If so, how were the rules?

About 1 & 1/2 years ago, I was sitting at a poker table at Twin Rivers Casino in Rhode Island. I don’t remember how the conversation started, but we began discussing investments. The discussion was mainly focused around crypto currencies. Bitcoin was the center of discussion. At that time I heard of Bitcoin but knew nothing else about it nor did I even have a conception of what crypto currency was all about. However, I did make notes. I scribbled down Bitcoin, XRP and several others. Eventually, someone sitting opposite me, as he was raking in this massive pot, looked at me and said “Have you ever heard of Microvision?”
I listened to him half heartedly as he talked about it though it did sound interesting. I’ve been in this situation before, someone tells you about a real hot tip then you go invest a little money and end up losing all your money. I did that with a company that made sneakers for women called “Ryka”, ever hear of it?
Anyway I jotted down MVIS...
I later did some considerable research on crypto’s. I became a bit of an expert on Bitcoin and XRP. The more I learned the more I was sure that kind of investment wasn’t for me.
I moved on and began researching this company called MicroVision. The more I read the more I started to believe that this company might have something. What I saw was a company that had a very cool technology that initially was ahead of its time. But at this time, now, in 2018, it appeared to me that a broad market was beginning to open up for this kind of technology. As I read more and more the more I was convinced. When I happened upon MVIS, the doors opened up. I found a dedicated group of people that have been following this company for years. I was amazed by how much information you all gathered. It was like having a window into the business that only insiders would normally have any information about.
I just wanted to thank all you long time regulars including Peter and his blog. How many years has he held true to that blog?!
It actually feels unfair that I got in now, right at the cusp. I owe all you guys for that including the mysterious poker player.
Hell, I just now met Alexander Tokeman for the first time: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7MQtsuj1y-I&autoplay=1
GLTAL

Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater… or a global health crisis.
Figuring out how to divide the COVID-19 content from the “regular” news has been difficult because the pandemic is influencing all aspects of life. Some of the stories below involve the virus, but I chose to include them when it fits into one of the pre-established categories (like congress or immigration). The coronavirus-central post will be made again this Thursday-Friday; the sign up form now has an option to choose to receive an email when the coronavirus-focused roundup is posted.
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Let’s dig in!

MAIN COURSE

Congress passes stimulus

Last week started out with a Republican-crafted stimulus bill that was twice-blocked by Senate Democrats, who objected to the lax conditions of aid to corporations, too little funding for hospitals, and a $500 billion “slush fund” for big companies to be doled out by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin with no oversight.
Conservative-Democrat Joe Manchin (WV) even criticized the GOP bill:

“It fails our first responders, nurses, private physicians and all healthcare professionals. ... It fails our workers. It fails our small businesses… Instead, it is focused on providing billions of dollars to Wall Street and misses the mark on helping the West Virginians that have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.”

Through negotiations, Democrats shifted the bill in a more-worker friendly direction. The version that passed includes the following Democrat-added provisions: expanded unemployment benefits, $100 billion for hospitals, $150 billion for state and local governments, direct payments to Americans without a phase-in (ensuring low-income workers get the full amount), a ban on Trump and his children from receiving aid, and oversight on the “slush fund” (see next section for more info). Senate Democrats also managed to remove a provision that would have excluded nonprofits that receive Medicaid funding from the small-business grants.

• Further reading: After Senate Democrats blocked the Republican-crafted bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led the House Democrats in releasing their own version, a best-case scenario of their dream coronavirus stimulus bill. It is interesting to contrast what the Democrats prioritized to what the Republicans focused on: “How the House Democrats' stimulus plan compares to the Senate's”

Echoing sentiments expressed during debate on the previous coronavirus bill (the second, for those keeping track), Republican senators derided the $600 a week increase in unemployment payments as “incentivizing” workers to quit their jobs. Sens. Ben Sasse (Neb.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Tim Scott (S.C.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) delayed passage of the bill in order to force a vote on an amendment removing the extra unemployment funding. "This bill pays you more not to work than if you were working," Graham said. Fortunately for American workers, the amendment failed and the improved bill passed the Senate and the House.

• Note: In 2009 only three Republicans helped Obama pass his stimulus bill in his first month in office.

The giveaways in the bill

While Senate Democrats were able to add worker-friendly provisions, the bill still required bipartisan support to pass the chamber and some corporate giveaways remained in the final version.

• NYT: “Senate Republicans inserted an easy-to-overlook provision on page 203 of the 880-page bill that would permit wealthy investors to use losses generated by real estate to minimize their taxes on profits from things like investments in the stock market. The estimated cost of the change over 10 years is $170 billion.”
  
• NYT: “...if a company owns multiple hotels, even if the overall hotel or restaurant chain has more than 500 employees — the limit to qualify for treatment as a small business — it will still be able to take advantage of the small-business benefits offered in the rescue package. ...The provision could benefit the Trump Organization, which operates a relatively small chain, with six hotels in the United States in cities including New York, Washington and Chicago.”
  

Politico:

• “A provision for the FDA to approve ‘innovative’ sunscreens—which would benefit L’Oreal, which has operations in Kentucky—appeared in the bill, which was steered in the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.”
  
• “The $25 billion allocated in loans and loan guarantees for the airlines will also benefit eligible businesses "approved to perform inspection, repair, replace, or overhaul services, and ticket agents.” The last two words — ‘ticket agents’ — mean that travel agents who book flights will also be able to apply for a piece of the $25 billion.”
  
• “The credit reporting industry got a win by defeating a total ban on negative credit reports during the crisis. Instead, a watered down version made it into the final bill: Consumers wouldn't get a negative credit report if they have an agreement with a lender to delay payments or make partial payments.”
  

Trump’s signing statement

While signing the latest coronavirus relief bill, the president also issued a signing statement undercutting the congressional oversight provision creating an inspector general to track how the administration distributes the $500 billion “slush fund” money.
The newly-created inspector general is legally required to audit loans and investments made through the fund and report to Congress his/her findings, including any refusal by the executive office to cooperate. In his signing statement, Trump wrote that his understanding of constitutional powers allows him to gag the special IG:

"I do not understand, and my Administration will not treat, this provision as permitting the [inspector general] to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision required" by Article II of the Constitution.

The signing statement further suggests that Trump does not have to comply with a provision requiring that agencies consult with Congress before it spends or reallocates certain funds: "These provisions are impermissible forms of congressional aggrandizement with respect to the execution of the laws," the statement reads.
While some have said that Congress fell short in this instance, one Democratic Senate aide told Politico that Congress built in multiple layers of oversight, including “a review of other inspectors general and a congressional review committee charged with overseeing Treasury and the Federal Reserve's efforts to implement the law.”
Legal experts have pointed out that a signing statement is “without legal effect.” But that ignores the fact that oversight is not equal to enforcement. The problem, in my opinion, isn’t that Congress won’t be notified of any abuses of power by Trump. The problem is that congressional Republicans and the judiciary have largely failed to hold him accountable and enforce our laws even after learning of his abuses.

Concerns about the IG

Another potential weakness in the oversight structure is the inspector general position itself. The special inspector general for pandemic recovery, known by the acronym S.I.G.P.R., is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. As we’ve seen from Trump’s previous nominees, particularly judicial, many unqualified individuals have been confirmed. The Democrats will not have the power to stop the president and Mitch McConnell from jamming through a loyalist to fill the SIGPR role.

Former inspector general at the Justice Department Michael Bromwich: “The signing statement threatens to undermine the authority and independence of this new IG. The Senate should extract a commitment from the nominee that Congress will be promptly notified of any Presidential/Administration interference or obstruction.”

You may recall that Trump has already proven that he’s willing to interfere with the legally-mandated work of an inspector general. When the Ukraine whistleblower filed a complaint last year, the IG of the Intelligence Community, Michael Atkinson, investigated and determined the complaint to be “urgent” and “credible.” Atkinson wrote a report and gave it to Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire to hand over to Congress. However, the White House and DOJ interfered and instructed Maguire not to transmit the report to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. Chairman Adam Schiff had to subpoena Maguire to turn over the report and testify before his committee.
Further, there are already five IG vacancies in agencies that have a critical role in responding to the pandemic. The Treasury itself has not had a permanent, Senate-confirmed IG for over eight months now, and Trump hasn’t nominated a replacement. The Treasury Dept. has taken a lead role in the coronavirus response, with Secretary Mnuchin handling most of the negotiating with Congress on Trump’s behalf. The fact that the lead agency doesn’t have IG oversight should be troublesome in itself; replicating the situation with a special IG doesn’t seem to be a promising solution.

• The other four coronavirus-related agencies without a permanent IG: Department of Health and Human Services’ IG has been vacant for nine months, Department of Defense’s IG has been vacant for four years, Department of Education’s IG has been vacant for one year, and Office of Personnel Management’s IG has been vacant for four years. Overall, there are twelve IG vacancies in the 37) presidentially-appointed offices.

UPDATE: The nation's inspectors general have appointed Glenn Fine, the Pentagon's acting IG, to lead the committee of IGs overseeing the coronavirus relief effort.

