Illinois General Assembly, video gaming, and even more statements against
I’m changing direction this week. Although I plan more posts on healthcare nationalized, this week I’m going to cover the State of Illinois and its new push to increase revenue by allowing gambling/video gaming throughout the State.
I had intended to end my series on video gaming on Saturday. However, I have more to say and it seems apparent that healthcare nationalized will not occur this week and may not occur this year—nor should it.
Therefore, I’m going to write a few more posts on video gaming and then return to healthcare nationalized.
The following is from http://www.championnews.net/
“Gambling, the IL GOP Platform, and the Illinois Family Institute
Posted September 18, 2009
By John Biver
‘Conventional wisdom’ in politics continues to hold that the party platforms are meaningless and just an exercise in quieting the base. It’s funny how that old adage doesn’t apply to the Democratic Party Platform, but only to the Republican Party Platform, which continues to be ignored by GOP leaders everywhere. This behavior has given us Obama, Pelosi, and Reid.
One issue in the news lately has been addressed in our state GOP platform. Evidently, quite a few local governments have been rejecting video gaming in their communities. While state house Republican minority leader Tom Cross might not demonstrate good sense when it comes to gaming, many at the local level realize that expanding gambling is a sure loser.
For the record, the Illinois GOP Platform has this to say about it:
‘We call on the Governor and the General Assembly to balance the state budget and provide for a responsible capital development program without resorting to the expansion of gambling, which harms Illinois’ families and our state’s business climate and presents costly challenges for both law enforcement and social service agencies.’ (If increased gambling including video gaming does, indeed, increase the costs of social service agencies, which to me is an obvious truism, then we have this wonderful circular pattern created by the State of Illinois—gambling is increased by the State, this increased gambling increases the “need” for increased social services, thus, State government increases the expenditures for social services, which increases the demand for more revenue for the State, which then results in the increase of more gambling to increase revenue, which results in the need to increase social services, which results in the increasing circular impact of gambling in the State. Isn’t that insanity! And it has happened according to my post of September 14, 2009 entitled “give US more money” “Total spending increased significantly from $43.5 Billion in fiscal year 2005 to $51.5 Billion in fiscal year 2007. This was a dollar increase of $8 Billion in two years and an 18+ percent increase in two years.”—my addition)
Obviously many Republican ‘leaders’ don’t care a wit about the party platform—and just as many could care less about the economic research on the topic of legalized gambling. The matter is currently being discussed in Kane County. One press report referred to the county government there as ‘budget-crunched.’ Kane has set up a task force to look at how video gaming might impact the two riverboats that operate on the Fox River.
Champion News has linked several good articles and websites that tackle the economic impact of gambling—you can view the list here. My personal favorite is probably this one:
‘Quotes about gambling from University of Illinois Professor John W. Kindt’
There are too many quotes to list—but here are three examples.
‘Every video [slot] gambling machine takes $60,000 out of the consumer economy.’
‘When the money is not spent on cars and refrigerators and is instead dropped into a slot machine, it leaves the [local] economy.’
‘A shrinking economy means lost sales and lost jobs.’
Again, read the entire list of quotes here.
