Illinois General Assembly—video gaming hurts local economies
I had computer problems again. If I get this posted tonight, I also plan to post Saturday night.
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 poker throughout the State.
From http://www.championnews.net/
“How video poker destroys the local economy
Posted: June 05, 2009
By Mark Batinick
Apparently many of our elected officials in the General Assembly have never taken a business class beyond ‘Third Grade Liberal Economics.’ Being an Illinois certified high school business teacher, allow me to explain in the same way I would to a high school student, the implications of our newest and greatest revenue stream for the state.
I’m talking of course about the legalization of video gambling for bars and taverns, as approved by the passage of HB255. The Senate passed the bill on May 20th and the House followed two days later.
I don’t gamble. So this tax is not going to affect me, right? It’s a good thing. Let someone else pay the tax, right? WRONG. Let me say this again—WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
Even if you never gamble, you will be paying a tax. How is this possible? Simple, let’s just follow the money.
Let’s say Joe is a contractor for ABC Builders. After a long week of work, Joe decides to go to the local pub for a few beers. Joe sees the shiny new exciting video poker machine and decides to try his luck. He puts in a $20 bill. It lasts a while, but he ultimately loses it. Then he tries again. Same luck. He decides $40 is enough money lost for one night. But it’s okay. He had fun. No big deal, right?
Wrong! Politicians are very short-sighted. They only see the tax dollars on the $40. But while they understand the action, they do not understand the reaction. Does anyone wonder what would have happened to the $40, if Joe did not spend it in the poker machine? Well, Joe was going to go to Aaron’s pizza place and buy a pizza for dinner. But now he doesn’t have the money. He was also going to give $20 to his son to go to the movie and have ice cream at Robin’s ice cream shop, but now he doesn’t have the money to give to his son. So, instead, Joe and his son stay home and watch T.V. (A mind numbing event in itself!—my addition)
Aaron, the pizza guy, and Robin, the ice cream shop owner, had deposits on new locations for their businesses. But, they decide to walk away from the deals. They can’t figure out exactly why, but they know business is soft. So they both decide to put a hold on their expansion plans.
Now that new strip mall that was going to be built is also on hold. Mark, the realtor, loses a substantial commission. Times have been tough in real estate. Mark may have to go on unemployment. Our contractor friend Joe may also go on unemployment because the builder for the new strip mall was going to be ABC Builders.
Incredibly, our state lawmakers are wondering why unemployment is growing and income tax revenue is down.
In order to have ‘new’ revenue, you need ‘new’ money. Video gambling does not create any ‘new’ money. We are not Vegas. People are not going to fly from around the world to drop thousands of dollars in our video poker machines. Instead, it’s going to come from your neighbors. It doesn’t matter if it is a gambling tax, cigarette tax, or any tax. We have seen in the current real estate economy that what hurts your neighbors—hurts you.
Sounds silly? Well it is not. Imagine not just one Joe, but ten, or a thousand, or ten thousand. Here’s what the politicians cannot deny—huge amounts of money are being milked from the local economy for transfer to Springfield—as well as to the typically out-of-state headquarters of the gambling companies. When you do that, you are bleeding the local economy.
In the Daily Herald on May 21, 2009, JoAnn Osmond, an Antioch Republican State Representative, was quoted this way regarding her vote in favor of HB255: ‘I think the most important thing in this vote is that we are creating jobs and jobs are so needed right now.’
Meanwhile, Elgin Democratic State Representative Keith Farnham stated, ‘It is just not the right time to put this kind of tax burden on the people.’ Farnham voted against HB255.
So let’s be sure we have this straight. The Republican thinks milking local economies for money and sending it to Springfield creates jobs—while the Democrat thinks a tough economy is a bad time to raise taxes?
And we wonder why the Republican Party is in such disarray in this state.
Oh, but the roads, the buildings and the children! Of course this is the biggest sham of all. But politicians just love to tug on your heart strings don’t they?
This money is less for the children and more for some of the big, fat pensions of the lawmakers who write the bills.
When the money goes to Springfield it goes into one pot. It is then distributed out of that one pot. Wasn’t the lottery supposed to be all about the children? Isn’t the gas tax supposed to pay for roads? Don’t fall for it folks. This is just another way to put off dealing with our state’s real problems. (This is the real key. As I said in my first post in this series, the State of Illinois is the LARGEST employer in the State. The State seems incapable of setting PRIORITIES and living within its revenue. The result is bigger and bigger government, corruption and more corruption, and more and more people who are DEPENDENT upon government—my addition)
When the capital bill is completed in a couple of years, do you think the politicians are going to remove the machines from the bars? (Not a chance!—my addition) Will they lower the new added sales tax? (Not a chance!—my addition) Or, will they simply find a new place to spend the money? (“‘Give US more money’ so that we can grow and provide more ‘services.’”—my addition) Take a guess which option they’ll choose.
And note that I have not even mentioned any of the socio-economic problems associated with gambling. (Which are extremely important within their own right!—my addition)
That Daily Herald article was my first introduction to JoAnn Osmond, and based on just that article one really has to wonder about her qualifications to be a Republican. I would have the same reservations about any ‘Republican’ who voted to pass that video gambling bill last month.
Mark Batinick is a real estate professional and Republican activist from Plainfield, Illinois.”
I’ve said it over and over again. All gambling does is redistribute money from one group of suckers to one group of eventual winners—the owners of the gambling and the State governments who use gambling as a “painless” method to extract money from its citizens. It preys upon a human weakness and the very process helps to erode moral values and corrupt the nation. And the local media doesn’t help as they trumpet the “big winners” of the latest gambling sham while ignoring the human cost and the losers. For gambling to raise money, there always have to be many more losers than immediate winners. And many of those immediate winners end up being eventual losers!