This is one of several oversight mechanisms built into the new law. They include:
A committee of IGs (now led by Fine), a new special IG (to be nominated by Trump), a congressional review panel (to be appointed by House/Senate leaders)

Direct payments

Included in the stimulus bill is a $1200 one-time direct payment for all Americans who made less than $75,000 in 2019 (less than $150,000 if couples filed jointly). More details can be found here. I have read that the Treasury will use 2018 information for those who have not filed yet this year, but I am not 100% sure that’ll happen.
Mnuchin has said that Americans can expect to receive the money within three weeks, but many experts expect that timetable to be pushed into late April. Additionally, that only applies to Americans who included direct deposit information on their 2019 tax returns. Those who did not include their bank’s information will have to be sent a physical check in the mail… which could take anywhere from two to four months.
Other options are being discussed, including partnering the Treasury Dept. with MasterCard and Visa to deliver prepaid debit cards. Venmo and Paypal are reportedly lobbying the government to be considered as a disbursement option.
Future payments?
House Speaker Pelosi is already planning another wave of direct payments to Americans, saying that the $1,200 is not enough to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic: “I don’t think we’ve seen the end of direct payments.” Republicans, meanwhile, are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach, using the next couple of weeks to measure the impact of the $2 trillion bill passed last week.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: “What concerns me is when I listen to Nancy Pelosi talk about a fourth package now, it’s because she did not get out of things that she really wanted...I’m not sure you need a fourth package...Let’s let this work ... We have now given the resources to make and solve this problem. We don’t need to be crafting another bill right now.”
For the fourth legislative package, Democrats have said they would like to see increased food stamp benefits; increased coverage for coronavirus testing, visits to the doctor and treatment; more money for state and local governments, including Washington, D.C.; expanded family and medical leave; pension fixes; and stronger workplace protections.

Trump’s signature
Normally, a civil servant signs federal checks, like the direct payments Americans are set to receive. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Trump has told people that he wants his signature to appear on the stimulus checks.

THE SIDES

War on the poor continues

Amid the coronavirus crisis, Trump has defended his continued support of a Republican-led lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which would result in 20 million Americans losing health insurance if successful. The Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the case this fall. Contrasting with his position that the ACA is illegal, Trump is considering reopening enrollment on HealthCare.gov, allowing millions of uninsured individuals to get coverage before potentially incurring charges and fees related to COVID-19.
Joe Biden called on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is leading the charge against the ACA, and President Trump to drop the lawsuit:

“At a time of national emergency, which is laying bare the existing vulnerabilities in our public health infrastructure, it is unconscionable that you are continuing to pursue a lawsuit designed to strip millions of Americans of their health insurance and protections under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the ban on insurers denying coverage or raising premiums due to pre-existing conditions.”

The Trump administration is also pushing forward with its plan to kick 700,000 people off federal food stamp assistance, known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The USDA announced two weeks ago that the department will appeal Judge Beryl Howell’s recent decision that the USDA’s work mandate rule is “arbitrary and capricious."
Additionally: The Social Security Administration has no plans to slow down a rule change set for June that will limit disability benefits, the Department of Health and Human Services still intends to reduce automatic enrollment in health coverage, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will continue the process to enact a rule that would make it harder for renters to sue landlords for racial discrimination.

Lawmakers’ stock transactions

The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are beginning to investigate stock transactions made ahead of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. CNN reports that the inquiry has already reached out to Senator Richard Burr for information. “Under insider trading laws, prosecutors would need to prove the lawmakers traded based on material non-public information they received in violation of a duty to keep it confidential,” a task that won’t be easy.
Sen. Burr is facing another consequence of his trades: Alan Jacobson, a shareholder in Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, sued Burr for allegedly using private information to instruct a mass liquidation of his assets. Among the shares he sold were an up to $150,000 stake in Wyndham, whose stock suffered a market-value cut of more than two-thirds since mid-February.

Environmental rollbacks

Using the pandemic as cover, the Trump administration has begun to more aggressively roll back regulations meant to protect the environment. These are examples of what Naomi Klein dubbed “the shock doctrine”: the phenomenon wherein polluters and their government allies push through unpopular policy changes under the smokescreen of a public emergency.
On Thursday, the EPA announced (non-paywalled) an expansive relaxation of environmental laws and fines, exempting companies from consequences for pollution. Under the new rules, there are basically no rules. Companies are asked to “act responsibly” but are not required to report when their facilities discharge pollution into the air or water. Just five days before abandoning any pollution oversight, the oil industry’s largest trade group implored the administration for assistance, stating that social distancing measures caused a steep drop in demand for gasoline.

• Monday morning update: In an interview with Fox News this morning, Trump said he was going to call Putin after the interview to discuss the Saudi-Russia oil fight. A consequence of this "battle" has been plummeting prices in the U.S. making it difficult for domestic companies (like shale extraction) to turn a profit. It's striking that the day after Dr. Fauci told Americans we can expect 100,000 to 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 (if we keep social distancing measures in place), Trump's first action is to talk to Fox News and his second action is to intervene in an international tiff on behalf of the oil and gas industry.

Gina McCarthy, who led the E.P.A. under the Obama administration, called the rollback “an open license to pollute.” Cynthia Giles, who headed the EPA enforcement division during the Obama administration, said “it is so far beyond any reasonable response I am just stunned.”
The EPA is also moving forward with a widely-opposed rule to limit the types of scientific studies used when crafting new regulations or revising current ones. Hidden behind claims of increased transparency, the rule would require disclosure of all raw data used in scientific studies. This would disqualify many fields of research that rely on personal health information from individuals that must be kept confidential. For example, studies that show air pollution causes premature deaths or a certain pesticide is linked to birth defects would be rejected under the proposed rule change.
Officials and scientists are calling upon the EPA to extend the time for comment on the regulatory changes, arguing that the public is unable to express their opinion while dealing with the pandemic.

“These rollbacks need and deserve the input of our public health community, but right now, they are rightfully focused on responding to the coronavirus,” said Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Other controversial decisions being made:

• A former EPA official who worked on controversial policies returned as Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s chief of staff. Mandy Gunasekara helped write regulations to ease pollution controls for coal-fired power plants and vehicle emissions in her previous role as chief of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. In a recent interview, Gunasekara, who played a role in the decision to exit the Paris Climate Accord, pushed back on the more dire predictions of climate change, saying, “I don't think it is catastrophic.”
  
• NYT: The plastic bag industry, battered by a wave of bans nationwide, is using the coronavirus crisis to try to block laws prohibiting single-use plastic. “We simply don’t want millions of Americans bringing germ-filled reusable bags into retail establishments putting the public and workers at risk,” an industry campaign that goes by the name Bag the Ban warned on Tuesday. (Also see The Guardian)
  
• Kentucky, South Dakota, and West Virginia passed laws putting new criminal penalties on protests against fossil fuel infrastructure in just the past two weeks.
  
• The Hill: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Friday that it will extend the amount of time that winter gasoline can be sold this year as producers have been facing lower demand due to the coronavirus. It will allow companies to sell the winter-grade gasoline through May 20, whereas companies would have previously been required to stop selling it by May 1 to protect air quality. “In responding to an international health crisis, the last thing the EPA should do is take steps that will worsen air quality and undermine the public’s health,” biofuels expert David DeGennaro said.
  
• NYT: At the Interior Department, employees at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been under strict orders to complete the rule eliminating some protections for migratory birds within 30 days, according to two people with direct knowledge of the orders. The 45-day comment period on that rule ended on March 19.
  
• WaPo: The Interior Department has received over 230 nominations for oil and gas leases covering more than 150,000 acres across southern Utah, a push that would bring drilling as close as a half-mile from some of the nation’s most famous protected sites, including Arches and Canyonlands National Parks… if all the fossil fuels buried in those sites was extracted and burned, it would translate into between 1 billion and 5.95 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide being released into the air. That upward measure is equal to half the annual carbon output of China
  

Court updates

Press freedom case
Southern District of New York District Judge Lorna Schofield ruled that a literary advocacy group’s lawsuit against Trump for allegedly violating the First Amendment can move forward. The group, PEN America, is pursuing claims that Trump “has used government power to retaliate against media coverage and reporters he dislikes.”
Schofield determined that PEN’s allegation that Trump made threats to chill free speech was valid, providing as an example the White House’s revocation of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press press corps credentials:

”The threats are lent credence by the fact that Defendant has acted on them before, by revoking Mr. Acosta’s credentials and barring reporters from particular press conferences. The Press Secretary indeed e-mailed the entire press corps to inform them of new rules of conduct and to warn of further consequences, citing the incident involving Mr. Acosta… These facts plausibly allege that a motivation for defendant’s actions is controlling and punishing speech he dislikes.”

Twitter case
The president suffered another First Amendment defeat last week when the full 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals declined to review a previous ruling that prevents Trump from blocking users on the Twitter account he uses to communicate with the public. Judge Barrington D. Parker, a Nixon-appointee, wrote: “Excluding people from an otherwise public forum such as this by blocking those who express views critical of a public official is, we concluded, unconstitutional.”
Trump-appointees Michael Parker and Richard Sullivan authored a dissent, arguing the free speech “does not include a right to post on other people’s personal social media accounts, even if those other people happen to be public officials.” Park warned that the ruling will allow the social media pages of public officials to be “overrun with harassment, trolling, and hate speech, which officials will be powerless to filter.”
Florida’s felon voting
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ripped into Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration for failing to come up with a process to determine which felons are genuinely unable to pay court-ordered fees and fines, which are otherwise required to be paid before having their voting rights restored.
“If the state is not going to fix it, I will,” Hinkle warned. He had given the state five months to come up with an administrative process for felons to prove they’re unable to pay financial obligations, but Florida officials did not do so. The case is set to be heard on April 28 (notwithstanding any coronavirus-related delays).

