State Representative Lou Lang (D-Skokie) is the lead sponsor of HB 3107 — a bill which will legalize video slot machines at six racetracks in Illinois — creating “racinos.” This bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Roger Eddy (R-Hutsonville) and Anthony DeLuca (D-Crete). Expanding gambling by legalizing video slot machine at racetracks will negatively affect local communities and increase gambling problems.

Take ACTION: Send your lawmakers a message to encourage them to oppose HB 3107 or any other bill to yet again expand gambling in the Land of Lincoln.

Background

Video gambling is rightly called the “crack cocaine” of gambling. There’s no skill required and studies have found that it takes approximately one year to become severely addicted, versus 4 years of other forms of gambling.

The State of Illinois has a serious revenue shortfall — but some lawmakers think that another expansion of the gambling industry will help to alleviate the political spending problems of our state. However, in order for the State to realize additional gambling revenue, the gambling industry must profit by creating thousands of losers.

As I’ve said before, it is morally indefensible for the State to approve, license and promote an industry that thrives on the exploitation of the citizens it’s sworn to serve. Creating thousands of citizen losers to increase an ill-gotten revenue stream is terrible public policy.

Gambling is no economic panacea. Gambling addictions, which increase dramatically with the creation of each new casino or racino, would contribute to the homeless problem, increases in bankruptcy, crime, suicide, domestic abuse, alcohol abuse and broken families.

It cannot be overstated — the costs of gambling far outweigh the perceived financial benefits.

In 2009, the Illinois General Assembly passed and Governor Patrick Quinn signed into law, a bill allowing liquor-serving establishments to have up to 5 video gambling machines. The bill was and continues to be highly controversial. The law allows cities and counties to pass ordinances banning video gambling machines. Eighty communities and counties have passed bans. Ironically, the city of Chicago already had such a ban.

Earlier this week, State Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) announced that he was introducingSB 17, a bill that would repeal the state’s troubled video gambling law.

Take ACTION: Contact your lawmakers to encourage them to support SB 17 to Repeal Video Gambling.

Background
Video gambling is rightly called the “crack cocaine” of gambling. There’s no skill required, and studies have found that video gambling is highly addictive. (See HERE, HERE and HERE.)

Illinois lawmakers are wrong to think that they can mitigate our state’s revenue shortfall by expanding predatory gambling. Moreover, it is morally indefensible for the State to approve, licence and promote an industry that thrives on the exploitation of the citizens its constituted to serve. Creating thousands of citizen losers to create a revenue stream is terrible public policy.

Gambling addiction is linked to bankruptcy, home foreclosure, depression, and white-collar crime, all of which lead to family stress and can lead to domestic violence, divorce, and suicide. Playing these kinds of odds against your constituents is not good public policy.

Video gambling in our state is not worth the costs to the state in broken lives and shattered families. Please take a few minutes today to do this simple call to action.

Springfield lawmakers apparently think you are not taxed enough and that predatory gambling is good for Illinoisans.

As you probably know by now, Illinois’ Democrat leaders — Governor Patrick Quinn, House SpeakerMichael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton — are proposing a plan to raise your income tax by 75 percent.

Their plan would increase the personal income tax rate by 2.25 percent (from 3 to 5.25 percent) for the next four years. They claim that two percentage points of this increase would be temporary. And despite Illinois’ anti-business reputation, their proposal would also increase the corporate tax rate by 4 percent (from 4.8 percent to 8.4 percent).

In addition to this proposed irresponsible tax increase, our lawmakers are seriously considering a massive expansion of gambling that would more than double the number of casinos in Illinois — all in an effort to feed the rapacious desires of big and growing government. Proponents claim that each proposal will raise billions of dollars in revenue for the state — $7.5 billion from taxes and $1 billion from additional gambling.

But that is not even enough to satisfy the beast. According to the Wall Street Journal, our political leaders are still hoping to borrow billions of dollars despite having the lowest U.S. state credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service.

Indeed, even as Illinois considers a tax increase, it is also considering borrowing $3.7 billion to make required pension contributions and an even larger “debt restructuring bond” to pay the state’s vendors who haven’t been paid in months, according to a person familiar with the matter.