(I am including the quotes here:
These quotes are from http://casinowatch.org/
“GAMBLING QUOTES
By John W. KindtProfessor of Business Administration
University of Illinois
6/25/05
01) ‘It is not economic development; it’s about taking money out of the consumer economy and shipping it off to Las Vegas’
02) ‘The casinos are walking out of states with at least $1 billion in their pockets to Las Vegas’
03) ‘This is an industry that generates addicted gamblers and they are desperate to get money’
04) ‘Gambling has a zero-sum economic effect in its market and, like legalizing cocaine, the socio-economic costs of legalizing gambling overwhelm the benefits’
05) ‘Every video [slot] gambling machine takes $60,000 out of the consumer economy’
06) ‘When the money is not spent on cars and refrigerators and is instead dropped into a slot machine, it leaves the economy’
07) ‘A shrinking economy means lost sales and lost jobs’
08) ‘$60,000 spent in a consumer economy multiplies by respending into $180,000’
09) ‘The real loss by gambling is $180,000 to the consumer economy for each slot machine’
10) ‘Studies in Australia have verified this drain on the economy by video gambling machines’
11) ‘for every slot machine you add, you lose one job per year from the consumer economy’
12) ‘Therefore 5,000 new video gambling machines costs the economy 5,000 lost jobs each year’
13) ‘Legalized gambling cost taxpayers $3 for every $1 in state revenue to government’
14) ‘Any legislator who says he doesn’t see the downside hasn’t done his homework’
15) ‘My bottom line is this is no time to be gambling with our economy’
16) ‘A 1999 report by a bipartisan federal panel on gambling concluded the United States should put a hold on further casinos until it is clear what the impact is on America’
17) ‘Gamblers spend 10 percent less on food; 25 percent less on clothing and 35 percent less on savings’ (And how much more do they go into debt? Debt being one of the major economic problems in our society. We all only have so much money and when gambling takes precedent over important priorities, the individual suffers, the economy suffers, and the society suffers. It is insanity to think that increasing gambling in any form is a viable solution to anything!—my addition)
18) ‘Thirty-seven percent of gamblers dip into their savings to fulfill their habit’ (And some stoop to crime!—my addition)
19) ‘In 1993, 40 percent of Minnesota restaurateurs reported declines attributed to casinos’
20) ‘Bankruptcies and addictions increase in areas with casinos’
21) ‘An Osage tribal study found that between $41 million to $50 million left a 50-mile radius around their own casino’ (Legalized gambling for Indian tribes was supposed to be the “salvation” of Indian tribes. (Of course, the only true salvation is spiritual and that only through JESUS, the CHRIST!) Has it occurred? For a small minority maybe? What damage has occurred within the surrounding community? I was a member of a jury where a man babysitting a woman’s son was accused of molesting him. Where was the mother? Gambling at a local Indian casino!—my addition)
22) ‘Your addiction rate will go up if you have gambling in this area’ (And video gaming, if allowed throughout the State, will help addiction rates increase throughout the State—my addition)
23) ‘Movies and Disney World don’t create addicts’ (Personally, I don’t believe this is a true statement. However, I include it because I’m including all the statements from the website—my addition.)
24) ‘The socio-economic impact of gambling addiction is comparable to drug and alcohol addiction’ (Which according to the logic of the State legislature makes it appropriate to place video gaming in establishments that permit alcohol consumption. What’s one more addiction to someone who is already addicted?—my addition)
25) ‘When governments legalize and encourage gambling, they are creating addictions among their citizens’ (DUH! And the governments are doing it DELIBERATELY!!!—my addition)
26) ‘The gambling interests like to point to the construction jobs, but those jobs go away’ (And the gambling goes on and on and on unchecked!—my addition)
27) ‘The social costs, and the increased tax costs due to addicted gamblers, stay behind’
28) ‘Gambling interests hire lots of economists to do impact studies, but what you need is cost-benefit analysis, and you’ll never see the industry finance those’ (Cost-benefit studies would be devastating!—my addition)
29) ‘No reputable economist anywhere believes its [gambling] an economic tool’ (It wasn’t when I was in economic classes at Illinois State University and the University of Arizona—my addition.)
30) ‘For every dollar of revenue generated by gambling, taxpayers must pay at least $3 in increased criminal justice costs, social welfare expenses, high regulatory costs, and increased infrastructure expenditures’
31) ‘Casinos don’t bring business except for the gambling boys,’
32) ‘Generally, traditional businesses were slow to recognize the way in which legalized gambling captured dollars from across the entire spectrum of the various consumer markets, but now they know’
33) ‘The (gambling) industry has a tendency to find public figures ... and these persons are used for their public image. ... These people generally come in for a couple of years and then they sell out and it’s 100 percent owned by out-of-state interests’
34) ‘People will spend a tremendous amount of money in casinos, money they normally would spend on refrigerators or a new car. Local businesses will suffer because they’ll lose consumer dollars to casinos.’ Quoting Donald Trump
35) ‘It’s lose, lose for the taxpayer’ ‘It’s lose, lose for the taxpayer’ ‘It’s lose, lose for the taxpayer’ (I repeated the statement two additional times—my addition.)
36) ‘Gambling is being subsidized by the taxpayers’
37) ‘[slots] are being called ‘the crack cocaine’ of the gaming industry’ ... ‘This is not my terminology,’ ... It’s the terminology of the majority of sociologists.’
38) ‘For every three machines, you lose two jobs out of the surrounding economy because people are dumping their money on gambling’
39) ‘If the government wants to stimulate the economy, it should outlaw gambling’
40) ‘Gambling is a catalyst for economic downturn’
41) ‘One to 2 percent of the population becomes addicted gamblers’
42) ‘27 percent to 55 percent of casino revenues come from problem or pathological gamblers’
43) ‘Bankruptcies increase 18 percent to 42 percent above the national average’
44) ‘Although crime and corruption decreases within a one-mile radius of a casino, it increases 10 percent within a 35-mile radius by the third year the casino is open.’