ICE, Jails, and COVID-19

ICE
One of the most overlooked populations with an increased risk of death from coronavirus are those in detention facilities, which keep people in close quarters with little sanitation or protective measures (including for staff).
Last week, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered the federal government to “make continuous efforts” to release migrant children from detention centers across the country. Numerous advocacy groups asked for the release after reports that four children being held in New York had tested positive for the virus:

“The threat of irreparable injury to their health and safety is palpable,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers said in their petition… both of the agencies operating migrant children detention facilities must by April 6 provide an accounting of their efforts to release those in custody… “Her order will undoubtedly speed up releases,” said Peter Schey, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the court case.

On Tuesday, 13 immigrants held at ICE facilities in California filed a lawsuit demanding to be released because their health conditions make them particularly vulnerable to dying if infected by the coronavirus. An ACLU statement says the detainees are “confined in crowded and unsanitary conditions where social distancing is not possible.” The 13 individuals are all over the age of 50 and/or suffering from serious underlying medical issues like high blood pressure.

“From all the evidence we have seen, ICE is failing to fulfill its constitutional obligation to protect the health and safety of individuals in its custody. ICE should exercise its existing discretion to release people with serious medical conditions from detention for humanitarian reasons,” said William Freeman, senior counsel at the ACLU of Northern California.

Meanwhile, ICE is under fire for continuing to shuttle detainees across the country, with one even being forced to take nine different flights bouncing from Louisiana to Texas to New Jersey less than two weeks ago. That man is Dr. Sirous Asgari, a materials science and engineering professor from Iran, who was acquitted last year on federal charges of stealing trade secrets. The government lost its case against him, yet ICE has had him in indefinite detention since November.

Asgari, 59, told the Guardian that his Ice holding facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, had no basic cleaning practices in place and continued to bring in new detainees from across the country with no strategy to minimize the threat of Covid-19...Detainees have no hand sanitizer, and the facility is not regularly cleaning bathrooms or sleeping areas…Detainees lack access to masks… Detainees struggle to stay clean, and the facility has an awful stench.

Jails
State jails are making a better effort to release detained individuals, as both New York and New Jersey ordered a thousand people in each state be let out of jail. The order applied only to low-level offenders sentenced to less than a year in jail and those held on technical probation violations. In Los Angeles County, officials released over 1,700 people from its jails.
A judge in Alabama took similar steps last week, ordering roughly 500 people jailed for minor offenses to be released to lessen crowding in facilities. Unlike in New York and New Jersey, however, local officials reacted in an uproar, led in part by the state executive committee for the Alabama Republican Party and Assistant District Attorney C.J. Robinson. Using angry Facebook messages as the barometer of the community’s feelings, Robinson worked “frantically” to block inmates from being released.

• Reuters: As of Saturday, at least 132 inmates and 104 staff at jails across New York City had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus… Since March 22, jails have reported 226 inmates and 131 staff with confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to a Reuters survey of cities and counties that run America’s 20 largest jails. The numbers are almost certainly an undercount given the fast spread of the virus.

Tribe opposed by Trump loses land

On Wednesday, The Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs announced the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s reservation would be "disestablished" and its land trust status removed. Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell called the move "cruel" and "unnecessary,” particularly coming in the midst of a pandemic crisis. Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), who last year introduced legislation to protect the tribe's reservation as trust land in Massachusetts, said the order “is one of the most cruel and nonsensical acts I have seen since coming to Congress.”
The administration’s decision is especially suspicious as just last year Trump attacked the tribe’s plan to build a casino on its land, tweeting that allowing the construction would be “unfair” and treat Native Americans unequally. As a former casino owner, Trump has spent decades attacking Native American casinos as unfair competition. At a 1993 congressional hearing Trump said that tribal owners “don’t look like Indians to me” and claimed: “I might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians that are trying to open up the reservations” to gambling.
More than his past history, however, Trump has current interests at play in the Mashpee Wampanoag’s planned casino: it would have competed for business with nearby Rhode Island casinos owned by Twin River Worldwide Holdings, whose president, George Papanier, was a finance executive at the Trump Plaza casino hotel in Atlantic City.

In the Mashpee case, Twin River, the operator of the two Rhode Island casinos, has hired Matthew Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and a vocal Trump supporter, to lobby for it on the land issue. Schlapp’s wife, Mercedes, is director of strategic communications at the White House.

SS: The DOI moved to "de-establish" the Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts, removing their reservation's status as sovereign land. The DOI is moving on this now so it will be swept under the rug during the COVID19 crisis.
Trump has personally Tweeted his opposition to the bill HR 312 that was allowing the Wampanoag to build a casino on their private land. Why would Trump personally get involved in this issue? Because his buddy, Matthew Schapp was hired by existing casinos that is concerned about competition:

Twin River, the operator of the two Rhode Island casinos, also hired Matthew Schlapp, a conservative activist and vocal Trump supporter, to lobby for the company on the issue of the Mashpee Wampanoag reservation, as The Washington Post reported after Trump spoke out against the bill. Schlapp’s wife, Mercedes Schlapp, was Trump’s strategic communications director at the time. However, Schlapp said his wife played “no role” in his advocacy.

So much for the "free market".
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/03/29/mashpee-wampanoag-reservation

https://www.wpri.com/news/ri-keeping-casinos-open-despite-warning-over-crowds-and-covid-19/
LINCOLN, R.I. (WPRI) – While Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo has urged Rhode Islanders to avoid large social gatherings due to the coronavirus outbreak, officials say they will not shutter the two state-owned casinos that generate millions of dollars for the state.
During a news conference Wednesday, Raimondo called for social distancing in an attempt to reduce spread of the new virus that causes COVID-19, a disease that’s killed more than 4,700 people worldwide. She asked residents to avoid gatherings larger than 250 people.
“We have one shot to get this right,” Raimondo said. “Everybody, get in the boat and row in the same direction, so we can put a lid on coronavirus.”
But the advice doesn’t appear to apply to the state-owned casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton where hundreds of people can meet to eat, drink and gamble on slot machines and table games.
Twin River, which operates the casinos, announced Thursday it would postpone concerts and other events, but otherwise remain open under aggressive cleaning measures it calls the “Aware and Active Program.”
“Safety of our employees and guests is of the utmost importance to us,” said Craig Sculos, general manager of Twin River in Lincoln. “The program reinforces the importance of personal hygiene, remaining at home when feeling ill and safe travel practices, among other recommendations.”
The decision underscores a significant challenge facing businesses and public health officials throughout the country: how to curb the spread of the illness while also minimizing harm to the economy.
In Rhode Island, the two casinos are important money makers for both publicly traded Twin River Worldwide Holdings and the R.I. Lottery, representing the state’s third largest revenue source. The state Lottery brings in about $400 million for the roughly $10 billion annual budget.
When asked Wednesday how she squared the recommendation against large gatherings and the continued operation of the two casinos, Raimondo mostly demurred.
“If you’re feeling healthy and you’re able to be in a space where you can have some distance — not prolonged contact — wash your hands regularly, then go ahead and do that,” Raimondo said.
Pressed on the question Thursday, Raimondo spokesperson Josh Block defended the policy.
“The casino is a large facility and we are ensuring they take every precaution to contain the spread of coronavirus,” Block said. “That includes ensuring the availability of soap and hand sanitizer and limiting close-proximity interactions. To the extent that the casino has large events or conferences planned, those will be cancelled or postponed.”
The state and Twin River did not immediately respond to questions about which entity has the authority to shut the casinos down. But such a move would not be without precedent.
Twin River closed the Lincoln casino in January 2015 during a blizzard, marking the first time that had happened since it became a 24/7 operation, according to the Twin River’s then-executive chairman John Taylor Jr.
“We don’t have locks on the door,” Taylor said on WPRI 12’s Executive Suite at the time. “We actually had to go out and get chains to lock the place up.”
The current circumstances, of course, are different than a one-time storm.
The lack of business for such a long time at the casinos would have a dramatic impact on finances. Twin River slot machines generated an average of $920 per minute in profit during the month of January, according to a Target 12 analysis of state revenue data.
R.I. Health Department Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott on Wednesday said the best way to protect against the virus at a casino is to wash your hands after using machines. But she also made it clear that any activity — including gambling — comes with some level of risk.
“The most important message is being able to stay home if you are ill,” Alexander-Scott said. “If everyone is able to do that, you can enjoy your activities at a casino knowing that there’s less of a risk of illness occurring.”

