Is Chuck E. Cheese illegal in Florida?

No, not because of that.

Florida apparently has a really stupid law that bans gambling without any actual gambling taking place. From Reason Magazine: cops raid a free poker tournament after a months long undercover sting operation. Employees and the owner now face fines and possible time in prison. Note: the tournament posted its rules online and had been operating openly for years...

This is a very peculiar case because the poker tournament does not charge a buy-in, no money exchanges hands, and the poker chips are worthless. Players simply accumulate points by playing and players can win prizes including a trip to my hometown of Las Vegas (where most gambling is legal). Apparently winning the prizes makes the whole operating illegal in Florida.

According to Reason Magazine and the Tampa Bay Times,

Pinellas-Pasco Assistant State Attorney Joshua Riba told the Times that Florida's definition of gambling, rather counterintuitively, does not require betting. "The statute itself does not require anybody to ante in," Riba says. "If they are playing cards, and they have an opportunity to win something of value, then they are technically violating this particular gambling statute." In fact, the offense of keeping a gambling house is defined as, among other things, letting people use a place "to play for money or other valuable thing at any game whatever, whether heretofore prohibited or not." [emphasis added]

As Reason notes, this broad stupid law would make Scrabble Tournaments illegal.

I believe it would also make Chuck E. Cheese illegal. Chuck E. Cheese operates 26 gambling houses in Florida. Unlike the free poker tournament the government raided in Florida, Chuck E. Cheese requires players to buy tokens which can be used to play the games (kinda like paying an ante in a poker tournament). Winning games produces tickets which can then be exchanged for prizes...which have value....something that is apparently illegal in Florida.

 Note my evidence from months and months of undercover work a cursory internet search...

Chuck E. Cheese tokens...
Wait, they're making a currency to compete with the dollar too?
I'm surprised the Federal Government hasn't shut them down yet...

Tokens are used to play games. Just look at this little criminal gambling away at Skee Ball!!!

Fun is addictive... so it should be illegal!

Guilty as sin!

 

Tickets can be exchanged for prizes with cash value!!!

Yes, Chuck E. Cheese is an illegal gambling house in Florida.

So do your job Florida State prosecutors and legislators and shut down those gambling houses. Save those children from having fun. You know what is better for them than their parents!

No wait. How about we restrict government power so it can't prosecute people for committing crimes they don't even know they are committing. I'm tired of reading stories where the government tries to expand what is illegal by testing the boundries of their power in court.

Laws should be simple and clear. Period. Better yet, just let consenting adults gamble. Heck, even let children play their video games and skee ball!!!

The Real Reason CCSD Wants a Property Tax Increase

The Clark County School District is seeking a property tax increase to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. They claim this property tax increase is for school building maintenance and upgrades (some of these buildings were updated about a decade ago).

I'm calling Shenanigans on the school district... again.

The real reason: they can't afford the salary and benefits they unwisely increased as the state fell into the recession.  Digging through the school district's budget I discovered that salary and benefits increased from 47.5 percent of total expenditures during the 2006-07 school year to over 63 percent today. Next year's budget projects salary and benefits will consume over 66 percent of the budget.

Source: Clark County School District: http://ccsd.net/departments/budget-finance-department/publications

Two out of every three dollars is now spent on salary and benefits. That is not necessarily a problem, but since we are talking about the Clark County School District - where less than half of all employees are teachers - it's a major problem (See the 2013 Comprehensive Annual Budget page 23 and 61). For 2012-13, the District projects a total of 27,370 FTE Employees (full-time equivalent employees. Of that, just 13,596 FTE are classroom teachers (49.7 percent).*

For the record, CCSD's general operating fund is down just 1.7 percent since 2006-07 (yes, adjusted for inflation to 2012 dollar values). The overall budget is down 7.9 percent over that same time. A good portion of that decline is in capital expenditures (which includes building new schools and renovating "old" schools).

However, salary and benefits are NOT down over that same time. In fact, CCSD spends 23.5 percent MORE on salary and benefits today than it did in 2006-07. And yes, that is even after adjusting for inflation. For 2012-13, the school district will be spending an average of $77,155 in salary and benefits PER employee (FTE). Adjusting for inflation that is $6,072.09 more per employee than during the 2008-09 school year (latest available data online).

It's good to be the king! employed by the government!

Yes, despite the continued recession CCSD is spending more PER employee too (8.5 percent more than four years ago)! Devastating salary cuts to employees are a myth.

