About 40 years ago the state of Illinois proposed a Lottery that would fund the schools. No more tax money from the state, and property taxes would be reduced because the Lottery would fund education.
Then they expanded the lottery to include scratch-offs and daily games and more, all to help fund education.
Well, seems that all that lottery money was going into the general fund and kinda going everywhichway hither and yon, for all kinds of "good things". Trust us.
So we need casinos and off track betting, that will spur economic development. Well it put some fancy riverboats (which now never leave the dock) on the rivers with some fancy buildings right there pierside, but the businesses and tourist draws never quite materialized and these old river towns look more tired and run down then before. Like an old whore with new lipstick. It's garish and simply highlights the economic failure.
Now we've got video poker machines in bars to steal even more money from the people bad at math. And they got a new casino just outside of Chicago in Rosemont/Des Plaines by O'Hare. Like it's supposed to be a tourist destination.
Meanwhile the Lottery got sold to private interests and the money somehow got lost in the couch cushions, property taxes are some of the highest in the nation, and and the D's are set to make permanent the "temporary" income tax increase they passed three years ago to balance the budget (The state is currently $9 billion behind on it's bills, Not pensions. BILLS from contractors and the like. The good news is that instead of tackling the pressing fiscal and economic issues, the Legislature passed a Gay Marriage Act bill.)
The Casinos aren't pulling in the money/suckers/customers like they projected. So the state isn't getting the rake it expected. (Hence the frequent and ongoing calls and approval of the expansion of gambling).
They produce nothing. We need to get back to making stuff again. But the state is content to take (as much) money from the people in anyway, shape or form it can. In Illinois the state tax casinos at 50% of the Gross Revenue. Yep, 50% right off the top. That the state is literally stealing from it's citizens. Yet, there is no outrage.
Increase in crime? Not in or near the casinos. High police and private security presence at ones I been to (Peoria, Aurora, Joliet, Metropolis). Increase in .gov reliance. I'm sure that some of the people sitting in there pulling the handles all day would be better served if that money went towards groceries, rent and utilities. Perhaps even clothes and toys for their kids. I'm sure marriages have been destroyed and families devastated because of the easy availability to gamble.
