Commercial Casinos Energy Policy Act Tax Opportunity

The Casino Environment

Before the recent economic downturn, commercial casinos collected at least $30 billion in revenues each year from 2005 through 2008.1 During this period, US casino owners built new facilities and expanded the size of their existing facilities. As a result of the economic downturn, new US commercial casino construction has come to a screeching halt and casino operators are now focused on existing facility cost reduction.

The Section 179(D) Tax Provisions

Increasingly, casino operators are taking advantage of the EPAct IRC section 179(D) commercial building energy efficiency tax provisions, which have been extended through 2013. EPAct tax deductions are available for qualifying energy reductions in lighting, HVAC(heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), and building envelope. (Building envelope consists of the building’s foundation, walls, roof, windows, and doors, all of which control the flow of energy between the interior and exterior of the building.) bandar slot

The Nature of Casino Properties

Commercial casinos often encompass hotel resorts, which offer attractive packages of services for their corporate and family customers. Casinos are particularly suited to EPAct because of their large gaming floors, hotel occupancy rooms, meeting halls, and parking garages. Each of these features typically consumes large square footage and the EPAct benefit has a potential for up to 60 cents per square foot for each of the three measures described above. Some of the smallest commercial casinos are about 50,000 square feet while most American casinos are typically over 100,000 square feet. One of the largest ones, MGM Grand on the Las Vegas strip is almost 2 million square feet. Hotels themselves are the most favored of Section 179 building category. (See “Hotels and Motels Most Favored Energy Policy Act Tax Properties”)

It is common to think of commercial casinos as located in two states Nevada and New Jersey. While it is true that these two states have the largest commercial casino revenues, there are 12 states with commercial casinos in the United States, the other commercial casino states are: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. Members of the American Gaming Association have publicized some of their commitments to energy reduction. Reporting casinos include Boyd Gaming Corporation, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., and MGM Mirage. They have projects which include significant energy savings via cogeneration, ERV(energy recovery ventilation), more efficient HVAC units, replacing incandescent lights with energy efficient lightings, windows with energy efficient day lighting systems, solar thermal storage and numerous other energy saving initiatives.

The underlying rule set to qualify for the Section 179D lighting tax deduction makes casinos and particularly casino hotels the most favored property category for the tax incentive. The rule set requires at least a 25% watts-per-square foot reduction as compared to the 2001 ASHRAE (American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers) building energy code standard. Full tax deduction is achieved with a 40% watts-per-square foot reduction compared to the ASHRAE 2001 standard. The ASHRAE 2004 hotel/motel building code standard requires 40% wattage reduction, which means that any hotel or motel lighting installation that meets that building code requirement will automatically qualify for the maximum EPAct tax deduction.

Occupancy Rooms

For most other building categories, the Section 179D tax provisions require compliance with the bi-level switching requirement. The comparison is always based on wired rather than plug-in lighting. Casino hotel occupancy rooms have a major advantage in that they often use plug-in lighting, and because these rooms function as hotel and motel spaces, they are specifically excluded from the tax bi-level switching requirement. Since occupant rooms are usually one of the larger spaces in hotel casinos, casinos are typically able to use energy efficient lighting to generate large EPAct tax deductions for the facility.

Back of the House Spaces

Casinos often have large kitchen, storage, and laundry (so called back of the house) spaces that have historically used T-12 fluorescent lighting. This lighting is so energy inefficient compared to today’s lighting products that it will be illegal to manufacture in the United States after July 1, 2010.4 Once manufacturing of these prior generation lighting products ceases, the cost of replacing these inefficient bulbs will increase. Simply stated, casinos should consider acting now to replace these lighting fixtures to save both energy and lamp replacement costs. The EPAct lighting tax incentive can be used to address the opportunities related to these legally mandated product changes

Online Slot Games – Tips For Playing Online Slots


Tips for playing online slot games or strategies for winning a jackpot? We would like to consider them tips because there are no sure fire ways to win a jackpot. If there were, everyone would be winning all the time. These are a few tips that all online gamblers should consider before depositing their hard earned money into an online casino. It definitely will ensure not breaking your bank account and possibly ensuring longer game play and more cashouts.