ACTION:  Contact your legislators and ask them to vote for ‘NO’ to more gambling and ‘NO’ to new or additional taxes.

John Bambenek, a well known conservative activist from Champaign, points out:

[Springfield lawmakers] plan to increase your income tax by 75 percent and the corporate tax by 75 percent. You read that right, they will nearly double your income tax and nearly double the tax rate on businesses in Illinois. You can read more HERE at Crain’s Chicago Business.

You might think, “surely they will cut spending”. You’d be wrong. They plan to actually INCREASE spending with this plan and borrow billions on top of it. This is tax, borrow and spend at it’s absolute worst. The only ones who will make it under this plan are residents of Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri because companies have said they will leave this state with this kind of tax increase and take the jobs with them.

Lawmakers in Springfield refuse to live within the means of our current cash flow and refuse to cut the size of government. Instead they again turn to tax increases and expansion of gambling. Just how much is enough?

Increasing taxes, like expanding gambling, is counter-productive. It will adversely affect Illinois’ economy, hurt businesses and cause them to relocate out of state, and will ultimately increase the already high tax burden on families that remain in Illinois. These proposals are decidedly anti-family.

Illinois taxpayers should not continue to tolerate wasteful, bloated government.

Tell Governor Quinn and your state lawmakers to stop increasing the size of government. We do not have a tax problem — we have a spending problem!

Lame Duck legislative session resumes in Springfield…

Illinois state lawmakers are returning to Springfield for another 8 days to finish off the 96th General Assembly Session. Since this legislative session includes lame duck lawmakers, including retiring and defeated members, anything is possible.

One of the proposals making their priority list is a massive gambling bill (SB 737) that would create five new casinos in the Land of Lincoln, including one in Chicago. Sponsored by State Represenative Lou Lang (D-Skokie), this 350+ page bill would also create “racinos” — video slot machines at the state’s six horse race tracks.

In other words, adding to the 10 casinos we currently have in Illinois, residents of this state face the prospect of having 21 casino or casino-like establishments in the near future, making Illinois a top contender for the most anti-family and predatory gambling state in the nation.

Take ACTION: Don’t delay in speaking out! This and the other gambling bills are moving fast! Tell your lawmakers “NO MORE GAMBLING — PERIOD.”

The problems with gambling are not just with those who lose financially — that’s obvious — but the wider community also loses as gamblers engage in destructive behavior: they commit crimes, run up large debts, damage relationships with family and friends, and commit suicide at rates alarmingly higher than the rest of society.

Gambling is no economic panacea — even in Illinois’ big cities. It would actually add to the homeless problem, bring increases in crime, suicide, domestic abuse, and alcohol abuse while creating broken families and new addictions.

It cannot be overstated — the social costs of gambling far outweigh the perceived financial benefits.

This massive gambling bill must be stopped in the Illinois House. In the November Veto Session, the Illinois Senate passed this gambling expansion bill sponsored by State Senator Terry Link (D-Lake Bluff). If the bill does not pass in the House by noon on January 12th, state legislators will have to start from scratch by introducing this legislation again after the newly elected lawmakers are sworn in to office.

Contact your state lawmakers today. Please tell them “NO MORE GAMBLING — PERIOD.”

Read more:

Bet on casinos won’t pay off (The News Gazette)

Our Opinion: Nix illogical expansion of gambling (State Journal-Register)

Report says Vegas has world’s fifth-worst economy (Casino City Times)

SB 737 was amended in committee and passed in the Senate during the Veto Session. Sen. Terry Link, the sponsor of SB 737, told the Republicans who complained about inaction on the budget and employment that this bill would deal with both of those issues by generating a billion dollars a year in new state revenues and creating thousands of new jobs, according to Capitol Fax.

Adding 11 more casinos will not help horse racing, nor will it solve the budget and cash flow problems in the State of Illinois. It has taken over 10 years to approve and build the 10th casino license, which is scheduled to open in 2011. Remember the flawed legislation that quickly passed last year to legalize Video Gambling Act and Internet Lottery? These forms of gambling are not yet operational, with 75 communities and 4 counties “opting out” of video gambling.

