Miriam Aziz in better days, when she still shared a throne along with her husband that is now-ex Sultan of Brunei (Image: AFP/Getty)
In a tale worthy of any great novelist’s plotlines, Miriam Aziz the 59-year-old ex-wife for the Sultan of Brunei has fessed up in court to some major gambling arrears played down in London’s toniest casinos, and also the subsequent sale of £1million ($1,652,593) worth of superb to pay off a few of her accrued gambling debts.
The hijab-covered woman testified in Isleworth Crown Court a week ago that she had certainly sold some of her gems to pay the IOUs, although she denied having once lost as much as £3 million ($4,957,781) in only one night of wagering.
According to Aziz, it had been just £500,000 ($826,296), which most likely for an ex-Sultaness is merely chump change. But wait, because the plot thickens in this tale of broken hearts, broken allegiances and broken bank accounts.
Aziz additionally gave testimony against her feminine former badminton-coach-turned-bodyguard Fatimah Lim, who stands accused of herself stealing £12m ($19,831,126) worth of diamonds from Aziz, substituting phony and essentially valueless copies within their stead.
The 35-year-old Lim says that during a 20-month spree, Aziz took her sizable retinue of support staff with her to gambling venues around the globe. Lim stated she had been later instructed by Aziz to sell the jewels on Aziz’ behalf whenever several casinos reportedly threatened to sue the ex-queen.
Aziz denied this in court, saying, ‘No, I never asked anyone, especially Fatimah Lim, to offer the diamonds, because I would do it myself.’
To put this in context, the Sultan is definitely the man that is wealthiest on earth; and so the ex-Missus’ visits to casinos in popular spots like London, Singapore and Macau could hardly have raised an eyebrow. At first, anyway. With a £2.5m ($4,131,484) credit limit at upscale groups like London’s Clermont in Berkeley Square, Aziz could obviously play high limits and make extravagant bets without anyone feeling alarmed.
Furthermore, it appears the supposedly devout Muslim Aziz a Royal Brunei Airlines journey attendant before becoming the Sultan’s wife prodded Lim to gamble herself, saying she’d give both Lim and some other feminine bodyguards bankroll that is gambling the tune of £1,500 ($2,479) a pop. Their London casino sojourns would sometimes protect as numerous as three casinos nightly.
‘There were individuals in your wider circle not as enthusiastic about gambling that it was not in accordance with the activities of a Muslim,’ said Lim’s defense attorney Rupert Pardoe as you there was a perception. ‘You’ve got hatched a plot to blame Fatimah Lim for the theft of these bands and also this diamond bracelet.’
Lim stands accused of three counts of theft in the still-ongoing trial.
Aziz’ ex-husband Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah divorced Aziz after a marriage that is 21-year four children, in 2003. It’s difficult to keep track of his various and sundry matrimonies and his progeny, but it looks like the score is: one royal consort that is long-term the stripped-of-all-titles and now ex, Aziz; and a former Malaysian television hostess who only made it 5 years with her royal ex, and who was also stripped of all of the titles and her allowance, as apparently was Aziz.
One Pennsylvania lawmaker desires to make online gambling an offense punishable with jail time and fines (Image: AmericanMafia.com)
Pennsylvania might be one of many largest states population-wise that is seriously considering on line gambling, but that does not suggest every person there clearly was on board quite yet. And even though the Keystone State studies the problem and watches how things work with neighboring New Jersey, one lawmaker not only opposes online that is putting gambling practice there, but really desires to jail whoever attempts to place a bet on the net.
That’s the plan from State Representative Mario Scavello, who believes that online gambling is just a threat to families and kiddies. He’s also concerned that problem gamblers could access web sites and have nobody and no mechanism to stop them from wasting everything they have right from the comfort of their own areas.
‘Here again, online gambling is well referred to as the Wild West,’ said Scavello. ‘on the web, there is no one around to keep attention on some one would youn’t know when to stop.’
But while opposition to online gambling isn’t precisely breaking news, the specifics of Scavello’s proposal have definitely drawn attention.
The bill he has placed forward would actively punish online gamblers with fines and potentially even jail time. That would give Pennsylvania a few of the nation’s harshest punishments for online gambling, rivaling Washington State for that title.
A first violation would be a summary offense and would carry a fine of up to $300 and up to 90 days in jail under Scavello’s bill. Things get much even worse for a offense that is second at the period, the criminal activity becomes a misdemeanor, the maximum fine rises to $2,500 and offenders could be jailed for up to a 12 months.