45) ‘If you want your 401(k) to come back, recriminalize gambling’
46) ‘It’s time to wipe the slate clean, recriminalize gambling, just like we did in this country 100 years ago’ (There are extremely valid reasons why gambling WAS ILLEGAL—my addition)
47) ‘And as far as jobs go, for every one job that the casino creates, one is lost in the 35-mile feeder market’
48) ‘Gambling drains the economy by taking money away from grocery stores and retail businesses and putting it in the hands of an industry that produces no product’
49) ‘While advocates of legalized gambling say it brings in revenues needed for education and other uses, it actually has led to higher taxes, loss of jobs, economic disruption of non-gambling businesses, increased crime and higher social-welfare costs’ (See the circular pattern created as explained earlier—my addition)
50) ‘If gambling were banned, those social costs would drop, tax revenues from consumer goods would increase, and money would be pumped into the productive economic sector’
51) ‘The lightning spread of ‘Western-style’ gambling overseas has increased the problems of addicted and problem gamblers, organized crime and alleged corruption in Asia and the Middle East’
52) ‘In permitting gambling enterprises to flourish in the United States and abroad, the United States undermines global socio-economic stability in contravention of its international obligations’
53) ‘Another threat to stability is the rise of Internet gambling’ (Which would REALLY cause problems and yet some legislators want it!—my addition)
54) "The faster the gambling activity, the more highly addictive it is; and the more addictive the gambling activity is, the more revenue it will generate for the industry’ (Video gaming!!!—my addition)
55) ‘Gambling addicts usually lose their focus at work and problem military gambling poses a national security threat’
56) ‘The military should get rid of video gambling devices on nearly 100 overseas bases and posts’
57) ‘According to a Defense Department study on military gambling in 2001, at least 2 percent of U.S. military personnel were pathological gamblers in 2001’
58) ‘Don’t bet on the $500 million in anticipated revenue from slots every year easing the tax burden on the average Joe’ (Gambling revenue has not eased the tax burden in Illinois! Government expenditures have increased and talk is that the State income tax needs to be increased by at least 50%. Were we “saved” by the lottery? Were we “saved” by “riverboat” gambling? Do you really believe we will be “saved” by video gaming? When will it end?—my addition)
59) ‘Gambling is a bad deal for taxpayers’
60) ‘The ABCs of legalized gambling—addictions, bankruptcies and crime’ (The new education mantra!—my addition)
61) ‘Bankruptcies will be up 18 to 42 percent around racinos areas [tracks] as people lose their money’
62) ‘Crime goes up 10 percent due to the gambling by the third year after racinos or slot machines are open, and then it continues upward after that’
63) ‘Your social costs, your costs to the taxpayers, are $3 for every $1 of benefits, it’s not good economic development’
64) ‘While gambling addiction can be a social justice reason for some to ban gambling, the economic evidence suggests that the social and economic costs of gambling are $3 to the taxpayers for every $1 in benefits’
65) ‘[State-sponsored gambling] produces no product, no new wealth, and so it makes no genuine contribution to economic development’
66) ‘A study in Illinois in the mid-1990s found that 65 percent of businesses were hurt by the proximity of gambling’ (It seems our present State legislature ignored the results of that study!—my addition)
67) ‘The common mistake that business people make is they’re going to get drive-by business’ ... ‘Only gas stations are helped’ (The money is spent gambling!—my addition)
68) ‘There would be economic disruption in Omaha from expanded gambling...You would just be moving Chernobyl closer to the population center’
69) ‘Bank deposits decline, more checks bounce and the number of bad loans goes up’
70) ‘Clothing sales plummet, rent delinquencies mount and even grocery sales shrink as gamblers, having tapped out their entertainment budgets, dip into dollars set aside for necessities’
71) ‘Legalized gambling is the leading cause of bankruptcy’
72) ‘Utah sells itself to Fortune 500 companies as a noncasino state where employers don’t have to be concerned about absenteeism and other problems associated with gambling’ (Including crime!—my addition)
73) ‘What we really need is a federal intervention plan, which calls for a moratorium on gambling in the U.S.’