Legalized sports betting has failed to generate the revenue expected in Rhode Island. The state initially budgeted for $23.5 million in gambling related revenues for the fiscal year ending in June 2019 (began in Nov. ’18). The target was lowered to $11.5 million in January, but R.I. lottery officials are reporting that the state has posted just 1.3% of that total ($150,000) to date. Governor Gina Raimondo attributed the shortfall to “a little bit [of a] later start than we thought”; wagering volume ($250 million anticipated vs. $813 million projected) and gambler performance (better than expected) have also forced the need for a rebalancing of the budget. While it’s all but assured that Rhode Island will fall short of January’s revamped projection, it should experience significant revenue growth in 2020; Raimondo signed a bill last week that will permit online sports betting within the state.
Howie Long-Short: The Patriots Super Bowl win contributed to a tough February for Rhode Island’s sportsbooks – the pair lost a combined $890,000 on $20.7 million in wagers during the month. They’re off to a better start in March, having raked in +/- $1 million over the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. The state is entitled to 51% of sports betting revenues (after expenses).
Rhode Island is certainly not a proxy for the country – it has just 2 licensed casinos – but “most of the states” that have passed legislation since PASPA was struck down have fallen short of projections. It’s certainly no coincidence that like Rhode Island, all but New Jersey (which out-earned Nevada for the 1st time in Jan.) failed to establish mobile/online as an option.
Rhode Island’s 2020 budget assumes sports betting will bring in $30.3 million in revenue, including $3 million in mobile fees. Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio has acknowledged that the financial forecasts will need to be rebalanced (see: lowered) in the wake of fiscal 2019 results, but the nominal revenue Raimondo attributed to mobile – relative to the total income projected – makes me think they’re still getting bad “information” (or that they simply don’t understand the marketplace). New Jersey sportsbooks generated 80% of their January revenue from mobile and online platforms.
Once Twin Rivers begins taking online/mobile bets, business will pick up. It will become easier for residents of the state to place wagers and with Massachusetts yet to legalize sports betting, the Rhode Island licensee should pick up some action from residents of the neighboring state (via the William Hill app). For reference purposes, FanDuel claims 9% of its New Jersey business comes from those living in New York and another 4% from those based in Pennsylvania. The 2020 budget assumes mobile sports betting will be available next winter, but there’s a current push within the Assembly to have it in place by the start of the NFL season.
Rhode Island’s 2 casinos (Lincoln and Tiverton) are owned by Twin River Worldwide Holdings. On Friday, the company (which also owns the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Biloxi, MS) “added to its geographic base” closing on the purchase of Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment. Shares of Twin River common stock subsequently began trading (at $29) on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TRWH.
Fan Marino: 75% of those who placed bets (against the spread) on the Super Bowl at Rhode Island’s 2 brick and mortar casinos took the hometown Patriots; as a result, the pair lost $2.3 million on the game. It’s not atypical for a sportsbook to take a loss on a big game – like the Super Bowl – when the hometown team covers. Fans bet with their hearts and the action tends to skew “towards the geographically favored team.” The books don’t move the lines to reflect the heavy action though, because doing so would leave them susceptible to sharp money (going the other way) taking advantage of mispriced odds.

