Is Illinois willing to up the ante on gambling?
Illinois officials soon will have to decide if they're going to allow expanded gambling or live with the reality of seeing Illinoisans cross state lines to spend their gambling money elsewhere.
You can't blame Illinois' downtrodden horse racing industry for "volunteering" to fill a potentially big hole in the funding for the state's $31 billion capital program.
A growing number of communities have opted to ban video gambling machines at liquor pouring establishments in their jurisdictions. And since that is the primary revenue source for the capital program, nervous state officials have begun to look at other revenue sources. One is to permit slot machines at race tracks.
Owners of the five operating race tracks in Illinois have long desired to have slot machines at their facilities as a way of generating more revenue and attracting a new, younger clientele. And they make a good point that allowing slots at race tracks wouldn't expand gambling since it's already going on there, within communities that have embraced it.
"There is a socially accepted national trend for video gaming at tracks, and we can generate millions of dollars in tax revenue while creating and saving tens of thousands of Illinois jobs," said Tim Carey, president of Hawthorne Race Course in suburban Chicago. "This is such a common sense solution I challenge anyone to see the downside in this proposal."
There is a downside, of course, and it's to the nine operating casinos in Illinois that probably would lose some business to the race tracks. That's the case in Indiana where two tracks have siphoned about $100 million worth of gambling revenue from three downstate riverboat casinos.
An Illinois legislative commission has suggested that slot machines at tracks "could be perceived as a viable option for generating additional gaming revenues." The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability also has noted that while Illinois casinos have lost business in the last two years, those in Missouri and Indiana have grown. The likely reason? Illinois gamblers are crossing state lines so they can both gamble and escape Illinois' indoor smoking ban.
Not only is Illinois' budget a mess but so is the state's gambling industry. Last year the state's total wagering dollars dropped for the third consecutive year, even while gambling revenue was up in surrounding states.
If the state is going to rely on gambling to finance capital projects and fund programs, it needs to re-evaluate its expectations. Either it must match surrounding states' aggressive gambling moves or it will have to lower its ambitions for spending dwindling wagering revenue.
Even though more communities and counties are opting out of neighborhood gambling every week, the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability testified at last week's hearing that the number so far was not high enough to even affect their revenue projections. There were several remarks that they are just guessing at the correct numbers anyway.
Illinois racetracks are grasping at straws to save their dying industry. When we can't even keep our automobile industry alive, why are we even discussing keeping the horse-racing industry alive? Slots at tracks won't help horse racing. They will help racetrack OWNERS. Horse racing is a sport whose historical moment may simply have passed. Let it die already!
The argument that adding slots at tracks won't expand gambling because it's already there is the equivalent of saying that another piece of pie won't increase my weight because I'm already fat.
The attempt to compete with bordering states for gambling dollars amounts to figuring out how to fleece citizens here before they get fleeced somewhere else.
Government should not even be in the business of preying on citizens with a predatory product for profit. Legalizing a harmful activity or substance never removes the harm. Gambling is still as harmful as when the mafia had control.
Slots at tracks is not the solution to the state's gambling industry, and more gambling is not the solution to Illinois' budget problems.
Video gambling machines are NOT "the primary revenue source for the capital program." $21 Billion of the $31 Billion capital program does NOT rely on gambling. As Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association said, "We can build a lot of roads and bridges with $21 Billion. Let's get started!"
Gambling is, by and large, a stupid tax.
Illinois residents urinate away millions each year on lottery tickets and the only "winner" is the state. I should really shut up about it thought as this stupid tax keeps my more conventional taxes lower, but I think society would be better without stupid taxes.
The clientele at the horse racing facilities isn't exactly business executives, to be kind. From my experiences at the Champaign OTB back when they had pool tables (which was a bargain, by the way) was that those horse-racing gamblers couldn't really afford their losses.
I can't imagine that the slot machines would be any different. Just attracting a new clientele to squander their personal finances on the long-shot chance they might actually strike it big.
Idiots and their money are soon parted.
I really don't think it should be the state's job to help part idiots and their money.
-- Joe
Video gambling happens every day in this county. Better to regulate and tax it so that the money does not serve the criminal enterprises that currently make a huge amount of cash from the gambling.
I thought conservatives were for the right of people to spend their money however they want. Would that not include gambling if they so choose?
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