A Sucker Bet

Just what kind of shell game is Chicago and Illinois running on its citizens now?

The Chicago Sun-Times, in a Thursday story, tells us that Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is pushing for a casino in Chicago. As is Donald Trump, who owns a casino in nearby Gary, Ind. and is partners with the Sun-Times in development of a new Trump tower on the site of the newspaper's current headquarters.

Daley's hypocracy is apparent to anyone who has followed his position on legalized gambling in Chicago. Once a major opponent of the idea, Daley villified the industry, its patrons and the huge social cost attached to it. Now that the city is losing revenue hand over fist, laying off hundreds of workers and eviscerating many city services, Daley recently announced that he is game.

The newly-elected Democratic state legislature, which is facing a $2 billion budget shortfall, is rumored to be interested in Daley's proposal, as is Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich. Blagoevich's father is Chicago alderman Richard Mell.

The suburbs of Rosemont, Des Plaines, Summit, Waukegan and Calumet City also want a grab at the last state casino license.

A bill to open horse tracks to slots and boost the number of "gaming positions" at the nine casinos in Illinois is being pushed by the CEO of Balmoral and Maywood Park harness tracks, which this year donated $40,000 to Gov.-elect Rod Blagojevich and $20,000 to state Sen. Emil Jones (D-Chicago). Jones is in front of the queue to be the next state Senate president.

Also jumping aboard the Blagojevich pony was Arlington Park chairman Richard L. Duchossois and the track's parent company, Churchill Downs. Arlington interests gave $37,332 to Blagojevich this year--$25,000 of it coming from Churchill Downs.

Now, Ed. asks rhetorically, what is wrong with the picture of state services -- education, roads, medicare, etc. --- being paid from state's gambling take.

Well, Ed. remembers when the state lottery was proposed with the promise of funding education. By the time the measure was passed and signed, there was no specific set aside of proceeds for education. Lottery proceeds went into Illinois' general fund, to be spent on whatever.

Furthermore, Ed. has a problem with funding governmental operations with money often wrentched from the hands of people who largely cannot afford to lose it. If you don't believe him, go to a casino sometime and just watch the people around you. Go to the cage and to the ATM machine bank and observe the desperation of the people seeking MORE money and a chance to win back all they've already lost. It is a fool's pursuit. It is gambling ... and a bettor never wins.

Ed. is not against vice, per se. But should society fund its necessities with the wages of weakness? Should it profit from vice?

Ed. does not think Illinois or Chicago should. Not even if the state is going broke.

The losses, and perhaps suffering, of the few should not fund the needs of the many. Rather, the many should be paying their own way through higher state taxes.

Or else, they should resolve to get by with less and maintain tax funding of absolute necessities -- such as education and medicare.