74) ‘Actually, they should just roll it all back—get rid of gambling... It destabilizes the U.S. economy’ (And ruins lives!—my addition)
75) ‘Slots should be ‘recriminalized’ ... Don’t put VLTs [Video Lottery Terminals] in to try and save the raceways’
76) ‘Addiction to gambling—is comparable to drug addiction, according to reports out of Harvard’
77) ‘Taxpayers would likely be responsible for treating addicts’
78) ‘Lotteries boost state revenues in the short run but don’t feed the economy in the long run’
79) ‘Besides creating more compulsive gamblers, money spent on lotteries isn’t spent on other goods such as clothing or computers, which would trickle through to retailers, manufacturers and other parts of the economy’
80) ‘The smartest thing legislatures can do is get rid of (lotteries) and get those dollars buying consumer goods and get the sales tax revenues from that’ (AGREED—my addition)
81) ‘We beat the Great Depression without lotteries and legalized gambling’
82) ‘Sociologists almost uniformly report that increased gambling activities, which are promoted as sociologically ‘acceptable’ and which are made ‘accessible’ to larger numbers of people will increase the number of pathological gamblers’ (GOVERNMENT approved!!!—my addition)
83) ‘I would hate to see the state of Wisconsin make another mistake and locate another casino in a high-density population area’
84) ‘You bring in gambling into a major population base, and the more people you have going into a casino, the more people you have hooked on gambling’ (Ah, but the government receives more direct money without raising “taxes!”—my addition)
85) ‘It becomes a cannibalization of your pre-existing economy’ (Legislators seem not to care!—my addition)
86) ‘Then they’re like addicts; they can’t help themselves... They will steal, cheat, embezzle and commit other crimes just to get money to gamble’ (Gambling ultimately hurts the gambler and OTHERS!—my addition)
87) ‘In convenience gambling scenarios, discretionary spending and nondiscretionary ‘addicted gambling’ dollars were transferred from other forms of consumer expenditures... ‘Local competing businesses were thereby losing revenue.’
[Illegal gambling was/is often controlled by gangsters. Now that States are trying to take more and more control of gambling, does that make them GANGSTER GOVERNMENTS!!!—my addition]
Professor Kindt has been quoted in the following news sources as well as many others
Miami Herald, The Grand Rapids Press, Raleigh Biblical Recorder, http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/, The Journal-Standard, Times-Mail, Associated Baptist Press, www.news.uiuc.edu/biztips, USA TODAY, http://www.casinocitytimes.com/, Lancaster New Era, Managerial and Decision Economics, Boston Globe, http://www.stltoday.com/, http://www.fremontneb.com/, Associated Press, Omaha World-Herald, http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/, Times Herald-Record, http://www.sc-democrat.com/, Lancaster New Era, http://www.centredaily.com/, Gannett News Service, http://www.seattlepi.nwsource.com/, http://www.madison.com/, http://www.journalsentinel.com/, The Herald-Dispatch”
Back to the original article from http://www.championnews.net/.)
You can ignore Professor John Kindt if you want, but for your information, he’s studied the issue. He’s got the research to back it up, so you’re not just ignoring a guy with only an opinion. You can read the good professor’s bio here—he’s at the College of Business at the University of Illinois. There are a few of his works linked at Casino Watch’s website as well.
One group that is actively opposing the expansion of gambling in Illinois is the Illinois Family Institute. IFI’s Executive Director Dave Smith recently wrote:
‘I am happy to tell you that we are having some success in trying to mitigate the harms that the Video Porker law will bring to our communities. As you may remember, this legislation will allow any establishment that has a liquor license to have up to 5 video poker machines—this would make Illinois #1 in the nation for gambling—beating out Nevada.
IFI is working with other pro-family and anti-gambling activists. Inch by inch, we are getting local municipalities to ban the video poker machines!’
Dave listed five more communities that recently opted out of video gambling.
My personal recommendation is that you support IFI rather than Republican ‘leaders’ who ignore the party platform and vote to massively expand gambling in Illinois. You can find their names listed in bold type here. (I listed those who voted for and against the law on my post of September 17, 2009 entitled “Illinois General Assembly vote on video gaming.”
You’re in luck because tickets are still available for IFI’s October 6th Family, Faith, and Freedom banquet. Former governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is the guest speaker. You don’t want to miss this one. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.
Lastly, my colleague Doug Ibendahl has written on the outrage of the video gambling bill passed by the General Assembly last May here and here. Both articles are well worth your time.
John Biver is the Editor of Champion News.”
Did your Representative vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why? Did your Senator vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why?