Disclaimer:I am getting these time stamps off ITunes -At 0:00:48-Van Halen’s 1984 song Jump begins to play in the introduction to The “Stacks”.
At 0:1:18-A BLACK ALIEN INVADER STICKER FROM SPACE INVADERS IS ON WADE’S BACKPACK
At 0:01:44 one of the residents of “The Stacks” is receiving a delivery from a Pizza Hut drone.
At 0:02:13-Mrs. Gilmore is wearing a shirt featuring The Police album Synchronicity
At 0:02:45 Two Garbage Pail Kids stickers are visible on the wall one I can make out one which is Bony Tony
Also 0:02:45-A Garfield sticker is also on the van’s wall
At 0:02:46-Hanging from the wall is a damaged IPod Classic
At 0:02:47-Wade retrieves his OASIS retinal scanner off a a Commodore 64 joystick.
Also at 0:02:46-A 1980’s Batman sticker is stuck to the wall where Wade’s retinal scanner is.
At 0:02:47-a Nintendo NES Zapper is taped to the wall of the van.
Also at 0:02:47- a 1972-Doritos packet is tucked behind a drawer in the van.
Also at 0:02:47-a sticker of the pyramid from Q*Bert is stuck to a shelf in Wade’s Van.
At 0:02:57-Wade sets his glasses on a 1982 Masters Of The Universe lunchbox. A Masters Of The Universe Thermos is further along the drawer.
Also at 0:02:57-A POP ROCKS! Blue Razz packet is also lying upon the MOTU lunchbox.
At 0:02:57-beside the lunchbox is a 1980’s Coke can
Also at 0:02:57 A Carl’s Jr. fries packet is lying beside the lunchbox
At 0:03:16-Wade pulls his OASIS visor out of a 1981 Defenders T-Shirt.
At 0:03:18-A 1982 JOUST sticker is placed on the visor
Also at 0:03:18-A Space Invaders logo decal is on the visor
Also at 0:03:18-A Mattel Scratch N’ Sniff sticker is next to the Space Invaders sticker
At 0:03:24-A 1980’s Batman Symbol sticker is visible on the visor
At 0:03:40-we enter the OASIS to visit Minecraft World nice attention to detail with the blocks forming and creeper-face logo.
At 0:03:42-In Minecraft World a village below features Steve Alex and Minecraft pigs and sheep avatars (maybe NPCs?)
At 0:03:47-on the sports world a golf player does the Gilmore swing from Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore.
At 0:03:55-In a Sports World mini-game named Hurricane Hang-Gliding a small house flies through the wreckage referencing the Gale House from The Wizard Of Oz (well in the 1939 movie it was a Tornado but still a reference)
At 0:04:04-a group of OASIS sector portals are seen-some of these include Minecraft World and LUDUS school districts from the book.
At 0:04:17-get ready for some Batman references While in the Vacation Planet Wade explains that you could do multiple activities including climbing MT. Everest with Batman
The variation of the Batman show here is Micheal Keaton’s portrayal from the 1989 Tim Burton film.
Batman climbing MT. Everest is a reference to him and Robin climbing tall buildings in the 1966 Adam West tv series.
Also at 0:04:17-what’s interesting here is the climber below Batman. He definitely looks like Link from Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series but I’ve heard Warner Bros. Couldn’t get the license so maybe a Robin Hood Avatar?
At 0:04:21-Wade says you can go to a planet-size space Casino this is taken directly from one of the episodes from the Anime Cowboy Bepbop.
At 0:04:30-we can hear a School bell ring as ships pass the planet Ludus which is of course the school Wade attends in the novel.
At 0:04:40-As Wade introduces the types of Avatars users can choose in the OASIS the Cyclops from the 1958 fantasy film The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad stomps out of the entry point.
At 0:04:41-Frankenstein (1931) and The Wolf-Man (1941) from their classic Universal horror movies emerge from the OASIS entry point as Thr Wolf-Man howls and Frankenstein’s Monster swings his arms around wrapped in chains.
0:04:42-A female Avatar switches her avatar to Injustice 2’s version of The Flash.
At 0:04:43-Zitz and Rash from the 1991 NES game Battletoads emerge from the entry point.
At 0:04:43-Alex Murphy A.K.A Robocop from Paul Verhoven’s 1987 original Robocop film emerges from the entry point.
At 0:04:46-Wade says your avatar can be a Cartoon character as Marvin the Martin from the Looney Tunes cartoon series runs out of the entry point (he looks so cute and cool)
At 0:04:47-a group of OASIS users using Orrendi from the 2016 video game BattleBorn emerge from the entry point.
At 0:04:48-behind Wade Shayne and Auroxx (might’ve misspelled the character’s name) from Battleborn emerge from the entry point.
At 0:04:49-An Orc from World of Warcraft walks besides Wade when Wade is introducing his Avatar Parzival.
At 0:04:56-above on a walkway a younger version of Beetlejuice from Tim Burton’s 1988 movie is visible.
Also at 0:4:56-it appears Raiden from the Mortal Kombat video game series is interacting with another player.
At 0:04:56-Tracer from the video game Overwatch cuts in line for an OASIS portal.
At 0:04:57-Sonic from Sega’s video game series Sonic The Hedgehog taps his foot impatiently waiting for a line.
Also at 0:04:57-Catwoman is also in the line (it appears it is Michelle Pfeiffer’s Batman Returns variation.
At 0:04:58-John Bender from John Hughe’s 1985 teen film The Breakfast Club is seen entering a portal.
At 0:04:58-Night-Wing is seen entering a portal alongside John Bender (it appears it is the Arkham variation.
At 0:04:58-now take this with a grain of salt but I think can make out Sektor and cyborg from Mortal Kombat in one of the portal lines.
At 0:05:00 (under the walkway Wade is one is Commander John Shepard from the EA video game Mass Effect.
At 0:05:02-on the walkway is Attikus from Battleborn stomping past Wade.
At 0:05:04-while Wade is explaining the possibilities of the OASIS Hello Kitty Badtz-Maru and Keroppi from Sanrio skips beside him.
At 0:05:05-A Protoss Zealot from Starcraft II is on the walkway behind Wade.
At 0:05:05-Wade’s avatar Parzival wears a belt and holster worn by Han Solo in Star Wars:Episode IV-A New Hope
Also at 0:05:05-The Buckle on Parzival’s belt is the Tiger emblem from Thundercats (1985 cartoon series)
Also at 0:05:05-Parzival wears Converse’s Chuck-Taylor All stars (golden-winged(
At 0:05:07-Wade pulls up a holographic OASIS sector map that is in the same shape as a Rubik’s Cube
At 0:05:11-Wade finds out Aech is currently participating in a PVP match on Planet Doom a location in the 1984 anime Voltron.
At 0:05:20-On Planet Doom Mechanised scorpions from the 1993 computer game Ultrabots swarm the battlefield.
Also at 0:05:20-The scorpions go up against Knights and Ostriches from the 1982 arcade game Joust (in a deleted scene in the SDCC trailer Napoleon rides on a scorpion as he kills ostriches which lay green eggs like in the game.
At 0:05:22-Aech kills a beserker from Gears of War.
At 0:05:28-Aech eliminates a PVP tournament player taking the form of Robert England’s Freddy Kruger
Also at 0:05:28-Aech uses an MA5B assault rifle from Halo 3 to eliminate players.
At 0:05:29-When Freddy gets killed Kreig’s Buzz-Axe from Borderlands comes bursting out of his inventory
At 0:05:31-Aech kills Kitana from Mortal Kombat as a fan comes out of her inventory
At 0:05:31-Man-Bat from Batman:Arkham Knight swoops down at Aech only to be eliminated
At 0:05:37-Despite being an Assault rifle from Halo the SFX of the rifle is the Pulse Rifle from Terminator 2:Judgement Day
At 0:05:41-Duke Nukem from the video game series of the same name fires multiple rockets at Aech only to be eliminated by him.
At 0:05:44-(this is the weirdest thing in the movie) A player taking the form of an Emoji person attempts to kill Aech.
At 0:05:46-A Zerg from Starcraft is shot by Aech.
At 0:05:47-Aech picks up a EM1-Railgun from the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Eraser.
At 0:05:53-Daito’s Avatar is actually based of legendary Japanese film actor Toshiro Mifune (specially from his 1953 film Throne of Blood)
At 0:05:56-Aech kills Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat.
At 0:05:57-Scorpion from Mortal Kombat is fighting Daito and Sho before being shot by Aech.
Also at 0:05:57-The weapon Scorpion is using is a buzz-Axe from Borderlands.
At 0:05:58-Aech shoots Deadshot (it is his Injustice 2 variation)
At 0:06:14-E. Honda from Street fighter is on the mountain pushing other people off with his belly.
At 0:06:18-Chun-Li from Street fighter can be seen dodging traps before being burned by a fire trap.
At 0:06:26-we all saw this cameo. Jim Raynor from Starcraft II and shooting every player in sight.
At 0:06:27-yet another 1972-packaged Doritos Tortilla Chips behind Rick on the coffee table (I believe you see it in the film four times)
0:06:36-When we cut to a mother playing the PVP tournament the Guitar from Guitar Hero is sitting On the armchair.
At 0:06:48-when Daito slays a PVP player and his loot bursts out an O.G 1986 W.O.W Laser Tag pistol can be seen in the pile.
At 0:06:50-we cut to a girl screaming since losing in the PVP match. A poster for The Bangle’s 1984 album All Over The Place is on the girl’s bedroom wall.
Also at 0:06:50 - A Bedtime Bear plush toy from Care Bears is on the girl’s bed.
At 0:06:51-A Donkey Kong Jr. poster is on the bedroom wall.
Also at 0:06:51-On a shelf in the girl’s bedroom Care Bear figurines are visible.
At 0:06:54-Daito and Sho fight and shortly kills Jason Vorhees from the Friday the 13th horror series.
Also at 0:06:54-When Jason is slain various things comes out of his inventory (lots of guns) I could only make out another 1986 W.O.W Laser Tag pistol.
At 0:07:06-Tear For Fear’s song Everybody Wants To Rule The World plays.
At 0:07:06-Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014 Michael Bay film) passes Wade when Wade is talking to Aech.
Also at 0:07:06-Blue Beetle from Injustice 2 passes Wade.
At 0:07:07-behind Wade you can see Benedict from Battleborn
At 0:07:08-Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (again 2014) passes wade while wade is talking to Aech.
At 0:07:12-Doc Brown from Back To The Future in his Part II outfit passes Wade on the walkway.
At 0:07:42-A framed poster of the video game Gradius appears on the wall in the Gregarious Games showcase room.
Also at 0:07:42-A Framed poster of Castlevaynia appears on the opposite wall in the GG showcase room.
At 0:08:01-Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor shortly plays over the start of Halliday’s last message video.
Also at 0:08:01-The quarters over Halliday’s eyes read:God We Trust 1972. 1972 was the year Ernest cline was born AND when Atari was founded.
At 0:08:05-At the funeral parlour there are various flower arrangements of the Starfleet logo and the U.S.S Enterprise ship along with a glass painting of the Starfleet logo from the sci-fi franchise Star Trek.
Also at 0:08:05-The coffin Halliday is lying in is Spock’s Mark VI torpedo in Star Trek II:The Wrath Of Khan.
At 0:08:10-Halliday rises out of the coffin of how Count Dracula would in various Dracula horror movies.
At 0:08:16-Halliday places a TOMY hand-held Pac-Man game on the coffin.
At 0:08:17-Halliday is wearing a Joust shirt.
At 0:08:21-On Halliday’s lapel he is wearing a SIMON pin.
Also at 0:08:21-A little harder to see but Halliday is also wearing a D20 pin from Dungeons and Dragons.
At 0:08:48-On the right side of the screen A High School student watching Halliday’s last message is wearing a Marvin The Martian shirt from The Looney Tunes.
At 0:08:51-Another High school student pulling out a screen is wearing a Pac-Man shirt.
At 0:10:04: Joan Jets and the Blackheart’s 1988 song I Hate myself For Loving you plays.
At 0:10:15-El Dragon from Battleborn passes Wade on the walkway.
At 0:10:27-On the copper key starting line Wade walks through aisles of IOI cars to pass The V8 Interceptor from Mad Max.
At 0:10:34-The Batmobile from the 1966 Adam West tv series Batman is visible throughout the race (love the safety siren flashing)
At 0:10:34-however the driver is not Adam West’s Batman and instead is the Batman from the Arkham games(you can see him moving around in the cockipit)
At 0:10:34:Ryu from Street Fighter is passing down the aisle of cars.
At 0:10:34-A modernised version of the Mach 5 from Speed Racer appears at the starting line next to Ryu.
At 0:10:59-Wade passes a red F1 racing car from the 1982 Atari game Pole Position.
Also at 0:10:59-Mr. T.’s GMC Van from the A-team appears at the starting line.
Also at 0:10:59-the 1968 possessed Plymouth Fury from Christine appears at the starting line of the copper key race.
Also at 0:10:59-Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider game series is having a conversation with Dizzy Wallin from Gears of War II before the race starts.
At 0:11:04-In the Oology department a Scholar is watching the Twin Pines Mall scene from Back to the future on a monitor.
At 0:11:06-A Halliday scholar is holding a sealed copy of DC Comics Presents:Superman and Superboy
At 0:11:09-A Halliday scholar is watching the Goodbye scene in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial on a monitor.
Also at 0:11:09-A Wonder Woman comic panel poster is being studied by scholars.
At 0:11:10-It looks as if on a whiteboard scholars are studying The Glaive from Krull.
At 0:11:13-A group of Ooligists are studying Fruit Loops on a IOI monitor.
