Video gambling—a business savior?


It is my understanding that when Tazewell County (my county) was considering banning video gambling that three groups and their lawyer(s) lobbied intensely to prevent the ban. These three groups were:

1) veteran/service organizations (serve alcohol)
2) restaurant/bar owners. (serve alcohol)
3) construction unions (capital project money for jobs)

The problem with all three of these groups is that they were trying to protect their own perceived self-interest and weren’t and aren’t concerned with the general welfare of the community and the county. However, the general welfare of the community and the county is a primary responsibility of the community and county governments. The desires of a relatively small group of the community and the county should not trump the best interests of the community and county.

Every dime that goes to gambling is a dime that can’t be spent within the community and county on something else. The same day that a letter written by the leadership of the Morton 9/12 Project asking the Village of Morton, the surrounding communities, and the county to ban gambling was published in the Morton Times-News there was also an article encouraging people to spend more money within the community. If people are spending money to gamble, where is more money being spent to come from? When gambling occurs, the State gets 30% and most of that will NOT come back to Morton and the machine owners (out of State and out of Morton) get 35%—50% of the remaining 70%. This transfer of money—nothing is created—transfers over 50% of the money lost out of Morton and most of it will be spent elsewhere.

Construction unions will, at most, benefit from this change for two years unless the capital projects are extended and include video gambling funds as part of the extended funding. But once that gambling income starts coming in, it will be hard to repeal it in the legislature because they seem to almost have a blood lust for more money for more spending. The General Assembly is addicted to spending just as some people are addicted to gambling. This law, if it stands, will feed both addictions.

Construction jobs from the capital projects law is a two year program. Those jobs are temporary. Video gambling, if allowed to stand, will almost certainly be permanent and the money will be drained from Morton and the county year after year, after year, after year. Furthermore, there is NOTHING in the capital projects law that prevents communities and the counties who have banned video gambling from receiving the benefits of the capital projects law. NOTHING!

Banning video gambling is a win/win situation for the community and county—participation in the capital projects is NOT changed and the community and county are spared the harmful aspects of video gambling. And THERE ARE VERY HARMFUL ASPECTS RELATED TO VIDEO GAMBLING. HARMFUL TO INDIVIDUALS, HARMFUL TO FAMILIES, HARMFUL TO COMMUNITIES, HARMFUL TO COUNTIES, HARMFUL TO REGIONS, HARMFUL TO STATES, HARMFUL TO THE NATION!!!

At least one Tazewell County Board member used not wanting to hurt veteran/service organizations as his rational for wanting to table the vote to ban video gambling. And yet, every time I spoke of video gambling, up to the day of the vote, he spoke against it too. But in fact, NOT one veteran/service organization or bar owner is making any money from licensed video gambling presently. Furthermore, from what I can tell, they won’t even be given a license for up to 1½ years—a centralized computer system that is connected to every video gambling machine has to be established and functional before licensing can begin. As far as I know, they do not lose the video gambling machines set up for “amusement” purposes. I could find nothing in the new law outlawing the “amusement” machines currently in operation. They are either violating the law as written for “amusement” machines, lying, or counting income that doesn’t yet exist. And, of course, restaurants don’t even have machines for “amusement,” as far as I know.

And speaking of restaurants, has anyone told the employees that they are probably going to lose tip income? Do you think someone who has just lost $10 on a video gambling machine while waiting for his meal to be served is going to tip more, the same, or less after consuming the meal? REMEMBER: Overall, more money is ALWAYS lost than is won. Otherwise, the State, the machine owners, and the establishments wouldn’t put video gambling machines in the establishment. Is the restaurant owner going to share his “profits” from the video gambling machines with his employees. Are some people going to boycott those restaurants which have video gambling machines because of their moral convictions. Before the State outlawed smoking in restaurants, if I had a choice, I would not eat in a restaurant which permitted smoking. Will some people boycott dens of gambling?

What really concerns me about veteran/service organizations is that these organizations are suppose to be service oriented set up to help veterans and others. Who are going to using the machines? Most likely, the very people who they are suppose to be helping and serving. They are going to turn some of their own members into gambling addicts! Are they not concerned about this? Or, does the thought of more money trump their desire to serve?

From the material I quoted from the Time magazine article (see earlier post—Illinois General Assembly, video gaming, and Time magazine, September 30, 2009), I would think (I’ve seen no research on it) that veterans who have experienced the “thrill” of battle would be more likely to become addicted than the general public. And no one knows before the fact who will become addicted and who will not. Are the veteran/service groups going to turn their own members into addicts with all the harm it causes them and their families and then help them overcome their addiction? That’s perverse!

Each of these three groups, if they are reliant upon gambling money to make money, should rewrite their business plan. If they can’t make it economically without gambling money perhaps they should go out of business because they are doing something wrong. If hotels and motels aren’t surviving, are they going to turn to the General Assembly and ask to legalize prostitution within licensed and government regulated hotels and motels so that they can make a profit?

This whole concept of raising money (government) and “saving” businesses by legalizing vices is a Pandora’s Box that causes more problems than it can possibly solve. By the way, don’t let the lies of some “historians” mislead you. Prohibition was not ended because it wasn’t working. It was ended because government needed money because the Great Depression was going on and alcohol was seen as an easy source of income for governments. Vices are easy to make money on because they are vices. People don’t stop their addictions just because money is tight and times are lean. They change the way they get the money. The lottery hurts people and families and video gambling—the crack cocaine of gambling—is a lot more addictive than the lottery.

However, if gambling is beneficial, why are some select business organizations given a monopoly on it and others are excluded? Shouldn’t every business have an opportunity to placed 5 machines in their business? Think of the money our schools could raise if 5 machines were placed in every school. Why limit it to 5. Why not as many machines as the business wants to invest in? If this is good for some businesses, it should be good for all—that’s the free enterprise system!

Consider this. You are a businessman looking to locate a business in an Illinois community. All other things being equal, where would you locate the business—in a community that has banned video gambling or a community that has allowed video gambling? Unless my business was a business that would “benefit” from video gambling, I would build in a community that has BANNED video gambling.

First, banning video gambling demonstrates that the community is concerned with the quality of life of the community. Two, as a businessman, I know that video gambling drains dollars out of the community and that every dollar lost in video gambling is a dollar that CAN NOT be spent at my business. Finally, I know that video gambling is addictive and harms individuals and families. If my employee(s) becomes addicted to video gambling it harms not only him and his family but my business also. He becomes a liability since he may begin to steal from my business. Because of the problems resulting from his addiction, his work ethic will probably change for the worse and he might quit or be fired which will require a new hire and new training. The risks involved ARE NOT worth it to locate in a community that allows video gambling. I’d select the community that has BANNED video gambling EVERY TIME. EVERY TIME!

In short, in my opinion, there is no good, valid argument or reason to allow gambling let alone video gambling. Historically, it has been tried and repealed—early 1800’s and other time periods. In over 80 hours of government and economic classes at both the undergraduate and graduate level, I’ve never had an instructor who advocated gambling to raise income or to be legalized. Are educational institutions now teaching that gambling and in particular video gambling are beneficial? Then let’s put video gambling in schools throughout the communities, the counties, the State, and the nation!