The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "slot" ...
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Casino Scandal
Scranton billionaire Louis DeNaples was awarded a slots license in December of 2006 by the Pennsylvania Gaming Board despite being a convicted felon with ties to the Bufalino Crime Family.
Tags: mafia; slot machine; Governor Ed Rendell; perjury; mobster;
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Casino Licenses Awarded Without Full Background Checks
Police were blocked by the Pennsylvania governor's administration from doing background checks on "prospective licensees of Pennsylvania's nascent slots industry."
Tags: casino; background; police; Ed Rendell; slot; gaming; state government
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Unfavorable odds: Illegal gambling machines
This investigation reveals how pervasive illegal video gambling is in Indiana and Kentucky and why it is largely overlooked and unofficially tolerated. The stories also explore the effect such unregulated gambling is having on people's lives. Prosecutors in Indiana cite the long odds of winning any convictions if they try to prosecute the bars and truck stops that own the gambling machines because Indiana has legalized casino gambling. The machines themselves pay out at about 55 to 60 cents per dollar compared with 80 to 93 cents per dollar at regulated, legal casinos.
Tags: gambling; slot machines; video gambling machines; illegal gambling
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Assassinator James Cappau Was Tito's Son
The Vecernji list (Croatia) digs into the assignation of the Croatian mobster and "king of the poker slot machines" Vjeko Slisko, but discovers a lot more about his assassin, James Cappau. Cappau, according to his mother, was the son of Josip Broz Tito, the former Yugoslav president. The investigation uncovered documents linking Cappeau with arms smuggling to ultranationalist groups in France and Chechnya and the sale of a satellite phone for Dzohar Dudaev, the Chechen leader. (A Russian spy satellite intercepted a call from the phone and killed Dudaev.)
Tags: organized crime; arms trade; assassination; Croatia
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The Odds Are Against Starting an Airline - And Still They Try
The Wall Street Journal examines the difficulties that small regional companies face in the aviation business. The analyses follows the story of James Swartz and John Knight who started up an airline, Great Plains Airlines Inc. without a single airplane. The reporter describes how "with tenacity and little else these two men took on majors' entrenched system." The story finds that in bidding for jets small companies can hardly compete against established carriers with proven financial track records. The analysis also reveals that only four airlines control about 66 % of the takeoff and landing slots at the Reagan National Airport, while small companies face difficulties to have slots allocated to them.
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Show of Hands: In Drive to Unionize, Casino Dealers Defy A Las Vegas Tradition. Their Old Bosses Took Care Of Them; Then, Sin City Became a Corporate Town. Less 'Juice' and Fewer 'Tokes'
Dealers in Vegas are making moves to unionize as their once-key position at casinos erodes under new corporate management. But in a town where housekeepers and waitresses are union members, casino executives are dead-set against a dealers' organization. They say they need the flexibility to rearrange dealers during gamblers' streaks. Dealers find that tips ('tokes') are taxed more, wages have not kept up with the cost of living, pensions are paltry, based on $5.15 hourly wages, young and attractive new dealers are given prime slots and better tables than senior dealers, fewer big stake games occur as Vegas turns into a mecca for tourists on buses, and changes in ownership have cost dealers their seniority.
Tags: casinos; AFL-CIO; Teamsters; union; labor; Mob; Organized Crime; perks; tips; the Strip; consolidation
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High Rollers: At Riverboat Casinos, The Free Drinks Come With a Tragic Toll; Drunken Patrons Hit the Road and Cause Fatal Crashes; The Lawsuits Pile Up; No Help from Mr. O'Lucky
A Wall Street Journal investigation of riverboat casinos in rural areas reveals that most have a free drink policy that owners know contributes to drunk driving accidents. The Wall Street Journal was "able to prove that riverboat casinos, in pursuit of higher profits, plied patrons with free alcoholic drinks, often got them drunk, then allowed them to drive away. We showed that, because of the rural location of most riverboats, this policy often lead to fatal accidents; that the casinos knew of these accidents; and that they knew free alcohol helped impair the judgement of gamblers, thus tipping the odds in their favor."
Tags: riverboat casinos; drunk driving; alcohol; cars; automobiles; gambling; poker; slot machines; ethics; free; money; profits
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Ohio Hedges Its Bet
"Increasing competition from neighboring states and an interest by Gov. Bob Taft in enhancing Ohio's lottery options prompted The Dispatch to explore the issue during the past year." Proponents argue that billions of dollars are lost when Ohioans gamble out-of-state, but who are the real losers? The Dispatch finds that "lottery players with annual incomes under $20,000 spend nearly twice as much per person ... as those in the middle-income bracket."
Tags: gambling; lottery; elderly; older Americans; casino; Powerball; slots; online gambling; bingo
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Some on Board Punch out Early
A Des Moines Register investigation revealed that Polk County board members often "go home early on weekdays to run personal errands -- which for one includes playing golf and slot machines -- despite claims that they typically work all day." With a $68,313 yearly salary, Polk County board members are among the highest-paid supervisors in US counties of similar size.
Tags: accountability public officials county supervisors access time working hours on call
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No title (id: 12931)
This undercover investigation went behind the scenes of the grocery business to expose a hidden form of payola which experts believe is leading to corruption in the food industry and adding millions of dollars to consumer's grocery bills. 20/20 was able to document this widespread but secretive practice which is known as slotting fees, various types of cash payments, legal and illegal, to get products on grocery store shelves. (Nov. 10, 1995)