Take ACTION:

1. Send a note or Christmas card to thank your Senator who voted NO on the massive expansion of gambling. (Click on the names below for contact information.)

2. Gov. Quinn told reporters he opposed “top-heavy” gaming legislation. Contact the governor to OPPOSE SB 737, a massive expansion of gambling. (Call 800-642-3112 or 312-814-2121 or e-mail by clicking HERE.)

3. Contact your State Representative in their District office Before January 3 to ask him/her to Vote NO on SB 737. (See Talking Points below.)

4. Share this Alert with your faith community and PRAY.

5. Forward to 10 others.

Pamela J. Althoff
Tim Bivins
J. Bradley Burzynski
James F. Clayborne, Jr.
Jacqueline Y. Collins
Gary G. Dahl
Dan Duffy
Linda Holmes
Dan Kotowski
Chris Lauzen
David Luechtefeld
James T. Meeks
John J. Millner
Matt Murphy
Michael Noland
Christine Radogno
Dale A. Righter
Dan Rutherford
Ronald Sandack
A. J. Wilhelmi

Roll Call: Click HERE.

Talking Points for Letter to the Editor and calls Gov. Quinn and State Representatives

SB 737 is a massive expansion of gambling that includes:

• A City owned land-casino in Chicago with 4,000 gambling positions.
• Legalizes 4 additional casinos–Rockford, Danville, Park City, and South Suburbs.
• Transforms 6 racetracks into land-based casinos with slots/video gambling.
• Creates the Chicago Casino Development Authority with the ability to use eminent domain, finance public bonds, exempt from real estate taxes, and less control from the Gaming Board.
• Pre-empts Home Rule in Arlington Heights and Chicago.
• Requires one Illinois Gaming Board member to have 5 years of casino management experience.
• Racetracks in Cook County could relocate up to 3 miles to build electronic gambling facility.

Contact your state lawmakers today.  Please tell them “NO MORE GAMBLING — PERIOD.”

We don’t want Illinois to be the #1 predatory gambling state in the nation.

Click here to view a photo of the full-page ad that was placed in The State Journal Register newspaper last week and read about the first week of the Veto Session.

Legislators are home for Thanksgiving and will come back in session on November 28. The Chicago Tribune had an excellent editorial opposing this massive expansion of gambling. (see below)

For Immediate Action:

1. Send a note to your State Representative and State Senator with a copy of this editorial, asking them to Vote NO on SB 3970, SB 3971, and ALL gambling bills.

2. Share this information with your faith community, family, friends, and those you visit during the Thanksgiving Holiday. Ask them to CALL their Legislators (            217-782-2000      ) and the Governor (            800- 642-3112      ) and PRAY.

3. Forward to 10 others.

Casinos everywhere, Chicago Tribune

November 20, 2010

“We must consult with the people who elected us before taking an action that will allow wide-open gambling throughout Illinois and affect our state’s quality of life for decades to come. You remember, as I do, our campaign pledge – made in 2002 and repeated in 2006 – to oppose any large-scale expansion of gambling in our state. …

“I hope you will join me in calling for a referendum on the proposed massive expansion of gambling in Illinois.” – Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn in a letter toGov. Rod Blagojevich, Dec. 17, 2007.

Very soon – perhaps in early December, perhaps in January – state legislators will vote on a massive expansion of gambling in Illinois. This would be in addition to the estimated 45,000 electronic terminals for legalized video gambling that already are expected to begin operating statewide next summer. Under the expansion bill now under consideration, Illinois’ number of casinos in effect would grow from today’s nine to tomorrow’s 21.

Twenty-one casinos? Plus gambling outposts in passenger-only areas at O’Hare and Midway airports? That’s not a total that the revenue-hungry legislative backers of this bill would want us to use, or want you to see. But do the math for yourself.

An expansion of this scale has one obvious goal: quick money for Springfield – the better to spare legislators from having to make serious budget cuts. But citizens ought to be concerned, and vocal, about the sheer throw-weight of this proposal and its impact on crime-fighting: Having stuck the Illinois Gaming Board last year with the huge job of rolling out and regulating video gambling, legislators would be adding yet another major burden. Overloading state regulators in this fashion would raise the risk that mob or other illicit influences would make their way into Illinois gambling.

State Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, who introduced this 338-page behemoth, has been perturbed with the Gaming Board since it decided in December 2008 to send Illinois’ 10th casino license to Des Plaines instead of … Waukegan. We wanted to ask Link if that explains why his bill specifically would eliminate the five Gaming Board members who made that decision and still serve today. (The governor would appoint replacements, subject to Senate approval.) But Link didn’t return our calls.

So we’re left with the enormity of what his legislation would permit:

– A Chicago casino and ancillary casinos at O’Hare and Midway airports. Total gambling positions: 4,000.

– Four more new casinos at Park City (near Waukegan), Rockford, Ford Heights and Danville. By 2015, each could have 2,000 positions.

– Illinois’ nine existing casinos, plus the 10th slated to open in Des Plaines, could now be land based. And they could grow from today’s 1,200 positions each to 2,000 positions each, also by 2015.

– The state’s six horse-racing tracks could add a total of up to 6,300 slot machines. For now, at least, tracks would not have table games. These six track-based casinos – in industry parlance, “racinos” – could operate 19 hours a day not only on their own racing dates, but also on any date when their tracks conduct simulcast wagering on horse races run elsewhere in the U.S. The Illinois Racing Board says the Illinois tracks are open for simulcasts as many as 365 days a year (Christmas included). Thus the six racinos, like the state’s other 15 casinos, could operate year-round.

– The Balmoral and Maywood tracks could, with Racing Board approval, relocate to nearby locales.

– State tax rates on slot machines would decline. A spokesman for Senate Democrats told us that, in theory, awarding more of the take to casino owners would encourage them to install the additional machines the law permits.

So where does that leave Illinois? A state that today has 10,800 operating gambling positions at nine casinos would, by 2015, authorize 38,300 positions at 21 casinos. And there’s talk of accelerating that schedule in an effort to grab more revenue faster. Add to that those 45,000 or so video gambling terminals that come online next summer.

If this isn’t what Pat Quinn had in mind when he worried about “an action that will allow wide-open gambling throughout Illinois and affect our state’s quality of life for decades to come,” we don’t know what would be.

What’s more, as we noted last Sunday, Link’s proposal violates a basic law of economics: Gambling revenue declined nationwide last year, and a new state report says revenues in the just-finished fiscal year dropped to the lowest level since 2001. Yet some Illinois lawmakers think falling demand justifies an expansion of supply.

Think what you will about the morality of gambling. We’ve long supported casino wagering, and strong regulation to keep the industry here clean. But this expansion would make Illinois government too reliant on gambling revenues. We hope legislators will reduce expenditures rather than hitch the state’s already desperate finances even tighter to an industry that has been contracting.

Most of all, we hope Gov. Quinn retains the skepticism he already has displayed when asked about this proposed expansion.

Governor, if legislators send you this expansion bill or something like it, read your own 2007 letter and follow your advice. You were right.

Help expand our reach
by forwarding this email to like-minded family and friends.

Click HERE to make a donation to the Illinois Family Institute.

Gambling interests and lawmakers are working behind closed doors on a massive expansion of gambling that will triple the amount of casino gambling in Illinois:

• Land-based casino in Chicago, with more than twice as many gambling positions (4,000)
• 3 additional casinos in Lake County (Park City), Danville, Ford Heights (3,600 positions)
• 6,300 video gambling/slot machines at 6 racetracks in Arlington Heights, Maywood, Balmoral, Hawthorne, Quad-City Downs (East Moline), Fairmount (Collinsville)
• 800 more gambling positions at existing and new casinos (10,400 more gambling positions)
• Allocates money to County Fairs to conduct wagering on horse racing
• All riverboats may become land-based casinos

Two gambling bills could be voted on during the upcoming Veto Session, which starts next week! The first bill (SB 3146) transforms the six racetracks into land-based casinos by legalizing video gambling and slot machines. Local people could gamble on the machines 365 days a year, not just when live horse racing occurs. The experience in other states is that 90 percent of the revenue comes from the gambling machines, not from betting on horses. The second, larger bill, the massive expansion of gambling described above, has something for all the gambling interests.

