Let me be clear: I don’t oppose gambling. I go to casinos occasionally. I always have a grand time losing money. At least the drinks are cheap.
But video gambling in restaurants, bars and gas stations shoves it into the mainstream.
Just ask Eileen, a woman I interviewed who used to live in Champaign County.
She discovered $30,000 in credit card cash withdrawals after the death of her husband 10 years ago. A rule-following, Bible-reading truck driver, he got addicted to a video gambling at a local tavern. The owner illegally paid out from behind the bar and the cops did nothing to stop it.
If you’re going to oppose legalizing video gaming because somebody lost a whole bunch of money, then you should probably oppose already legalized casino gaming as well, because the same thing, and more, happens at those joints. Casinos, unlike your neighborhood tap, are scientifically designed to separate the customers from their cash.
Plus, video gaming won’t be in every gas station. We’re talking about big truck stops along interstates, many of which already look like mini casinos with dozens of poker machines that aren’t supposed to pay out, but do.
* Mark Brown takes a look at the situation in Chicago…
I oppose legalized video gambling on the grounds it’s just a sucker tax that will drain more money from those who can least afford it, although I’m finding it hard to get too far up on my high horse while we’re unable to police the illegal devices already found in many bars.
That’s probably the more reasonable approach. More from Brown’s column…
But my understanding is [Chicago] aldermen have been advised that, while there may be some ambiguity in the legal issues, the most practical way to resolve them is to go ahead and amend the ordinances so nobody comes back later and tries to use the courts to shut anybody down.
The city’s Automatic Amusement Device ordinance says such devices are illegal if they “maintain a count of payoffs,” and defines payoff as “the giving of money or other thing of value in exchange for a player’s accumulated points or free games or replays.” A separate ordinance bars individuals from possessing gambling devices. Video poker per se is not illegal in Chicago, only the use of such machines to gamble.
The mayor has previously stated his intent to enact extra unspecified safeguards before the video gambling law takes effect, which in retrospect strikes me as a way to make the other vote more politically palatable.
It’ll make the vote more palatable, but the change will also probably further limit where the games can go and which people can have them.
* Anyway, I just spent several days in South Dakota, which has legalized video gaming. The bars don’t look much different than taverns here, except for the occasional cowboy hat and Native American patrons. Most have video gaming, just like here. The difference is, the machines are legal there. Also, lots of bars and other establishments have big “Casino” signs out front, which is pretty odd, especially since their parking lots often look empty and they only have a small handful of machines. They’re hardly “casinos.”
I began talking to Harley, an employee of a different bar, when I was sitting in “The Oasis” in Rapid City, which is somewhat of a dive bar on Main Street. Harley agreed to be interviewed and gave a surprisingly balanced, fair overview of what legalized gaming has done to his town. Take a look…
* Video gambling ban could come to October vote - The Park Ridge City Council will revisit a proposed ban on video gambling at a Committee of the Whole meeting Sept. 28
