Naming and shaming: Macau website targets deadbeat gamblers

By Farah Master

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hustler, cheater, robber, rogue.

Gamblers who skip out on casino debts in Macau risk being branded with these monikers and having personal details made public by a website that says it has helped to recover 50 million yuan ($8 million) so far.

But the novel strategy to combat bad debts in the world's largest gambling destination is under scrutiny from the police for possibly breaking the law and from the Chinese territory's gaming authority over privacy concerns.

The bilingual website, called Wonderful World in English, features a blacklist of more than 70 people from across China who it says have failed to repay gambling debts ranging from thousands to millions of yuan.

Photographs of alleged deadbeats, along with their date of birth and marital status, are displayed prominently. A bounty is often offered for help in tracking them down.

Macau, a former Portuguese colony and the only place in China where casinos are allowed, raked in $38 billion in gaming revenues last year, with 70 percent of that coming from the lucrative VIP sector.

Collecting gambling debts is illegal in China, which makes Macau's 35 casinos heavily reliant on junkets - companies or agents that lure high rollers - to settle any debts. The top junkets are sprawling conglomerates with thousands of employees and deep pockets that allow them to lend millions to gamblers.

In one entry on the site, a young man from northern China is alleged to owe tens of millions of yuan from a loan dating back to 2011. The photo shows him wearing glasses and a blue shirt as he drives a car. His occupation is listed as "idling away his time" and his hobbies as "eating, being merry and gambling".

He was given a danger rating of 95 percent, meaning the likelihood that he will not repay his debts. The danger levels of other alleged debtors range from 90 percent to 100 percent.

Macau is not alone. The two casinos in Singapore, also a popular destination for Chinese gamblers, have had problems with high rollers who have been given large lines of credit and then left the country without paying their debts.

FREE SITE

Wonderful World was launched a year ago as a news and entertainment site, but began the blacklist of gamblers two months ago on the suggestion of a friend, an administrator who gave his name as Mr. Teng told Reuters.

The personal information is provided by the creditors. The site does not charge for the postings, take a cut of recovered money or work in conjunction with Macau's junkets or casino operators, Teng said.

While the site is a good way to track down minor deadbeats, it is unlikely to be used much by big junkets who deal in larger volumes and have extensive connections and knowledge of debtors' assets, said a Macau-based junket agent.

The police are investigating the site and assembling an internal report, a spokeswoman said, declining further comment.

Teng said Wonderful World's operators are cooperating with the police and are keen to continue providing the free platform.

"The most important thing is we want more people to see our website," he said. ($1 = 6.1202 Chinese yuan)

(Editing by John O'Callaghan and Ron Popeski)

View the original article here

Administration announces new gun control measures, targets military surplus imports

April 17, 2013: President Obama puts his arm around former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords before speaking in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington about measures to reduce gun violence.AP

The Obama administration unexpectedly announced two new gun control measures on Thursday, including one that would curb the import of military surplus weapons -- in a move that could anger collectors. 

Vice President Biden announced the new measures Thursday morning. The new rules, announced while Washington was otherwise focused on the crisis in Syria, took the form of executive actions, which President Obama added to the list of 23 steps the White House already determined the president could take on his own. 

The steps come after Congress declined to pass any gun control legislation earlier this year despite an aggressive White House push for action in the wake of the Newton, Conn., shooting massacre. With the political world focused on Mideast tensions and looming fiscal battles, the move signaled Obama's intent to show he hasn't lost sight of the issue. 

The National Rifle Association, though, ripped the administration, saying its proposals would do little to reduce crime. 

"The Obama administration has once again completely missed the mark when it comes to stopping violent crime," the NRA said in a statement. 

One new policy will end a government practice that lets military weapons, sold or donated by the U.S. to allies, be reimported into the U.S. by private entities. The White House said the U.S. has approved 250,000 of those guns to be reimported since 2005; under the new policy, only museums and a few other entities like the government will be eligible to reimport military-grade firearms. 

The Obama administration is also proposing a federal rule to stop those who would be ineligible to pass a background check from skirting the law by registering a gun to a corporation or trust. The new rule would require people associated with those entities, like beneficiaries and trustees, to undergo the same type of fingerprint-based background checks as individuals if they want to register guns. 