Let’s start with the most important tip of all. Do not gamble more than you can afford. There is nothing more that will bring your gaming experience down than spending money you don’t have. Set an amount in your mind that you can afford to lose. Yes, lose. You can not sit down at slot games and expect to win all the time so setting the expectation that you will lose will make the winnings all the more rewarding. Do not spend your bill money, your vacation money or your rainy day money.

Secondly, set yourself an alloted amount of time to play online slots. If you reach that time allotment, stop. Even if you have not played through all the money you could afford for that session. Sitting in front of your computer, in the comfort of your home may make you want to play for hours and hours. This could lead to the possibility of you depositing more money than you wanted to. Think of it as being at a land based casino where you have to go home at some point in time, right?

Next, should you consider taking a bonus? This will depend on your situation. Are you a new player at the online casino where you are able to claim a nice welcome bonus? Or are you a seasoned online gambler that knows the ropes or has a bank account that can afford not taking a bonus? Using a bonus on top of your deposit will add money into your gaming account that will give you more game play and better chances of hitting some nice payouts. Nice payouts because you would have the option of setting your bet amounts higher, if you choose. Always read and understand the terms and conditions of all bonuses you consider claiming. There are playthrough requirements and maximum cashout requirements that most online casinos attach to their bonuses. Be prepared to play through their required playthrough amount before thinking about cashing out. Also, make sure you know what games are allowed to be played with that bonus. Some games are disallowed and if they are played, you may not be awarded your cashout.

Speaking of cashouts, make sure you find that all important cashout button. This is the tip for playing online slot games that seems to be missed by some gamblers. The objective in online gambling is winning money and bringing it home. Once you reach an amount of money that you are happy with, hit the cashout button.. You can choose the amount that you want to cash out from your total. You do not have to cash it all out, in most cases. Also, most casinos will hold your money for a 24 hour period in hopes you will reverse your cashout. Once you cash out, some casinos will allow you to request to flush your account. This means they will not hold your money for the 24 hour period. It will be gone from your account and you will not be tempted to reverse the cash back into your gaming account to keep on playing. Contact the casino by phone or by live chat as soon as you cash out and request the flushing of your account. xổ số jun88

Mobile Casinos With PlayTech Software

The same as with the Microgaming, PlayTech is a large company, online casinos software supplier. Perhaps, they rank second after Microgaming in terms of reputation and number of online casinos. The Company was valued 1 billion USD, which speaks about its high reputation and trust level. As far as I could find in the net, there are not so many mobile casinos using PlayTech software so far, but this company has always been distinguished by its active development, that is why I am sure that their quantity will increase sooner than later. Three mobile casinos can be found with the PlayTech software so far: Golden Palace, Tropez Mobile Casino, XXL Club Casino.

XXL Club Casino is the best casino from the point of view of support. One more pleasant detail is that visiting the online casino site I found a pop-up banner, promising 10USD no deposit mobile casino bonus. In a minute I got my bonus but lost it in slots as quickly as received (betting 2USD per spin, so, this is not a wonder). After that, as I usually do in PlayTech casinos, I rejected the bonuses (mobile casino support was happy to handle my request), made a deposit and started playing my favourite mobile casino games. I have to say that the registration and the casino deposit were made via online casino website, though it is possible also via the phone. rtp slot

Mobile casino wagering results:

I started playing with black jack. The minimum stake, as it is in Microgaming software mobile casinos is rather high – two USD, so I had no choice but to playing this stake. The results were very interesting: 57 gains (!), 38 losses and 5 pushes. A rather obvious distortion in my favor, which gave me the gain of 33 USD. I must note that there were three losses at a time and 8 gains (with the only push deal in the middle). The number of blackjacks was within the norm, it was four. With doubling the results were not very impressive – I won only two out of seven deals (the probability of the gain at doubling is over 50%). Generally, it is an ambiguous result: on one side I have won a lot, on the other side – I have won too much as for testing the casino. There is also something wrong with the doublings (perhaps, it is for compensation?).

Videopoker was the second mobile casino game for the testing. The game was the standard “Jack or better” with a normal payment table 6/9. Playtech mobile casinos have wider the range of stakes than it is in Microgaming mobile casinos – coins from 0.05 USD to 5 USD. I played five coins of USD 0.25. The results were again odd: 14 pairs, 15 – two pairs, 12 treys, not a single street or flash and three fulls. In some fantastic way my pairs turned into treys and full-houses, there is no other way to explain such statistics. With such a cut of cards the gain of 10 USD is not a wonder. The doubles sprawled in equal parts – the half was a gain, the half was a loss. The PlayTech has also one more opportunity to double just a half of the gain in the videopoker.