I’m changing direction this week. Although I plan more posts on healthcare nationalized, this week I’m going to cover the State of Illinois and its new push to increase revenue by allowing gambling/video gaming throughout the State.
I had intended to end my series on video gaming on Saturday. However, I have more to say and it seems apparent that healthcare nationalized will not occur this week and may not occur this year—nor should it.
Therefore, I’m going to write a few more posts on video gaming and then return to healthcare nationalized.
The following is from http://www.championnews.net/
“Gambling, the IL GOP Platform, and the Illinois Family Institute
Posted September 18, 2009
By John Biver
‘Conventional wisdom’ in politics continues to hold that the party platforms are meaningless and just an exercise in quieting the base. It’s funny how that old adage doesn’t apply to the Democratic Party Platform, but only to the Republican Party Platform, which continues to be ignored by GOP leaders everywhere. This behavior has given us Obama, Pelosi, and Reid.
One issue in the news lately has been addressed in our state GOP platform. Evidently, quite a few local governments have been rejecting video gaming in their communities. While state house Republican minority leader Tom Cross might not demonstrate good sense when it comes to gaming, many at the local level realize that expanding gambling is a sure loser.
For the record, the Illinois GOP Platform has this to say about it:
‘We call on the Governor and the General Assembly to balance the state budget and provide for a responsible capital development program without resorting to the expansion of gambling, which harms Illinois’ families and our state’s business climate and presents costly challenges for both law enforcement and social service agencies.’ (If increased gambling including video gaming does, indeed, increase the costs of social service agencies, which to me is an obvious truism, then we have this wonderful circular pattern created by the State of Illinois—gambling is increased by the State, this increased gambling increases the “need” for increased social services, thus, State government increases the expenditures for social services, which increases the demand for more revenue for the State, which then results in the increase of more gambling to increase revenue, which results in the need to increase social services, which results in the increasing circular impact of gambling in the State. Isn’t that insanity! And it has happened according to my post of September 14, 2009 entitled “give US more money” “Total spending increased significantly from $43.5 Billion in fiscal year 2005 to $51.5 Billion in fiscal year 2007. This was a dollar increase of $8 Billion in two years and an 18+ percent increase in two years.”—my addition)
Obviously many Republican ‘leaders’ don’t care a wit about the party platform—and just as many could care less about the economic research on the topic of legalized gambling. The matter is currently being discussed in Kane County. One press report referred to the county government there as ‘budget-crunched.’ Kane has set up a task force to look at how video gaming might impact the two riverboats that operate on the Fox River.
Champion News has linked several good articles and websites that tackle the economic impact of gambling—you can view the list here. My personal favorite is probably this one:
‘Quotes about gambling from University of Illinois Professor John W. Kindt’
There are too many quotes to list—but here are three examples.
‘Every video [slot] gambling machine takes $60,000 out of the consumer economy.’
‘When the money is not spent on cars and refrigerators and is instead dropped into a slot machine, it leaves the [local] economy.’
‘A shrinking economy means lost sales and lost jobs.’
Again, read the entire list of quotes here.
(I am including the quotes here:
These quotes are from http://casinowatch.org/
“GAMBLING QUOTES
By John W. KindtProfessor of Business Administration
University of Illinois
6/25/05
01) ‘It is not economic development; it’s about taking money out of the consumer economy and shipping it off to Las Vegas’
02) ‘The casinos are walking out of states with at least $1 billion in their pockets to Las Vegas’
03) ‘This is an industry that generates addicted gamblers and they are desperate to get money’
04) ‘Gambling has a zero-sum economic effect in its market and, like legalizing cocaine, the socio-economic costs of legalizing gambling overwhelm the benefits’
05) ‘Every video [slot] gambling machine takes $60,000 out of the consumer economy’
06) ‘When the money is not spent on cars and refrigerators and is instead dropped into a slot machine, it leaves the economy’
07) ‘A shrinking economy means lost sales and lost jobs’
08) ‘$60,000 spent in a consumer economy multiplies by respending into $180,000’
09) ‘The real loss by gambling is $180,000 to the consumer economy for each slot machine’
10) ‘Studies in Australia have verified this drain on the economy by video gambling machines’
11) ‘for every slot machine you add, you lose one job per year from the consumer economy’
12) ‘Therefore 5,000 new video gambling machines costs the economy 5,000 lost jobs each year’