The racetracks and horsemen held a Rally [recently], and they are personally contacting State Legislators to emphasize this is a jobs bill. We need you to also make personal contact by visiting or phoning your State Legislators to emphasize the HARM and jobs that will be LOST with a MASSIVE EXPANSION OF GAMBLING.

Note: One net job is lost each year for each operating electronic gambling device/slot machine. (U. S. International Gambling Report)

Take ACTION:  Contact your state lawmakers today. These gambling bills could move very fast during the VETO Session!

Please tell them “NO MORE GAMBLING — PERIOD.”

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) is about to make a billion dollar decision to which most of us haven’t paid much attention. For months, consortiums and companies have been working behind the scenes to become the jackpot winner of a prize that will set an international gambling precedent.

Illinois is soon to become the first in the United States to turn over its state lottery operations to a privately-owned company. How this experiment progresses will undoubtedly set precedent for the gambling industry, one that will change how states and countries operate their lotteries.

So last week, when the governor’s office indicated his very own Pick 2 choices on the finalists, Northstar and Camelot Group, you can bet two international lottery managing companies were very interested.

The first is Lottomatica, a gambling consortium based in Italy that runs two-thirds of the world’s lotteries. A few years ago, Lottomatica bought up a lottery specializing company called GTECH for over four billion dollars. GTECH and its associated company Scientific Games currently operate Illinois’ lottery and instant ticket games. Northstar, one of Quinn’s finalists, is the company under which GTECH and Scientific Games operate in Illinois.
Camelot Group was Quinn’s other finalist pick. Camelot Group is owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund and runs the United Kingdom’s lottery. Taking over the day-to-day task of overseeing Illinois’ lottery would be the pot ‘o gold at the end of Camelot Group’s rainbow.

The legislature decided last year to turn over day-to-day operations to an outside company and they bestowed that decision on Governor Quinn. How would you advise him?

First of all, it’s a little unseemly that both of the Governor’s choices for managing and marketing the possible $2 billion Illinois Lottery project are owned by non-American companies. Are there no wholly-American companies qualified to take on the job?

Secondly, good government groups have questioned the Governor’s mysterious selection process. Illinoisans were not told which companies bid on the project. We were told only the top two finalists.

Why? Making the bidding process more transparent may have tainted the process, the governor’s office said.

Being we’re from Illinois, it seemed natural to scan the Illinois Board of Elections’ website to see if any of the interested companies had recently made campaign contributions. We found Scientific Games, part of the Northstar Group, gave $10,000 to Rod Blagojevich in December 2004. But GTECH, also of Northstar, gave most of its campaign donations to Republicans, including $7500 to the Illinois Republican Party itself during George Ryan’s administration.

While those donations may have helped Northstar land their current relationship with the Illinois lottery system,they may not have much effect on Quinn’s pending decision, but state records won’t show any recent contributions until we get closer to November.

There were no Camelot Group contributions to any Illinois candidates or political organizations listed in the state board of election’s online records.

But the Camelot Group admitted they are more interested if the federal government allows lottery sales on the internet, opening Illinois lottery sales to international gamblers, thus making it the first state to sell lottery tickets to Third World countries.

Frankly, that’s really what lottery management and marketing companies are pushing to happen. The argument is that there are non-American gambling enterprises already online, and although online gambling is a violation of federal law, it is available via offshore-based websites now.

Why shouldn’t American gamblers also have access to internet lottery tickets?

It’s always been disturbing to be caught in line at the 7-11 behind a sweet little old lady who’s spending a portion of her Social Security check on lottery tickets. It’s even more disturbing when you hear her good intentions to buy Stars and Stripes tickets to help veterans. But if Camelot Group and other entities pushing for internet lottery sales get what they want, Widow Smith won’t need to make her way to the neighborhood convenience store or gas station to throw away her precious dollars. She’ll be able to directly transfer her Social Security funds to an online gambling account.