But the NRA said that neither measure would reduce crime, since neither the re-importation of firearms nor the corporate gun registration is known to be a source of weapons for criminals. 

"Requiring background checks for corporations and trusts does not keep firearms out of the hands of criminals. Prohibiting the re-importation of firearms into the U.S. that were manufactured 50 or more years ago does not keep firearms out of the hands of criminals. This administration should get serious about prosecuting violent criminals who misuse guns and stop focusing its efforts on law-abiding gun owners," the NRA said in a statement. 

The event in the Roosevelt Room where Biden spoke also marked the ceremonial swearing-in for Todd Jones, whose confirmation to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after six years of political wrangling to fill that position was another of Obama's post-Newtown priorities. A Senate deal to approve the president's pending nominations after Democrats threatened to change Senate rules cleared the way for Jones' confirmation last month. 

Still out of reach for Obama were the steps that gun control advocates and the administration's own review say could most effectively combat gun violence in the U.S., like an assault weapons ban and fewer exceptions for background checks for individual sales. Only Congress can act on those fronts. 

Although Obama and Biden have said the fight is not over, there is scant evidence that there is more support for gun control legislation than there was in April, when efforts died in the Senate amid staunch opposition from the National Rifle Association and most Republican senators. 

"Sooner or later, we are going to get this right," Obama said that day in the White House Rose Garden, with the families of Newtown victims and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- herself a victim of a gunman -- at his side. "The memories of these children demand it, and so do the American people," the president said at the time. 

In the months following the Senate vote, Biden has claimed that a handful of lawmakers who opposed expanded background checks have told him privately they've changed their minds and want another chance. But Biden and White House officials have not named any of those lawmakers. 

These days, Obama mentions gun control with far less regularity than when it appeared the Senate was poised to take action, although Obama did meet Tuesday with 18 city mayors to discuss ways to contain youth violence. And with immigration and pressing fiscal issues dominating Congress' agenda, the prospects for reviving gun legislation appear negligible. With Jones' confirmation at ATF, the White House has completed or made significant progress on all but one of the 23 executive actions Obama had previously ordered in January, the White House said. Still lingering is an effort to finalize regulations to require insurers to cover mental health at parity with medical benefits, although the White House said that it is committed to making that happen by the end of 2013. 

The new rules for guns registered to corporations will follow the traditional regulatory process, with a 90-day comment period before ATF reviews suggestions and finalizes the rule. Last year, ATF received 39,000 requests to register guns to corporations and trusts. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

View the original article here

Blind gunslinger hits more than 80 percent of targets

Jim Miekka has an incredible firearm accuracy record all while shooting blind (Miekka/Facebook)The Classical Fast Draw Society is home to a select number of expert marksmen. But their most remarkable member is not technically their most accurate.

Jim Miekka only hits about 80 percent of his targets, firing shots at just half a second apart. But the truly incredible thing about Miekka is that he’s totally blind.

Bay News 9 reports that the man referred to as the “Midnight Gunslinger,” has steadily been improving his accuracy.

“When I first started I was hitting about 25 percent of the time," Miekka told the station. "Now I think I’m hitting about 80 percent or something like that.”

You can watch a video of Miekka showing up his quickdraw skills here.

So, those years of practice have obviously paid off, right? Actually, Miekka says he’s only been practicing fast draw shooting for about a year.

If Miekka’s name rings a bell, you may have seen his name in the news over the past few years but for very different reasons. In 2010, Miekka made national headlines when he unveiled the Hindenburg Omen, a system that helps predict stock market crashes. It was featured in the Wall Street Journal and on financial cable network news station CNBC.

He’s also invented a specialized rifle that helps him hit targets from up to 100 yards away by sending a sound signal into headphones.

He’s also apparently good enough that some of his compatriots have placed a high-level of trust in his abilities. For example, Miekka says he’ll occasionally enlist someone to tap a spot just above his target so that he can mentally place the location of his next shot.

“Not being able to see the target, remember where it is and actually get right on it. He’s done awesome,” fellow Fast Draw Society member Randie Rickert said.

View the original article here