13) ‘Legalized gambling cost taxpayers $3 for every $1 in state revenue to government’
14) ‘Any legislator who says he doesn’t see the downside hasn’t done his homework’
15) ‘My bottom line is this is no time to be gambling with our economy’
16) ‘A 1999 report by a bipartisan federal panel on gambling concluded the United States should put a hold on further casinos until it is clear what the impact is on America’
17) ‘Gamblers spend 10 percent less on food; 25 percent less on clothing and 35 percent less on savings’ (And how much more do they go into debt? Debt being one of the major economic problems in our society. We all only have so much money and when gambling takes precedent over important priorities, the individual suffers, the economy suffers, and the society suffers. It is insanity to think that increasing gambling in any form is a viable solution to anything!—my addition)
18) ‘Thirty-seven percent of gamblers dip into their savings to fulfill their habit’ (And some stoop to crime!—my addition)
19) ‘In 1993, 40 percent of Minnesota restaurateurs reported declines attributed to casinos’
20) ‘Bankruptcies and addictions increase in areas with casinos’
21) ‘An Osage tribal study found that between $41 million to $50 million left a 50-mile radius around their own casino’ (Legalized gambling for Indian tribes was supposed to be the “salvation” of Indian tribes. (Of course, the only true salvation is spiritual and that only through JESUS, the CHRIST!) Has it occurred? For a small minority maybe? What damage has occurred within the surrounding community? I was a member of a jury where a man babysitting a woman’s son was accused of molesting him. Where was the mother? Gambling at a local Indian casino!—my addition)
22) ‘Your addiction rate will go up if you have gambling in this area’ (And video gaming, if allowed throughout the State, will help addiction rates increase throughout the State—my addition)
23) ‘Movies and Disney World don’t create addicts’ (Personally, I don’t believe this is a true statement. However, I include it because I’m including all the statements from the website—my addition.)
24) ‘The socio-economic impact of gambling addiction is comparable to drug and alcohol addiction’ (Which according to the logic of the State legislature makes it appropriate to place video gaming in establishments that permit alcohol consumption. What’s one more addiction to someone who is already addicted?—my addition)
25) ‘When governments legalize and encourage gambling, they are creating addictions among their citizens’ (DUH! And the governments are doing it DELIBERATELY!!!—my addition)
26) ‘The gambling interests like to point to the construction jobs, but those jobs go away’ (And the gambling goes on and on and on unchecked!—my addition)
27) ‘The social costs, and the increased tax costs due to addicted gamblers, stay behind’
28) ‘Gambling interests hire lots of economists to do impact studies, but what you need is cost-benefit analysis, and you’ll never see the industry finance those’ (Cost-benefit studies would be devastating!—my addition)
29) ‘No reputable economist anywhere believes its [gambling] an economic tool’ (It wasn’t when I was in economic classes at Illinois State University and the University of Arizona—my addition.)
30) ‘For every dollar of revenue generated by gambling, taxpayers must pay at least $3 in increased criminal justice costs, social welfare expenses, high regulatory costs, and increased infrastructure expenditures’
31) ‘Casinos don’t bring business except for the gambling boys,’
32) ‘Generally, traditional businesses were slow to recognize the way in which legalized gambling captured dollars from across the entire spectrum of the various consumer markets, but now they know’
33) ‘The (gambling) industry has a tendency to find public figures ... and these persons are used for their public image. ... These people generally come in for a couple of years and then they sell out and it’s 100 percent owned by out-of-state interests’
34) ‘People will spend a tremendous amount of money in casinos, money they normally would spend on refrigerators or a new car. Local businesses will suffer because they’ll lose consumer dollars to casinos.’ Quoting Donald Trump
35) ‘It’s lose, lose for the taxpayer’ ‘It’s lose, lose for the taxpayer’ ‘It’s lose, lose for the taxpayer’ (I repeated the statement two additional times—my addition.)
36) ‘Gambling is being subsidized by the taxpayers’
37) ‘[slots] are being called ‘the crack cocaine’ of the gaming industry’ ... ‘This is not my terminology,’ ... It’s the terminology of the majority of sociologists.’
38) ‘For every three machines, you lose two jobs out of the surrounding economy because people are dumping their money on gambling’
39) ‘If the government wants to stimulate the economy, it should outlaw gambling’
40) ‘Gambling is a catalyst for economic downturn’
41) ‘One to 2 percent of the population becomes addicted gamblers’
42) ‘27 percent to 55 percent of casino revenues come from problem or pathological gamblers’
43) ‘Bankruptcies increase 18 percent to 42 percent above the national average’
44) ‘Although crime and corruption decreases within a one-mile radius of a casino, it increases 10 percent within a 35-mile radius by the third year the casino is open.’