It’s distressing no matter which way you cut it. But forgive me, I never saw how the lottery helped education in Illinois like we were promised it would. Let’s not be fools. We won’t benefit like we’ve been promised. It will be the international shadow people that benefit from our dramatic shift to gambling dependency.

I talked with the only anti-gambling lobbying group in Illinois about their thoughts on the governor’s pending decision. They were frustrated because their hands are tied. Quinn will not reveal which companies bid and what their plans were. His office denied their Freedom of Information query about who he picked to serve on his advisory committee.

When Governor Quinn announces his lottery operation choice on September 15, know that unless something drastic takes place this week, we may never know how he made that billion dollar decision for the rest of us.

And sadly, Illinois’ laughing stock reputation will be reinforced once again. You can bet on it.

Senate Bill 744 was sent to the Governor on June 25. Governor Patrick Quinn (D) has 60 days to sign SB 744 and HB 4927, which was sent to the governor on on June 17. These bills legalize non-stop video gambling at truck stops 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and Penny bets that prey on the poor and vulnerable to keep them gambling. HB 4927 also contains provisions to allow those who have been operating illegal gambling machines to qualify for a license as long as they have not been convicted of gambling, which is rare in Illinois.

Although a governor’s spokeswoman says it’s still under study, Crain’s Chicago Business reported HB 4927 is expected to be signed. The question is whether it will actually prolong board investigations instead of streamlining them. “Are we going to say, ‘It’s wonderful you’ve been operating an illegal activity for years?'” {Illinois Gaming Board Chairman} Jaffe says, “If we’re limited in that way, you’ll have a licensing scandal in three to five years.”

If you have already made calls to the Governor, please ask others to do so. We must “turn up the heat” as the election nears. Illinois has just overtaken California as the worst credit risk among American states. Expanding gambling will cause more harm and debt to Illinois residents. (Read more HERE.)

Take ACTION: Our last effort to stop these bills is to appeal to Governor Quinn who promised not to expand gambling when he originally ran for Lieutenant Governor. Click HERE to send Gov. Quinn an email or a fax to ask him to veto these bills.

More Action:

1. Call the governor’s office and ask him to VETO HB 4927 and SB 744. Toll free:             800-642-3112      , Springfield:            217-782-0244      , or Chicago:             312-814-2121      .

2. Share this Alert with your faith community.

3. Write a Letter to the Editor asking the Governor to VETO the video gambling expansion bills. (For more information click HERE.)

4. Forward this email to 10 others.

Dear Friends,

Elected officials in the Village of Niles are hosting an Open Meeting to discuss an ordinance to ban video gambling machines within city limits. The meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday, June 30, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Village Hall, 1000 Civic Center Drive. Input will be welcomed from Niles citizens and Niles businesses.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email to Niles Mayor Robert M. Callero to encourage him to vote in favor of banning video slot machines in Niles. You can also call the Mayor’s office at            847-588-8000      .

Please follow up by emailing the six Village Trustees (listed below) as well.

Chris Hanusiak cjh@vniles.com

James T. Hynes jth@vniles.com

Joe LoVerde jvl@vniles.com

Louella Blaine Preston lbp@vniles.com

Andrew Przybylo atp@vniles.com

Andrew Przybylo adweel@vniles.com

Background

The Illinois General Assembly passed and Governor Quinn signed into law, a bill allowing liquor-serving establishments to have up to 5 video gambling machines. The law allows for cities and counties to pass ordinances banning these. Dozens of communities and counties have already passed bans, thereby preventing local family restaurants from turning into mini casinos. Video gambling is rightly called the “crack cocaine” of gambling. There’s no skill required and studies have found that it takes approximately one year to become severely addicted, versus 4 years of other forms of gambling.

The State of Illinois has a serious revenue shortfall which they think they can fix by expanding gambling, but in order for the State to profit, it needs to create thousands of losers. Is this good public policy? Hardly! With the potential of an increase in gambling addictions which lead to bankruptcy, divorce and even suicide, state lawmakers and the Governor have done Illinois residents a great disservice.

Thank you for speaking out on this important family issue!

Sincerely,

David E. Smith
Executive Director

P.S. Get more of my political and cultural commentary on my personal Facebook page HERE.