Also at 0:11:13-A Cap N’ Crunch cereal box appears on a scholar’s monitor.
Also at 0:11:13-in the Oology department a liberty island version of the map from Escape From New York appears on the TV screen.
At 0:11:28-while walking up to Aech at the racetrack Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat walks past him.
At 0:11:29-Aech’s form of vehicle for the race is the Bigfoot Monster Truck which started the monster truck business and has appeared in multiple Hot Wheels sets.
At 0:11:48-Aech teases wade about not having enough money for fuel but can get a Something About Mary hairdo referencing the 1998 comedy There’s something about Mary.
At 0:12:09-Wade spawns in The DeLorean Time Machine from Back to the future.
Alright so Ernest Cline said during the New York race you can find Ghostbusters HQ and the apartment building from Batteries Not Included I haven’t found them yet.
At 0:12:29-When the horn for the start of the race blows out of Liberty’s torch the Domino Sugar factory appears behind the statue.
At 0:12:49-A blue F1 racing car from Pole Position gets rammed by an IOI vehicle.
At 0:12:52-Art3mis drives by on Shotaro Kaneda’s bike from Akira.
At 0:13:31-A sticker for the skateboarding brand Thraser appears on Artemis’s bike.
Also at 0:13:31-Two Scratch N’ Sniff stickers appear on Art3mis’s bike specifically a pear and Tomato great job stickers.
At 0:13:37- the K.I.T.T bar from Knight Rider is under the grill of Wade’s DeLorean.
At 0:13:45-When speaking about Art3mis to Aech Wade mentions he has seen all of her Twitch Streams.
At 0:13:53-when going over a ramp wade makes the DeLorean do the Corkscrew Junp from the 1967 James Bond movie The Man With The golden Gun.
At 0:14:03-The Pork Chop Express from the 1986 Kurt Russell film Big Trouble In Little China blocks the road for players.
At 0:14:05-Art3mis’s bike has an Atari decal on it.
At 0:14:08-on the street beside the pork chop express a diner appears named Ratners it was an old dinedeli that opened in New York in 1902.
At 0:14:14-Wade switches the DeLorean to Hover mode from Back To The Future:Part II when he gets a collision warning during the race.
0:14:16-when an IOI racer crashes and wade picks up has coins he’s using an Arcade coin slot machine to do so.
At 0:14:35-An IOI racer crashes in front of the national video centre (it is a place in New York basically a museum for technology like televisions and computers)
At 0:14:40-A Ms. Pac-Man decal appears on Art3mis’s bike.
Also at 0:14:40-The superhero logo from The Greatest American Hero appears on Art3mis’s bike.
At 0:14:41-very hard to see but at the bottom of Art3mis’s bike is a decal for skateboarding brand JFA.
Also at 0:14:41-Art3mis and an IOI racer pass a Movie theatre marquee that reads:Schwarzenegger Jack Slater III referencing the 1993 film-in a film Last Action Hero.
At 0:14:51 Rexy The T-Rex from the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies munches on vehicles in Chinatown (for those saying it’s just a random T-Rex it does the same roar as in the movies and has the same scars and marks on it’s face)
At 0:14:58-The final and hardest obstacle of all:King Kong. Like in all of the Kong movies he’s hanging off the Empire State Building circled by 1930’s bi-planes.
At 0:15:12-we get a shot of King Kong destroying rail roads in front of the Silvercups Studios building where the final battle in Highlander took place as well as an actual movie studio.
0:15:16-as Aech skids to a halt in Bigfoot the Batmobile gets knocked off the road right after skidding to the sound of the 1966 Batman tv series theme.
At 0:15:20-A 1975 Wonder Woman decal appears on Art3mis’s bike.
At 0:15:25-behind Aech in the scene where Art3mis jumps over the gap with her bike a Delta City billboard from Robocop appears.
At 0:16:29-When Art3mis brushes herself off from Wade’s rescue The Ace Chemical’s building from Batman appears behind her.
0:16:23-when Art3mis insepects her damaged bike an old advertising billboard called Come to the Caribbean appears behind her.
At 0:16:57-when Wade Aech and Art3mis enter Aech’s workshop Prince’s song I wanna be your lover plays.
Also at 0:16:57-leaning against the wall near the entry is Pee-wee Herman’s bike from Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.
0:17:08-We all know this one:Aech is working on building an Iron Giant from the animated 1999 film of the same name.
At 0:17:13-A Cylon Raider ship from Battlestar Galactia is hanging on the wall.
At 0:17:22-Aech owns a Fraggle Rock-themed lunchbox to store all his miniature sci-fi ships.
0:17:23-When Wade opens the lunchbox we see various sci-fi ships these conclude of:The Galactia from Battlestar Galactia The Valley Forge From the 1972 sci-fi film Silent Running a colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactia and the Sulaco from Aliens.
At 0:17:24-a miniature model of the Swordfish II from Cowboy Bepbop is on the Aech’s worktable.
At 0:17:31-Wade mentions Aech owning a miniature Harkonnen Drop-ship from Dune and says it could get to Arrakis in seconds (while Arrakis was in the 1965 novel the drop-ship was created for the 1985 movie).
At 0:17:46-A faded mini-poster of Pole Position appears on the pole behind Aech.
At 0:17:47-on another pole below Aech is a poster for the Colecovision video game Gorf.
At 0:17:51-The TARDIS police box from Doctor Who appears behind Aech Wade and Art3mis when talking about repairing the Akira bike.
Also at 0:17:51-hanging from the roof is The Eagle 5 from the 1987 Star Wars parody film Spaceballs.
At 0:17:52-a life-size Swordfish II from Cowboy Bepbop appears in Aech’s workshop waiting for repair.
At 0:17:53-parked in Aech’s workshop is the 1969 250 GT California Ferrari from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Also at 0:17:53-hanging off the roof of Aech’s workshop is The EVA Pod from the 1968 Kubrick sci-fi classic 2001:A Space Odyssey.
Also at 0:17:53-a life-size Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactia is hanging off the roof of the workshop.
Also at 0:17:53-The Thunderfighter from Buck Rogers in the 25th century is hanging off the roof of the workshop.
Also at 0:17:53-in the corner of the workshop is the enforcement droid ED-209 from Robocop.
At 0:18:18-Art3mis asks Wade what was Halliday’s favourite first-person shooter game. Wade replies by saying 007 Goldeneye based of the James Bond movie of the same name. His favourite character was Oddjob the villain. And his favourite player mode was slappers only where players could only slap to kill.
At 0:18:30-Art3mis asks what Halliday’s favourite racer game which was the 1981 SEGA game Turbo.
O:18:32-Wade says Halliday’s favourite food was Hot Pockets a microwaveable pizza snack.
Also at 0:18:32-while Wade and Art3mis are talking playing softly in the background is Just my imagination (running away with me) by The Temptation.
At 0:13:33-Wade says Halliday’s favourite restaurant was Chuck E. Cheese which is an Arcade and pizza restaurant. The restaurant’s founder Nolan Bushnell also happened to founded Atari.
At 0:18:35-Wade says Halliday’s favourite song was Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles which happens to be the first song to air on MTV in 1980.
At 0:18:37–Wade says Halliday’s favourite music video was A-Ha’s 1985 hit song Take On Me.
At 0:18:42-Wade and Art3mis complete a quote together which was Halliday’s favourite of Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Lex Luthor in Superman:The Movie:Some people can read war and peace and come away thinking it’s a simple adventure story. Others can read the back of a chewing gum paper and unlock the secrets of the universe.
At 0:19:06-before Art3mis and Wade walk away a Castlevaynia poster is on the wall.
At 0:19:98- A Robotron 2084 poster appears on the wall of Aech’s workshop.
Also at 0:19:08-A Joust banner appears on the wall of Aech’s Workshop.
Also at 0:19:08-A GORF banner appears on the wall of Aech’s Workshop.
Also at 0:19:08-A poster for the 1985 Tengen arcade game Gauntlet appears on the wall of Aech’s workshop.
Also at 0:19:08-a poster for Galaga (1983 version) appears on the wall of Aech’s workshop.
At 0:19:54-The PO-024 repair E-Frame from the 90’s cartoon series Exosqaud appears in Aech’s workshop.
At 0:20:01:Art3mis nicknames Wade McFly referencing Marty McFly Back To The Future series.
At 0:20:39-You’ll need to turn the brightness up but when Rick holds up one of Wade’s gloves a Batman and SEGA sticker are on it.
At 0:21:54-Wade explains that his name Wade Watts was supposed to sound like a superhero’s alter-ego and examples Bruce Banner A.K.A The Hulk and Peter Parker A.K.A Spider-Man from Marvel Comics.
At 0:22:39-When Wade grabs out his OASIS visor a Street Fighter decal is on the side of it.
Also at 0:22:39A Midway games decal (a company who manufactured mainly all 80’s and 90’s arcade games) is on the top of Wade’s visor.
At 0:22:41-George Michael’s 1985 song Faith plays when Wade enters the Halliday Journals.
At 0:22:48-The interior design of the Halliday Journals is taking directly from the Shermer High library from The Breakfast Club.
At 0:22:50-Hello Kitty is sitting down at one of the journal’s tables interacting with another player.
At 0:22:52-A Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinet is behind The Curator’s desk.
Also at 0:22:52:-A Dig Dug arcade cabinet is behind The Curator’s desk.
Also at 0:22:52-A Tempest arcade cabinet is behind The Curator’s desk.
At 0:22:56-The Curator’s design is based off Jeeves from the 1990 search engine Ask Jeeves.com
At 0:23:06-an Asteroids arcade cabinet is behind The Curator’s desk.
At 0:23:06-A Pong arcade cabinet is behind The Curator’s desk.
At 0:23:06-A Pole Position arcade cabinet is behind The Curator’s desk.
At 0:23:19-In one of Halliday’s recreated memories Halliday is playing in an Arcade with games like Joust Asteroids and Tempest.
At 0:23:20-A Revenge Of The Nerds poster is up on the wall in the recreated memory Wade and The Curator walk by.
At 0:23:23-Alright buckle up becuase there are a lot of stuff to cover: In Halliday’s cluttered room there are things such as an Astro Boy mask a vintage packet of Lays Potato Chips a Ladyhawke poster a speak and spell some Madballs a copy of Schindler’s Ark and a Raiders Of The Lost Ark poster.
At 0:23:39-Wade and The Curator walk past a memory labelled:Halliday playing his Atari 2600 with a carving of an Atari 2600 at the bottom.
Also at 0:23:39-The game Halliday is playing on his Atari 2600 is Defender.
Also at 0:23:39-Various toys and collectibles are scattered throughout Halliday’s room concluding of:A Marvin The Martian toy A Gizmo plush from Gremlins a toy model of The A-Team Van A Batman statue posters for Wargames and Rush 2112 Connect Four A SIMON toy an Etch-E-Sketch and a Castle Greyskrull play-set from Masters Of The Universe with He-Man and Skeletor action figures
At 0:23:41-A Framed poster for Black Tiger appears on the wall of The Gregarious Games breakroom.
Also at 0:23:41:In The Gregarious Games breakroom a framed poster for Legend Of Zelda:A Link To The Past is on the wall.
Also at 0:23:41-Further down the hall of the breakroom is a framed poster for Mortal Kombat.
At 0:23:51-Halliday and Ogden Morrow have a conversation about living in an Asteroids Arcade cabinet.
At 0:23:56-Halliday in the memory is wearing a Space Invaders shirt.
At 0:24:16-A framed poster for Galaga (1986 version) appears behind Morrow in the breakroom.
At 0:25:25-Halliday references Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure when talking about going backwards.
At 0:26:01-A Hello Kitty decal appears on Art3mis’s bike.
At 0:26:22-While it’s never said in the movie the Suxors is graffitied on the pedestal of Liberty (it was a nickname for the Sixers in the novel)
At 0:26:59-When Wade gets to King Kong’s stage Max Steiner’s 1933 original theme for King Kong plays.
At 0:27:44-Anorak says to Wade nice racing Padawan referencing the Jedi Apprentices in the Star Wars franchise
At 0:29:12-Ripley’s cargo-Holder from Alien appears on Planet Doom in Nolan Sorrento’s presentation.
At 0:29:23-In Sorrento’s OASIS IOI ad presentation Man-Bat from Batman:Arkham Knight appears on planet doom getting shot at.
At 0:29:24-In Nolan Sorrento’s presentation a pop-up ad for the EM-1 railgun from Eraser appears.
At 0:29:38-Bruce Springsteen’s song Stand On It begins to play.
At 0:29:40-Wade and Aech go to a mall called Avatar Outfitters referencing the store Urban Outfitters.
Also at 0:29:40-The Logo for Avatar Outfitters has the same calligraphic A as in the title for James Cameron’s film Avatar.
At 0:29:43-A Street Fighter booth at Avatar outfitters are selling combat moves as a holographic RYU does an uppercut move.
At 0:29:54-Blue Beetle from Injustice 2 is walking around the store.
At 0:29:54-An Overwatch booth at Avatar Outfitters is selling Pulse Pistols as a holographic Tracer does her spin.
Also at 0:29:54-A Dungeons And Dragons booth is selling magic spells.
At 0:29:59- booth in Avatar outfitters is selling weapons with a holographic Claptrap (a character in the game)
A4 0:29:59-Halo booth is selling assault rifles with holographic images of Master Chief.