45) ‘If you want your 401(k) to come back, recriminalize gambling’
46) ‘It’s time to wipe the slate clean, recriminalize gambling, just like we did in this country 100 years ago’ (There are extremely valid reasons why gambling WAS ILLEGAL—my addition)
47) ‘And as far as jobs go, for every one job that the casino creates, one is lost in the 35-mile feeder market’
48) ‘Gambling drains the economy by taking money away from grocery stores and retail businesses and putting it in the hands of an industry that produces no product’
49) ‘While advocates of legalized gambling say it brings in revenues needed for education and other uses, it actually has led to higher taxes, loss of jobs, economic disruption of non-gambling businesses, increased crime and higher social-welfare costs’ (See the circular pattern created as explained earlier—my addition)
50) ‘If gambling were banned, those social costs would drop, tax revenues from consumer goods would increase, and money would be pumped into the productive economic sector’
51) ‘The lightning spread of ‘Western-style’ gambling overseas has increased the problems of addicted and problem gamblers, organized crime and alleged corruption in Asia and the Middle East’
52) ‘In permitting gambling enterprises to flourish in the United States and abroad, the United States undermines global socio-economic stability in contravention of its international obligations’
53) ‘Another threat to stability is the rise of Internet gambling’ (Which would REALLY cause problems and yet some legislators want it!—my addition)
54) "The faster the gambling activity, the more highly addictive it is; and the more addictive the gambling activity is, the more revenue it will generate for the industry’ (Video gaming!!!—my addition)
55) ‘Gambling addicts usually lose their focus at work and problem military gambling poses a national security threat’
56) ‘The military should get rid of video gambling devices on nearly 100 overseas bases and posts’
57) ‘According to a Defense Department study on military gambling in 2001, at least 2 percent of U.S. military personnel were pathological gamblers in 2001’
58) ‘Don’t bet on the $500 million in anticipated revenue from slots every year easing the tax burden on the average Joe’ (Gambling revenue has not eased the tax burden in Illinois! Government expenditures have increased and talk is that the State income tax needs to be increased by at least 50%. Were we “saved” by the lottery? Were we “saved” by “riverboat” gambling? Do you really believe we will be “saved” by video gaming? When will it end?—my addition)
59) ‘Gambling is a bad deal for taxpayers’
60) ‘The ABCs of legalized gambling—addictions, bankruptcies and crime’ (The new education mantra!—my addition)
61) ‘Bankruptcies will be up 18 to 42 percent around racinos areas [tracks] as people lose their money’
62) ‘Crime goes up 10 percent due to the gambling by the third year after racinos or slot machines are open, and then it continues upward after that’
63) ‘Your social costs, your costs to the taxpayers, are $3 for every $1 of benefits, it’s not good economic development’
64) ‘While gambling addiction can be a social justice reason for some to ban gambling, the economic evidence suggests that the social and economic costs of gambling are $3 to the taxpayers for every $1 in benefits’
65) ‘[State-sponsored gambling] produces no product, no new wealth, and so it makes no genuine contribution to economic development’
66) ‘A study in Illinois in the mid-1990s found that 65 percent of businesses were hurt by the proximity of gambling’ (It seems our present State legislature ignored the results of that study!—my addition)
67) ‘The common mistake that business people make is they’re going to get drive-by business’ ... ‘Only gas stations are helped’ (The money is spent gambling!—my addition)
68) ‘There would be economic disruption in Omaha from expanded gambling...You would just be moving Chernobyl closer to the population center’
69) ‘Bank deposits decline, more checks bounce and the number of bad loans goes up’
70) ‘Clothing sales plummet, rent delinquencies mount and even grocery sales shrink as gamblers, having tapped out their entertainment budgets, dip into dollars set aside for necessities’
71) ‘Legalized gambling is the leading cause of bankruptcy’
72) ‘Utah sells itself to Fortune 500 companies as a noncasino state where employers don’t have to be concerned about absenteeism and other problems associated with gambling’ (Including crime!—my addition)
73) ‘What we really need is a federal intervention plan, which calls for a moratorium on gambling in the U.S.’