Did your Representative vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why? Did your Senator vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why?
I had computer problems again. If I get this posted tonight, I also plan to post Saturday night.
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 poker throughout the State.
From http://www.championnews.net/
“How video poker destroys the local economy
Posted: June 05, 2009
By Mark Batinick
Apparently many of our elected officials in the General Assembly have never taken a business class beyond ‘Third Grade Liberal Economics.’ Being an Illinois certified high school business teacher, allow me to explain in the same way I would to a high school student, the implications of our newest and greatest revenue stream for the state.
I’m talking of course about the legalization of video gambling for bars and taverns, as approved by the passage of HB255. The Senate passed the bill on May 20th and the House followed two days later.
I don’t gamble. So this tax is not going to affect me, right? It’s a good thing. Let someone else pay the tax, right? WRONG. Let me say this again—WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
Even if you never gamble, you will be paying a tax. How is this possible? Simple, let’s just follow the money.
Let’s say Joe is a contractor for ABC Builders. After a long week of work, Joe decides to go to the local pub for a few beers. Joe sees the shiny new exciting video poker machine and decides to try his luck. He puts in a $20 bill. It lasts a while, but he ultimately loses it. Then he tries again. Same luck. He decides $40 is enough money lost for one night. But it’s okay. He had fun. No big deal, right?
Wrong! Politicians are very short-sighted. They only see the tax dollars on the $40. But while they understand the action, they do not understand the reaction. Does anyone wonder what would have happened to the $40, if Joe did not spend it in the poker machine? Well, Joe was going to go to Aaron’s pizza place and buy a pizza for dinner. But now he doesn’t have the money. He was also going to give $20 to his son to go to the movie and have ice cream at Robin’s ice cream shop, but now he doesn’t have the money to give to his son. So, instead, Joe and his son stay home and watch T.V. (A mind numbing event in itself!—my addition)
Aaron, the pizza guy, and Robin, the ice cream shop owner, had deposits on new locations for their businesses. But, they decide to walk away from the deals. They can’t figure out exactly why, but they know business is soft. So they both decide to put a hold on their expansion plans.
Now that new strip mall that was going to be built is also on hold. Mark, the realtor, loses a substantial commission. Times have been tough in real estate. Mark may have to go on unemployment. Our contractor friend Joe may also go on unemployment because the builder for the new strip mall was going to be ABC Builders.
Incredibly, our state lawmakers are wondering why unemployment is growing and income tax revenue is down.
In order to have ‘new’ revenue, you need ‘new’ money. Video gambling does not create any ‘new’ money. We are not Vegas. People are not going to fly from around the world to drop thousands of dollars in our video poker machines. Instead, it’s going to come from your neighbors. It doesn’t matter if it is a gambling tax, cigarette tax, or any tax. We have seen in the current real estate economy that what hurts your neighbors—hurts you.
Sounds silly? Well it is not. Imagine not just one Joe, but ten, or a thousand, or ten thousand. Here’s what the politicians cannot deny—huge amounts of money are being milked from the local economy for transfer to Springfield—as well as to the typically out-of-state headquarters of the gambling companies. When you do that, you are bleeding the local economy.
In the Daily Herald on May 21, 2009, JoAnn Osmond, an Antioch Republican State Representative, was quoted this way regarding her vote in favor of HB255: ‘I think the most important thing in this vote is that we are creating jobs and jobs are so needed right now.’
Meanwhile, Elgin Democratic State Representative Keith Farnham stated, ‘It is just not the right time to put this kind of tax burden on the people.’ Farnham voted against HB255.
So let’s be sure we have this straight. The Republican thinks milking local economies for money and sending it to Springfield creates jobs—while the Democrat thinks a tough economy is a bad time to raise taxes?
And we wonder why the Republican Party is in such disarray in this state.
Oh, but the roads, the buildings and the children! Of course this is the biggest sham of all. But politicians just love to tug on your heart strings don’t they?
This money is less for the children and more for some of the big, fat pensions of the lawmakers who write the bills.
When the money goes to Springfield it goes into one pot. It is then distributed out of that one pot. Wasn’t the lottery supposed to be all about the children? Isn’t the gas tax supposed to pay for roads? Don’t fall for it folks. This is just another way to put off dealing with our state’s real problems. (This is the real key. As I said in my first post in this series, the State of Illinois is the LARGEST employer in the State. The State seems incapable of setting PRIORITIES and living within its revenue. The result is bigger and bigger government, corruption and more corruption, and more and more people who are DEPENDENT upon government—my addition)
When the capital bill is completed in a couple of years, do you think the politicians are going to remove the machines from the bars? (Not a chance!—my addition) Will they lower the new added sales tax? (Not a chance!—my addition) Or, will they simply find a new place to spend the money? (“‘Give US more money’ so that we can grow and provide more ‘services.’”—my addition) Take a guess which option they’ll choose.
And note that I have not even mentioned any of the socio-economic problems associated with gambling. (Which are extremely important within their own right!—my addition)
That Daily Herald article was my first introduction to JoAnn Osmond, and based on just that article one really has to wonder about her qualifications to be a Republican. I would have the same reservations about any ‘Republican’ who voted to pass that video gambling bill last month.
Mark Batinick is a real estate professional and Republican activist from Plainfield, Illinois.”
I’ve said it over and over again. All gambling does is redistribute money from one group of suckers to one group of eventual winners—the owners of the gambling and the State governments who use gambling as a “painless” method to extract money from its citizens. It preys upon a human weakness and the very process helps to erode moral values and corrupt the nation. And the local media doesn’t help as they trumpet the “big winners” of the latest gambling sham while ignoring the human cost and the losers. For gambling to raise money, there always have to be many more losers than immediate winners. And many of those immediate winners end up being eventual losers!
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 9:50 PM
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