest-free, unsecured credit\u2019\u201d on state-sponsored gambling to qualified customers, according to Patti Doyle, spokeswoman for Twin River.
\n\tBut Doyle said the practice of putting liens on real estate is not something Twin River does or ever will. Ruggiero said she was assured of that by Twin River and the state\u2019s other gambling facility, Newport Grand.
\n\tThe bill, introduced last Thursday by Rep. Raymond Gallison, D-Bristol, had not been scheduled for a hearing. The preamble to the bill says: \u201cIt is imperative that legislative action be taken to preserve and protect the state\u2019s ability to maximize revenues at Twin River in an increasingly competitive gaming market by expanding critical revenue-driving programs.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe extension of credit to table game and video lottery players \u2026 is a vital customer service function that facilitates a gaming program\u2019s long-term success.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tGerald S. Aubin, director of the Lottery, which runs the state-sponsored gambling at Twin River, said by email \u201cwe have been provided a copy and are presently reviewing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFaye Zuckerman, communications director for Governor Chafee, said the bill was not introduced on behalf of the Chafee administration.
\n\tDoyle said: \u201cTwin River has never to date extended credit. It is a service we would like to offer to qualified patrons as a convenience and amenity.
\n\t\u201cExtending credit to pre-approved customers is a standard practice within the casino industry, including our Connecticut competitors and ultimately Massachusetts casinos once they go live. \u2026 [But] customers desiring credit would be subject to rigorous background and credit checks undertaken by Twin River management with supervision of and approval by the Division of Lotteries.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tDoyle said Twin River, not the state or Division of Lotteries \u201cwould be responsible for any failure of repayment. \u2026 [and] any failure to re-pay would not affect <\/p>\n
\tAs to how Twin River would collect, she said they \u201cwould be turned over to a collections agency, much the same way a credit card debt is handled. The collection agency would endeavor to collect monies owed through letters and calls.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
R.I. legislative committee hears testimony about liens some casinos place on houses BY MICHAEL P. MCKINNEY AND KATHERINE GREGG JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS PROVIDENCE, R.I. \u2014 Before a legislative panel Wednesday, Tom Hanson recalled how he had been unaware that a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}