At 0:29:59-in the far back left of the booths A Looney Tunes booth with a holographic Marvin The Martian appears.
At 0:29:59-In the far back right an Injustice booth appears (I can’t identify the hologram though). (Zoom In required).
At 0:29:59-A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles booth appears in the far back with a hologram of Raphael (zoom-in required)
At 0:30:02-One of the items available for purchase in the iconic items booth is The Holy Hand Grenade from the 1975 Monty python film Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
At 0:30:07-while I can’t identify the actual item because it goes too fast but Wade runs past an item in the iconic item section with the Blizzard Entertainment logo printed underneath it.
At 0:30:07-Wade Runs past Dust-Brain from the Madballs toy line in the iconic items section.
At 0:30:08-Wade runs past The Peltzer Peeler Juicer from Gremlins in the iconic times section.
Also at 0:30:08-Wade runs by A Chucky doll from Child’s Play (which is where Aech presumably got the one used on Planet Doom) in the iconic times section.
At 0:30:09-Wade runs past a Plasma Pistol from Halo in the iconic items section.
At 0:30:11-Wade walks up and buys a magical item The Zemeckis Cube which is of course a Rubik’s Cube named after Back To The Future Director Robert Zemeckis that has the ability to slow and turn back time.
At 0:30:13-A hologram of The Wolf-Man appears next to The Zemeckis Cube booth.
At 0:31:05:When Nolan Sorrento enters the OASIS he is transported to the wreckage of a Tripod fighting machine from War Of The Worlds (1953 George Pal version)
At 0:31:29-Sorrento’s avatar Bossman59 features a Clark Kent hair curl from Superman.
At 0:31:52-I-ROK flicks away Perseus’s Shield from the 1981 version of Clash Of The Titans (sigh)(I-ROK has no respect for classics)
Also at 0:31:52-Indiana Jone’s whip from the Indiana Jones franchise is laying besides the shield.
At 0:31:58-I-ROK picks up the head of an eliminated player The Steampunk Pirate King and does a misquoted reference to William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. I-ROK says I knew him well Sorrento parodying the line to Yorick:Alas Yorrick!! I knew him Horatio.
At 0:32:18-In the pile of weapons are tow Boomshot guns from Gears of Wars.
Also at 0:32:18-The Colonial Blaster from Battlestar Galactia appears in the pile of weapons.
Also at 0:23:18-Two Batarangs from Batman are scatted around the weapons pile.
At 0:32:22-The M1911 Colt pistol from Duke Nukem is also in the weapons pile.
Also at 0:32:22-The box containing The Orb Of Osuvox is the Mogwai box that Gizmo was kept in at the start of Gremlins
At 0:32:29-The inside of the orb is a polyhedral D20 dice used in Dungeons and Dragons.
At 0:33:11-When talking about the price of Parzival’s elimination from The Scoreboard I-ROK references a Tootsie Pop commercial with Mr. Owl biting to the chocolaty centre.
At 0:33:51-The vehicle Daito uses to get to the finish line is The Mach 5 from Speed Racer.
At 0:33:54-Sho pulls up to the finish line in a Smokey (literally) 1977 Trans Am Pontiac used in Smokey and The Bandit.
At 0:34:22-When Wade is reciting the Jade Key clue excerpt in his notebook he has linked the last two words in the clue: At Last” could be a possible reference to the song of the same now (doesn’t specify which one though)
At 0:34:29- On a piece of paper taped to the wall Wade has written down locations you can visit in the OASIS these conclude off-
The Star Wars Galaxy The Star Trek Universe Middle-Earth from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings/Hobbit. Vulcan from Star Trek Pern from Dragonriders of Pern Arrakis from Dune Magrathea from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Discworld from the book series of the same name Ring-world from the book series of the same name River-world from the book series of the same name.
From 0:34:30 to 0:34:31-taped to the wall is a list of John Hughes movies these conclude of-
National Lampoon’s Vacation Sixteen Candles Weird Science Breakfast Club Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Pretty In Pink Some Kind Of Wonderful Planes Trains and Automobiles Uncle Buck Home Alone Home Alone 2:Lost In New York
At 0:34:32-Taped to the wall is Wade’s analysis of the funeral scene in Halliday’s Last Message video. It is a breakdown of all the Star Trek Easter eggs in the scene including the Starfleet logo U.S.S. Enterprise and the photo torpedo
At 0:34:33-At the bottom of a Newspaper article taped to the wall of Wade’s Van it reads:OASIS Coin the next Dollar? A sly reference to Bit-Coin video game currency.
At 0:34:40-On a piece of paper taped to the wall Wade has written down the rules of The OASIS just like the book and it mentions Everquest the MMORPG Game.
At 0:35:30-On the right besides Kira and Morrow’s picture is a list of movies labelled: Set In New York
These conclude of-Ghostbusters. Big (1988 Tom Hanks) has been crossed out on the list. Mad Max (it was in Australia though?) The cannonball Run. King Kong . Escape From New York is highlighted on the list. See No Evil (1971 horror movie). And another misplaced title Back To The Future despite being set in California
At 0:35:19-Wade has written down instructions of how to get to the secret room in Adventure foreshadowing the climax.
At 0:35:21-When Wade goes back to the Halliday Journals Blondie’s song One Way Or Another plays.
At 0:35:27-The Arkham Knight passes Wade when he is exiting The Halliday Journals (he later returns inside)
At 0:35:28-A younger version of Beetlejuice spots Wade when Wade enters The Journals.
At 0:35:29-Supergirl from Injustice 2 jumps out of her seat to greet Wade.
At 0:35:31-Raiden from Mortal Kombat is sitting down at one of the Journal’s tables.
At 0:35:34-Dizzy Wallin from Gears Of Wars 2 runs up to the crowd that mobs Wade.
At 0:35:37-Blue Beetle from Injustice 2 is one of the fans in the crowd.
Also at 0:35:37-Ambra from Battleborn is one of the fans in the crowd.
At 0:35:38-Batgirl from Batman is one of the fans in the crowd.
At 0:35:47-Goro from Mortal Kombat pulls Wade away from his fans.
At 0:35:48-Lara Croft from Tomb Raider is one of the fans in the crowd.
At 0:36:02-When being led into a secret room Wade gets pranked by a Chestburster from Alien popping out of Goro’s chest revealed to be a puppet by Art3mis.
At 0:36:36-Art3mis pulls out Clark Kent Glasses from Superman and puts them on Wade for a disguise while roaming The Journals.
At 0:35:46-While Wade with his Clark Kent disguise goes into the archives Miko from Battleborn is behind him.
At 0:36:49-Benedict from Battleborn is behind Wade when Wade enters The Archives.
At 0:36:51-When Wade and Art3mis are entering The Archives an avatar behind them is wearing a pink Michael Jackson jacket.
At 0:37:00-In the memory outside of Halliday and Morrow’s office is a framed Metroid Japanese printed poster (original 1986 game)
At 0:37:03-Behind Art3mis Wade and The Curator is another memory which is set in The Happytime pizzeria from the novel.
At 0:37:17-There are some action figures on Morrow’s desk. One I can make out his Triceraton from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990).
At 0:37:32-When Halliday is talking to Sorrento you can see he is designing the Room 237 Bathroom from The Shining on his computer.
Also at 0:37:32-The Billy Idol album Don’t Stop is on Halliday’s desk.
At 0:37:44-A copy of Dungeon Magazine is lying on Halliday’s desk (I could not identify which issue though)
At 0:37:49-In a blink and you miss it moment when The Curator is fast-forwarding the Memory a framed Pole Position poster is outside the office.
At 0:37:53-On the shelf behind the desk is Def Leppard’s 1983 album Pyromania (zoom-in required)
At 0:38:02-While having a conversation with Morrow about the date with Karen Halliday says she prefers to be called Kira after the character in Jim Henson’s 1982 film The Dark Crystal.
At 0:38:39-As mentioned above the memory behind the three is of Halliday hanging out at The Happytime Pizzeria but in this frame you can see he is playing Joust.
At 0:39:48-Wade figures out that Kira is the centre of the 2nd clue and calls her Halliday’s Rosebud referencing the lost sled Rosebud in Citizen Kane.
At 0:40:02-When Art3mis flips the quarter The Curator gives to Wade it makes the sound effect of a 1-up from the Super Mario Bros. Games.
At 0:40:17-Earth Wind and Fire’s 1975 song Can’t find love plays when Art3mis asks Wade on a date.
Alright in Aech’s 80’s basement recreation there is soo much Easter eggs and memorabilia so forgive me if I miss any.
At 0:40:46-posted on the wall is a Save Ferris poster from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off another Metroid poster and white Space Invader decals.
At 0:40:46-hanging from the wall is the neon sign for the dream bar Cocktails and Dreams in the 1988 Tom cruise film Cocktail.
At 0:40:46-below the sign is a Dark Crystal poster.
At 0:40:46-Ripping through the floor is the nuclear rocket from Weird Science.
At 0:40:46-A Pac-Man bin lies besides a Pac-Man arcade cocktail cabinet.
At 0:40:46-an Airplane! VHS tape is on top of boxes.
At 0:40:46-multiple VHS tapes for the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth are scattered around the floor of the hangout.
At 0:40:06-Retro packets for Potato Chips brands Lays and Ruffles lay against the coffee table.
At 0:40:06-Incredibly hard to see but under a pile of VHS tapes is a VHS tape of Caddyshack (zoom-in required)
At 0:40:46-Marty Mcfly Jr.’s rainbow cap from Back To The Future:Part II lies besides an vinyl record player.
At 0:40:06-Lying against the wall is an Emulator II keyboard used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
At 0:40:46-on the wall besides the couch are three mini-posters stuck on it:A Donkey Kong arcade poster A Pole Position II poster and a 1983 Galaga poster.
At 0:40:06-A Kermit The Frog plush from The Muppets is lying against a shelf besides a Hot Wheels play-set.
At 0:40:06-An ALF plush from the 1986 sitcom ALF is sitting on top of the television
At 0:40:06-A Speak &Spell used in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial is lying on the shelf.
At 0:40:50-A Beastmaster poster is next to the mirror.
At 0:40:50-A Star Trek:The Motion Picture poster is in the corner of the room above The Emulator II Keyboard (you need to turn brightness full up to see)
At 0:40:50-A copy Analog Computing magazine #10 is leaning against the crate below Wade’s feet.
At 0:40:50-above the mirror is a Mayor Goldie Wilson election poster from Back To The Future. A Wil Wheaton election poster is across from Wilson’s one (if you recall Wheaton was the Vice President of the OASIS in the novel)
At 0:40:50-In a blue crate below Wade’s feet is Run D.M.C’s 1986 album Tougher Than Lever.
At 0:40:50-A Wargames poster is on the wall besides the mirror.
At 0:40:50- the first issue for Nintendo Power featuring Super Mario Bros. is located on a stack of magazines in Aech’s hang-out
At 0:40:50-A Big Trouble In Little China poster is located behind a chair in Aech’s hang-out.
At 0:40:50-A cutout of Tom Selleck’s face from Magnum P.I. Is posted on the wall in Aech’s hang-out.
At 0:40:50-A Cookie Monster cookie jar from Sesame Street is on the the bench in the hang-out
At 0:40:50-A poster for Labyrinth is next to the Tom Selleck cutout
At 0:40:50-A Cap N’ Crunch cereal box is laying on the counter next to an overturned Fruit Loops cereal box.
At 0:40:50-at the very far back of the counter is The Peltzer Peeler Juicer from Gremlins
At 0:40:51-Wade selects Prince’s Purple Rain outfit for a possible outfit for his date.
At 0:40:54-In the reflection of the mirror a Breakfast Club poster is seen.
At 0:40:57-Wade switches his outfit to Michael Jackson’s Thriller costume and even does the dance (one of my favourite artists along Queen who are unfortunately not referenced in the film)
At 0:40:57-Next to the mirror is the original poster for Mad Max.
At 0:40:58 White decals for Space Invaders are scattered on the pillar next to Aech.
At 0:40:58 The Pink Mattel Hoverboard from Back To The Future Part II is leaning against the wall.
At 0:40:58-On the coffee table are retro cans for Coca-Cola Pepsi and Tab (along with some D20 from D&D)
At 0:40:58-Below the coffee table is a E.T. The Extra Terrestrial VHS tape
At 0:40:58-The sword of omens from Thundercats is leaning against the wall next to the couch.
At 0:40:58-on the table next to the hula-girl lamp is the Golden Idol from Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
At 0:41:00-A Mad Max 2 poster is behind Wade when trying out outfits.
At 0:41:00-A Legend Of Zelda:A Link To The Past mini-poster is behind Wade.
At 0:41:02-Hanging from the ceiling is a miniature Thunderfighter from Buck Rogers In The 25th Century.
At 0:41:02-A Banner for 1980 video game Missile Command is on the wall behind Aech.
At 0:41:04-On the back of Wade’s punk outfit is the logo for 80’s rock band The Dead Kennedy’s
At 0:41:05-Wade switches to a Nick Rhodes outfit from the band Duran Duran.
At 0:41:07-David’s computer speaker from WarGames is on top of the cocktail cabinet.
At 0:41:07-in a pile of VHS tapes is a VHS tape for Breakin’ (or Breakdance) is on the floor.