The bulk of this salary and benefit spending increase occurred in the 2007-08 school year. I believe this to be due to a massive salary and benefits increase that was negotiated by the District and the union. Not only was that salary and benefits increase irresponsible, it is imprudent to try to maintain those increases at the expense of actual education (especially when so many employees aren't even teachers).

With a $3.1 billion annual budget, the school district doesn't need or deserve your money. The school district needs to learn how to responsibly spend the money they already have. One solution would be to stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on non classroom personnel.  Over half of all school districts in Michigan now use private contractors to provide food service, transportation and or custodial services. To date, they have saved hundreds of millions of dollars. CCSD could also use private contractors for school maintenance (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, HVAC repair) and grounds-keeping as well.

Think about it, the district can barely educate and graduate students (its primary function) so why do the district's leaders also think they will be good at mowing lawns, preparing nutritious meals and repairing air conditioners?

Instead of operating like the Soviet Union a job's program for adults, the district should devote resources where they are needed most and make use of the private sector to handle non classroom services at a lower cost.



* NOTE: the District labels them as "classroom instructors" which does not mean ALL of them are actual full-time teachers. The actual number of full-time teachers is lower.

Another case for building a wall around California?

Yes, build it around California! The problem with California is that Californians repeatedly vote and approve really stupid policies.  Forget building it across the Mexican border. Mexicans are actually hard workers. Plus they are ambitious and resourceful enough to dig under, cut through or climb over the fence. Just watch this episode of Penn and Teller's award winning documentary television show Bullshit! to discover what I'm talking about.

Mexicans are smarter than walls! Californians...eh maybe not quite as smart as walls... 

Californians would probably wait at the fence for a handout... like a ladder or shovel... or more likely, increase taxes on wealthier people and/or businesses and then hire government unionized workers (at $38 an hour) to get the job done about ten years from now... after, of course, the public bond passes and the proposal sails through a dozen planning meetings and is signed and notarized by seven bureaucrats in triplicate...  This means we could keep them, and their really bad ideas, from ruining other states! At least for awhile.

For those not living in California, and not living on the west coast in states boarding California, let me explain for you.

For over a decade Californians have been fleeing their home state (thanks to bad policy prescriptions which drive up the cost of living and increase poverty). Californians have been moving eastward looking for more opportunities and a better life. Unfortunately, they bring with them all the bad ideas they voted for which ruined their home state. Both Arizona and Nevada went from Red to Purple states and it is largely thanks to migrants from California.

(ACTUAL PHOTO OF GAS PRICES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS OF 10/8/2012!
87 OCTANE IS $4.759 A GALLON!!! OMFG!)

All joking aside (yes, I'm not actually in favor of building a fence around California, but those people just keep making the case for it better and better) here is yet another bad policy prescription that is making life difficult for Californians.

Perpetual left-wing economic incompetent Senator Diane Feinstien thinks it is a conspiracy by corporations and has called for a federal investigation. But in reality its just dumb left-wing economic and environmental planning. You see, I live just 4 hours from L.A. in the small city of Henderson, Nevada (a suburb of Las Vegas). Our gas prices were a mere $2.799 in comparison while southern Californians are paying $4.759 a gallon!

Please note, Nevada's gas taxes are 11th highest in the nation and just $0.16 lower than in California. In other words, something other than California's notorious high taxes is causing gas prices to be 70 percent higher in Southern California than nearby in southern Nevada

The reason Californians are paying $2 to $3 a gallon more than the rest of the nation is because of a self induced shortage. You see, California law requires two different mixtures of fuel (one for summer and one for winter). This is all done to every so slightly reduce carbon emissions. The impact on the environment is most likely negligible but the impact on your wallet is massive! I'm not against saving the planet from environmentally damaging chemicals, but I am against stupid, wasteful, expensive and ineffective (which seems to describe most policy prescriptions from the left-wing green crowd these days).

So why is this very special fuel mixture required ONLY in California driving up prices (that alone does play some role)?

According to the NBC News article "California voters only have themselves to blame" the state is currently in between the time gas stations must switch between the summer and winter fuels. Gas stations don't want to be left with surplus fuels they CANNOT LEGALLY SELL so they reduce production resulting in a shortage until they are LEGALLY ALLOWED to sell the winter mixture. Lower supply and the same demand results in higher prices.

It is basic economics... but basic economics is too hard for some to grasp. Rather than a Federal probe to solve this non-mystery, why don't we have a Federal probe into the mind of Senator Diane Feinstein and others who simply refuse to accept the laws of supply and demand... or even think about unintended consequences?

Oh wait, that's not a mystery either. Politics regresses to the lowest common denominator of stupid.

(NOTE: Please forgive my spelling and grammar, my formative years of education were spent in California)