‘I genuinely believe that if you hit individuals within their wallets, we can begin to break straight down on the lawbreakers,’ Scavello said.
Needless to say, Scavello’s bill was straight away supported by Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG). That team pointed to A quinnipiac that is recent poll found that 62 percent of registered voters in Pennsylvania opposed the regulation and legalization of on line gambling in their state.
‘We call regarding the Pennsylvania Legislature to vote in favor of this bill and send a powerful message that online gaming has no place in American culture,’ CSIG said in a statement.
Along with concerns on the ease of access to online gambling sites, Scavello additionally argued that online gaming could siphon cash far from Pennsylvania’s successful casinos that are land-based potentially costing the state revenue and jobs. He also claimed that online gambling could be used for criminal purposes, such as money laundering.
The proposition comes at a time when Pennsylvania is actively seeking ways to expand the state’s gaming industry to compete with neighboring states. They will have already approved allowing bars and other venues to host gambling devices, and Governor Tom Corbett has said that the state lottery should additionally offer keno games to Pennsylvania residents. Online gambling has not yet been put in to the state budget, but lawmakers are learning it for future consideration.
Scavello’s bill has found some supporters in the state legislature, particularly among fellow Republicans.
‘We realize that online gambling results in a whole lot of exploitation by various dubious characters that are out there,’ said State Representative David Millard. ‘Being addicted to gaming is such as a cancer in our community.’
Mobile gambling particularly sports betting has been growing exponentially in the UK, while traditional Internet play has dropped (Image: Courier-Mail)
What goes up, must come down. But in the case of the UK gambling market, two recent studies are making it seem aussie-pokies.club that the industry is both down and up at the time that is same. In fact, it’s simply a matter of what you would like to have a look at it, as the globe of gambling is changing, and gaming that is mobile becoming exponentially larger year after year.
First, there’s a report that is new through the UK Gambling Commission that shows fewer residents gambled in 2013 than in 2012. It’s only a small drop, however: 55 percent of UK residents said which they gambled over the four months before they certainly were surveyed in 2013, compared to 57 percent the year before.
That report also offered a consider whom is gambling and how often they’re doing it. A total of 60 per cent of male respondents reported gambling at least once a thirty days, while that quantity was just 50 percent for women. Most gamblers said they only played when a week, or less.
The commission additionally looked at online gambling, and saw that participation in Internet betting had been up even as overall participation had dropped. Some 15 per cent said they had participated in online gambling over the very last one month, up from 14 per cent a before year.
A percentage that is large of on line gambling is done through great britain’s National Lottery, which is also typically the most popular form of gambling in the country overall. In-person gambling was still the most popular kind of betting though, with nearly three-quarters of these who said they gambled saying that had only done so offline.
What do those true numbers actually mean? They show that online gambling continues to grow, but still has a great deal more space for expansion. Plus one thing that was not covered in the Gambling Commission report had been mobile gaming, which includes grown extremely in simply the year that is last.
That expansive growth ended up being illustrated in a report by OddsWinner.com, which studied the online and mobile revenues of the top UK bookmakers. Searching at just the largest companies, it becomes clear that mobile video gaming is the long run for online operators and that the long run may, in reality, be right here already.
For instance, William Hill has seen fast growth in how much of the sports guide revenue is now originating from mobile players. In 2012, just 26 percent of their sports book turnover came from mobile betting. But by the second quarter of 2013, that number had already raised to 33 percent, and the organization expects that to go above 40 percent by the end of 2014. Incredibly, William Hill reported that year-over-year profits for mobile gaming had increased 298 percent from 2012 to 2013.
Other businesses saw lower but still dramatic prices of mobile growth. Paddy Power saw a 112 percent increase in mobile revenue in 2013, while Betfair said mobile activity was up 64 percent year-over-year. And sports guide Bet365 says that 1 / 2 of their clients now come from mobile phones.
In line with the OddsWinner report, the growth in mobile betting is because of numerous factors, like the usage that is increased of in the UK. More businesses may also be releasing apps, as opposed to forcing clients to connect through their mobile browsers by itself.
‘Smartphones are now able to deliver the ongoing solutions needed to allow clients to bet regarding the move,’ said Push Technology CEO Sean Bowen. ‘We carry them every-where and therefore can bet at anytime, anywhere. There are more people with mobiles than PCs.’
Other factors are the increase in interest for in-play wagering on recreations, and marketing that is mobile-specific by the major UK bookmakers.