74) ‘Actually, they should just roll it all back—get rid of gambling... It destabilizes the U.S. economy’ (And ruins lives!—my addition)
75) ‘Slots should be ‘recriminalized’ ... Don’t put VLTs [Video Lottery Terminals] in to try and save the raceways’
76) ‘Addiction to gambling—is comparable to drug addiction, according to reports out of Harvard’
77) ‘Taxpayers would likely be responsible for treating addicts’
78) ‘Lotteries boost state revenues in the short run but don’t feed the economy in the long run’
79) ‘Besides creating more compulsive gamblers, money spent on lotteries isn’t spent on other goods such as clothing or computers, which would trickle through to retailers, manufacturers and other parts of the economy’
80) ‘The smartest thing legislatures can do is get rid of (lotteries) and get those dollars buying consumer goods and get the sales tax revenues from that’ (AGREED—my addition)
81) ‘We beat the Great Depression without lotteries and legalized gambling’
82) ‘Sociologists almost uniformly report that increased gambling activities, which are promoted as sociologically ‘acceptable’ and which are made ‘accessible’ to larger numbers of people will increase the number of pathological gamblers’ (GOVERNMENT approved!!!—my addition)
83) ‘I would hate to see the state of Wisconsin make another mistake and locate another casino in a high-density population area’
84) ‘You bring in gambling into a major population base, and the more people you have going into a casino, the more people you have hooked on gambling’ (Ah, but the government receives more direct money without raising “taxes!”—my addition)
85) ‘It becomes a cannibalization of your pre-existing economy’ (Legislators seem not to care!—my addition)
86) ‘Then they’re like addicts; they can’t help themselves... They will steal, cheat, embezzle and commit other crimes just to get money to gamble’ (Gambling ultimately hurts the gambler and OTHERS!—my addition)
87) ‘In convenience gambling scenarios, discretionary spending and nondiscretionary ‘addicted gambling’ dollars were transferred from other forms of consumer expenditures... ‘Local competing businesses were thereby losing revenue.’
[Illegal gambling was/is often controlled by gangsters. Now that States are trying to take more and more control of gambling, does that make them GANGSTER GOVERNMENTS!!!—my addition]
Professor Kindt has been quoted in the following news sources as well as many others
Miami Herald, The Grand Rapids Press, Raleigh Biblical Recorder, http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/, The Journal-Standard, Times-Mail, Associated Baptist Press, www.news.uiuc.edu/biztips, USA TODAY, http://www.casinocitytimes.com/, Lancaster New Era, Managerial and Decision Economics, Boston Globe, http://www.stltoday.com/, http://www.fremontneb.com/, Associated Press, Omaha World-Herald, http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/, Times Herald-Record, http://www.sc-democrat.com/, Lancaster New Era, http://www.centredaily.com/, Gannett News Service, http://www.seattlepi.nwsource.com/, http://www.madison.com/, http://www.journalsentinel.com/, The Herald-Dispatch”
Back to the original article from http://www.championnews.net/.)
You can ignore Professor John Kindt if you want, but for your information, he’s studied the issue. He’s got the research to back it up, so you’re not just ignoring a guy with only an opinion. You can read the good professor’s bio here—he’s at the College of Business at the University of Illinois. There are a few of his works linked at Casino Watch’s website as well.
One group that is actively opposing the expansion of gambling in Illinois is the Illinois Family Institute. IFI’s Executive Director Dave Smith recently wrote:
‘I am happy to tell you that we are having some success in trying to mitigate the harms that the Video Porker law will bring to our communities. As you may remember, this legislation will allow any establishment that has a liquor license to have up to 5 video poker machines—this would make Illinois #1 in the nation for gambling—beating out Nevada.
IFI is working with other pro-family and anti-gambling activists. Inch by inch, we are getting local municipalities to ban the video poker machines!’
Dave listed five more communities that recently opted out of video gambling.
My personal recommendation is that you support IFI rather than Republican ‘leaders’ who ignore the party platform and vote to massively expand gambling in Illinois. You can find their names listed in bold type here. (I listed those who voted for and against the law on my post of September 17, 2009 entitled “Illinois General Assembly vote on video gaming.”
You’re in luck because tickets are still available for IFI’s October 6th Family, Faith, and Freedom banquet. Former governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is the guest speaker. You don’t want to miss this one. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.
Lastly, my colleague Doug Ibendahl has written on the outrage of the video gambling bill passed by the General Assembly last May here and here. Both articles are well worth your time.
John Biver is the Editor of Champion News.”
Did your Representative vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why? Did your Senator vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why?
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 4:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home