A while ago, news hit about a drunk driving accident over at Mohegan Sun.

It seems they’re going to be stepping up their game. From “Mohegan Sun To Battle Drunken Driving”:

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Mohegan Sun is taking steps to combat drunken driving and the changes will be evident next time you go to gamble.

Following three DUI related deaths in 2009, both the Connecticut State Police and the Mohegan Tribe have stepped up DUI monitoring campaigns.

The troopers have more spot checks on regional roads, while the casino can electronically cut you off from drinking for 24 hours anywhere on property if you’re tagged as being drunk.
If you’ve been discovered as being drunk at Mohegan Sun, chances are you will not be going anywhere until you sober up. Employees at the casino have taken four-hour training courses for certification on alcohol awareness.

The tribe intensified its DUI campaign following several fatal alcohol-related crashes in 2009.

It’s not just security personnel and others checking on guests coming and going. There are also over 3,000 security cameras on the reservation watching you, so if you appear intoxicated, you’ll be escorted to the Caberet Lounge where you will be offered a free Breathalyzer test.

From there, you will not be allowed to drive, but you may be offered a cab.

Every cashier station on the reservation will know that you’re intoxicated because your picture will be posted for cashiers to see.

Also, if you’re staying at the hotel on the reservation, employees have the ability to lock your minibar to prevent you from drinking any more alcohol.

Wow.

More reading:
Mohegan Sun sets out to prevent DUI
Blumenthal: Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun must obey liquor laws
DUI never safe bet

From the great Warren Mosler:

you are addressing a room full of people.

you tell them taxes turn litter into money.

you try to sell your business cards to the group for $5 each.

probably no takers.

you offer your cards to anyone who stays to help clean up the room

no takers.

you then point to the man at the door with the 9mm who’s the tax collector, and no one leaves without 10 of your business cards.

you then repeat the questions.

I’m sad to say that UConn may no longer be the best party school. From “College party “beached” by police“:

BRIDGEPORT — Two Sacred Heart University students were left with two tons of sand in their basement and an emptied Brooklawn area house Friday night, after police broke up a massive beach-themed party there.

Responding to City Council President Thomas McCarthy’s call reporting noise complaints from locals, members of the Strategic Enforcement Team found “a multitude” of college students, the majority of them under 21, drinking and partying at 87 Calvin Ave., police said.

“There was a minimum of 150 people at this house,” a police report stated. “Thirty-two alone in the kitchen and the rest of the house was also packed.”

After detaining several youths who admitted they were underage, the officers tracked the party to its roots: Two 20-year-old men who live in the house, located in a quiet residential area.

The two had prepared for their party by dumping two tons of sand to cover the basement floor, where they also had four kegs of beer, police said.

The youths were not criminally charged, but face the prospect of discussing on Monday the matter with university security, who also responded to the scene.

Police said they cleared the house of anyone who didn’t live there and arranged rides for drunken partiers, informing the residents that “any further violations would bring criminal charges.”

Two tons of sand in the basement? Seriously?

Wow. Just…wow.

WE’RE NOT WORTHY. WE’RE NOT WORTHY.

From “Hookah lounge OK, rooftop lounge not, BZA says“:

The Board of Zoning Appeals was onboard with La Sheeh’s, a new business that will feature hookah smoking and Arabian and Hindi music for a different cultural experience in the Elm City.

The brainchild of two young men of Bengladeshi descent, who say the South Asian practice is catching on with college students, will open up in a long vacant space on Church Street next to a Sprint store.

Ajim Khan, 25, a computer major at Central Connecticut State University, and Zahed Sarwar, 24, a business graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, said they plan to recreate a colorful lounge typical of those found in Bengladesh.

Patrons will be able to smoke a variety of herbal, tobacco-free, nicotine-free substances through multi-stemmed water pipes. The small space is expected to hold only about 15 people, and no food or drink can be sold there, but participants can bring their own. Each hookah can be shared by two people and will cost between $18 and $20.