Welcome to mma's live discussion thread for CES MMA 46: Howard vs. Carroll, coming at you live from Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island!
Please keep the fight discussions in here.
If you have something substantial to post about a fight that warrants its own thread, remember to keep spoilers out of the title and add the [Spoiler] tag.
Main Card: (AXS.tv) @ 9:00 PM ET

Div.	Fighters
MW	John Howard vs. Roger Carroll
BW	Dinis Paiva vs. Brandon Seyler
LW	Josh LaBerge vs. Jonathan Lemke
MW	Shedrick Goodridge vs. Justin Sumter
BW	Gary Balletto Jr. vs. Sharif Jones
BW	Rico DiSciullo vs. Justin King

Prelims: (Not televised)

Div.	Fighters
MW	Pat McCrohan vs. Buck Pineau
FW	Hamzah Marquis Brewster vs. Raymond Yanez
WW	Johnny Adams vs. John Gotti III

^{*Fight card order subject to change}

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General Discussion Thread
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Enjoy the fights! Get HYPE!

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio has introduced a bill to allow mobile sports wagering in Rhode Island. Ruggerio proposed the bill on Wednesday and said mobile gaming would generate greater revenue. Twin River Casino in Lincoln accepted its first bets on professional sports in November. However, Ruggerio would like to enable the creation of an app to access Twin River’s sportsbook from anywhere in Rhode Island. The proposal suggests creating accounts in person at either Twin River or Tiverton casinos, allowing staff to verify the player’s age. Rhode Island’s first sports wagers were accepted on 26 November, although the state enacted legislation back in June. Delays pushed back the October start date, reportedly costing the state $12m in expected revenue. Source: Gamblinginsider.com

Heyo. My friends and I are currently looking for some more people to join in for some poker nights. As of right now we play either Pot-Limit Omaha or No-Limit Hold 'Em at $.25/.50, with an uncapped buy-in (typically $50). We also frequent the casino (Twin Rivers in Rhode Island or Hampton Falls in New Hampshire) almost twice a month. If you're interested in getting some home-game action or joining us on a casino trip shoot me a message or reply below and I can add you to our FB group. Hope to see you at the table.

Friday, October 27th: CES MMA 46 at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island with a 9PM EST start time on AXStv. There are ten bouts listed on the card, three of which are prelims. The Main event will be between John Howard(24-12-0) and Roger Carroll(0-0-0).
Friday, November 3rd: LFA 26 at the Arena Theatre in Houston, Texas with a 9PM EST start time on AXStv. Seven fights are scheduled to be televised. Richard Odoms(13-3) is looking to defend his Heavyweight Title against Jeff Hughes(7-1) for the main event.
Feel free to discuss the events and your thoughts here!

So I've been playing a ton of online bitcoin poker, setting up live tournaments with my friends and my class schedule for college is blocked to Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I've been considering traveling to Rhode Island once table games are added to the Twin River Casino in July but until then I was thinking of traveling to Montreal on Fridays and staying for the weekend. Not often, but depending on how things go, maybe a few times. What's reddits opinion? Best places to go? Things to see? Inexpensive place to stay (considering using coachsurfing.com)? Advice or criticism?