Just for fun I loaded a European roulette of this mobile casino. I played just a few spins – just to have a look. First, you are running with the joystick across the stakes field to place the bets. Then you pressing the spin button you would see the wheel and then when the ball landed you would see the results. It is clear that the bets are made longer than in the offline mode, especially if they are several. The advantage of this mobile casino roulette game is that there is an option to make blank spins, but disadvantage is that the minimum bet amount of 2 USD even betting on the numbers. I have not being playing too many deals of this funny mobile casino game keeping in mined Albert Einstein conclusion: “You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it”.

Payout Schedules in Online Slots Machines

An online slot machine payout schedule lists of all possible returns and there probability. A slot machine that pays at the same rate for each coin bet is called a straight machine. What this means is that if the maximum payout for a single coin bet is eight hundred coins, a two coin bet will pay 1,600 coins and a three coin bet will pay 2,400 coins. In the sample payout schedule, if the coin size were twenty five cents, a three coin bet would pay $600 and a $1 coin size would pay $2,400 for a three coin bet. This example is from a balanced payout schedule. More often you will see payout schedules that pay higher amounts when the maximum coins are played. slot server thailand

An unbalanced payout schedule may pay a maximum of 200 coins for a single coin, 400 for a two coin bet and 1,000 coins for a three coin bet. Slot machine payout schedules vary from machine to machine. It is always important to know and understand a slot machines payouts because they are not always consistently proportional. The greatest variations occur on progressive slots. These slots are set up to pay at a lower rate on smaller hits, while the jackpot is a true jackpot. The jackpot is a pool that grows each time someone takes a chance on one of the designated machines.

Slots are set up to encourage players to play more coins. It is clear to see the more coins one bets, the better the odds and the payouts are. Most machines allow you to select the value of the coin that you will play with. When the payout schedule pays at a higher rate for more coins, you are better off playing smaller denominations and maximum coins. This concept seems simple, but many jackpots have been lost by careless play.

If a slot machine has been paying off regularly it is said to be loose. A slot machine that has not hit in a while is thought to be due. These are myths and need to be understood as such. Remember that past performance in no way effects future games. Slot machines are completely random. They use a random number generator to select winners. Each pull of a slot machine, or game, is completely separate than the previous game. Luck is a larger factor in slots than in table games. The key to slot machines is that they are set up with different payback percentages and hit frequencies. Table game odds do not change much from casino to casino because the rules of these games are consistent. Since there is very little skill involved in playing slots, you need to take advantage of every opportunity that you can.

The Adventure in Online Casino Games: Online Slots

If you are looking for a break from your hectic schedules and enjoy online casino games then there are various opportunities where you can try your luck and win some real time money by playing various online games at your place in the comfort of your chair. The gaming culture is a part of the society which offers a great chance to the online community to earn some real time money so that this gaming experience can become more exciting and challenging for the users. With the introduction of online gaming and gambling the game lovers have various opportunities to fulfill their passions and fantasies and that too without any limits of time or the place where you are enjoying your game.

Since the number of players is increasing and popularity of these online games is also increasing therefore now there are many different techniques and procedures which are introduced every second by the professionals to make sure that they have a great time. The introduction of slots online is one such development in the online casino gaming industry where now it’s very easy to select a game put on a good bet and then finally spin the amazing reels to pool in lot of money. These days on the internet there are various online slots machines which are easily available for playing any of your favorite slot games and win a huge amount of cash or else millions of dollars in the lucky jackpots. There are many tips and strategies which are available for the gamers to be sure that they enjoy playing the online casino games without any kind of hindrance. On the internet these days there are various websites which offer slot games for free or if you prefer real money then they offer these too. One can enjoy anything he wants and play these games for an unlimited time. slot

These slots are basically a great combination of entertainment and technology which is made interesting with the use of numerous themes, great designs and interesting twist which are easily available in the online slots to make this a great experience adding excitement and great fervor with every edition. There are numerous kinds of slots machines which can be recognized by their different gaming features and skills. It’s a real adventure which cannot be paralleled with any other kind of excitement in this world. The interested gamers have the choice to choose what’s the best according to their skill set and preferences so that they have a cherishable experience to look up to.