Their favorite flavors: jasmine for Kahn and double apple for Zahed.

But a rooftop space at Toad’s on York Street, proposed as a place where smokers at the club could congregate, was voted down 3 to 2 by the board on the grounds that there was inadequate parking. A second vote, however, while still denying the request, allows the issue to be brought back without prejudice for another shot at approval.

Voted “no” for the “rooftop smoking lounge” because of…parking?

Sorry guys, maybe you should pick up biking.

Apparently, it wasn’t illegal. Until now:

From “State Senate Passes Bill To Prohibit Open Containers Of Alcohol On The Road”:

Many state drivers wrongly assume that it’s illegal to have an open bottle of beer in a car.

But the state Senate took the first step Tuesday toward changing that and making Connecticut one of at least 40 states to ban “open alcoholic beverage containers” in motor vehicles.

Senators unanimously approved a bill making it an infraction for anyone to have an open container of an alcoholic beverage in the driver or passenger seats of a vehicle on Connecticut roads. But, in one of several compromise moves, police would not be permitted to pull someone over for an open container violation alone.

A fine of $90 for the first violation, $200 for a second and $500 for any subsequent violation would be levied against the driver of a car in which anyone has an open alcoholic beverage container. Exempted would be limousines, taxis, motor homes and tailgate parties in parked cars.

No problem guys, we can still drink in the parking lot of punk shows:

A key compromise is that vehicles parked on city or town streets would be excluded from the law. Some urban lawmakers said that in their districts, where there is less wealth and property, people might socialize and drink in cars parked in front of someone’s home.

Some poker news for Eric from New Scientist:

IS POKER a game of skill or luck? For regular players that’s a no-brainer, but showing that skill wins out has proven surprisingly difficult for mathematicians. Now two studies that tapped the vast amounts of data available from online casinos have provided some of the best evidence yet that poker is skill-based. Many hope that the results will help to roll back laws and court decisions that consider poker gambling, and therefore illegal in certain contexts.

And by the way

The threshold at which the effects of skill start to dominate over chance is typically about 1000 hands.

Poker is a zero-sum game. I guess this means winners will profit from players who either won’t hold out for 1,000 hands, or didn’t have the skill to dominate in the first place.  RTWT here, and there’s also this.  Hat tip Michael Stastny.

Link to original article.

Blumenthal Renews Bid To Ban Smoking At Casinos

“The casinos can’t be permitted to gamble with the public health,” Blumenthal said at his office Monday while surrounded by Foxwoods employees, officials from the United Auto Workers union, which represents some of them, and public health advocates.

A bill supported by Blumenthal that would have banned smoking at both casinos died in the legislature last year. The casinos say a smoking ban would drive away customers.

Rell opposes a legislative ban and says one would lead to a costly legal battle with the Indian tribes that own the casinos. The tribes have maintained that as sovereign nations they’re not subject to state law. Rell instead favors negotiating a deal with the casinos to curb smoking without mandating it by law. Last month she reached a nonbinding deal with Mohegan Sun to expand the nonsmoking areas of the gaming floor and elsewhere in the casino complex.

Seriously….why?

Original article here.

“We’ve got to take a strong look at what we want to pay for as a state,” said Harp, D- New Haven, who with Looney is co-sponsoring a bill that would punish low-level marijuana users with a fine, not a criminal charge.

“To waste our resources on this small problem is not a good use of the people’s money.”

No one is proposing that marijuana be legalized, but Harp and Looney want to see possession of small amounts — 1 ounce or less — decriminalized, just as it was in Massachusetts in November. If the bill is approved, offenders would be given tickets and assessed fines instead of facing criminal penalties. Getting caught with a joint would be akin to getting nabbed for speeding.

[...]

A Harvard study found that Massachusetts police spend about $30 million a year on arresting and investigating low-level marijuana users.

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