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Apparently our Illinois state lawmakers are not satisfied with the current saturation level of gambling opportunities in Illinois. Nor are they apparently satisfied with the fact that they have already approved gambling expansion to a point where Illinois now has the potential of having more gambling positions than the state of Nevada.

In its final weeks of session, the Illinois General Assembly passed yet two more bills to expand gambling. Obviously, the predatory gambling industry, working with a complicit Illinois legislature, will not be satisfied until every opportunity to exploit the poor, the needy and those prone to gambling addictions are in every community and neighborhood throughout the state.

Take ACTION: Our last effort to stop this bill is to appeal to Governor Patrick Quinn who promised not to expand gambling when he originally ran for Lieutenant Governor. Click HERE to send Gov. Quinn an email or a fax to ask him to veto these bills.

You can also contact the Governor by phone at 800-642-3112.

Background

House Bill 4927, which was amended and then sponsored by State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) and State Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan) in the Senate, allows video slot machines in truck stops. To see how your State Senator voted on this bill, click HERE. To see how your State Representative voted on this bill, click HERE.

Senate Bill 744, which was sponsored by State Senators Terry Link (D-Waukegan), Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) and Iris Y. Martinez (D-Chicago), eliminates the provision that video gambling machines could not be located within 1,000 feet of an existing Off Track Betting (OTB) parlor, racetrack, or casino. This will allow even more alcohol retail establishments to qualify for a video slot machine license, and a larger number of video gambling machines could be legalized.

According to our friends at ILCAAAP, this bill legalizes video gambling machines in Off Track Betting parlors that lease space in sports bars. Over half of the current OTB parlors are leasing space in bars.

By law, the Illinois Racing Board can issue 12 more licenses for OTB parlors. If SB 744 is signed into law, the race tracks will seek to open these OTB parlors and locate them within 100 feet of colleges, day care centers, and pre-schools. Then they will come back and ask the legislature to pass legislation so every OTB parlor in the state can have video slot machines to be “fair”.

To see how your State Senator voted on this bill, click HERE. To see how your State Representative voted on this bill, click HERE.

Please take a few minutes today to do this simple call to action. In this election year and with a tough anti-incumbent attitude prevelent in the state, Gov. Quinn would be wise to listen to the people of Illinois. There is simply no demand to further expand gambling from the voters.

By Leslie Bernal –Stop Predatory Gambling

BERNIE MADOFF picked the wrong line of work. Even though his Ponzi scheme eluded investigation for a long time, he would not be sitting in a North Carolina jail today if he had gone into casinos and lotteries – the most effective something-for-nothing scheme ever devised.

What other commercial venture besides a casino makes its money from the heavy financial losses of its clients? What other entity besides the Lottery is exempt from truth-in-advertising laws so it can deceptively dangle the prospect of life-changing riches?

And what other business would still be operating today if its core product was designed to get every user “to play to extinction” – until all their money is gone – by using technology that has been labeled a “high-tech version of loaded dice”? These observations are from research findings of Natasha Schull, associate professor in MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society, who has testified three times before the Legislature.

As a gambling operator, Madoff would have evaded nearly all scrutiny because many well-intentioned people know almost nothing about the business practices behind casinos and lotteries, the “products” and “services” they offer, or the marketing behind all of it. They do not regularly visit casinos or frequently use the Lottery.

If they did, they would learn that casinos and lotteries are the most predatory business in America today. The business model is based on people who are addicted or heavily in debt, which explains why Harrah’s found that 90 percent of its gambling profits come from the financial losses of 10 percent of its visitors, according to Christina Binkley’s book, “Winner Takes All.” Matthew Sweeney, author of “The Lottery Wars,” found that in some states 70 percent of lottery sales comes from the financial losses of 10 percent of its users.

To make so much money from so few people, gambling operators rely on such practices as issuing loans to drunk patrons or using casino staff to act as “hosts” to lure out-of-control gamblers back into the casino after they have left. The Lottery pushes $20 scratch tickets and speeds up its Keno games to every four minutes so people will lose more money at higher wagering amounts at faster speeds than ever before.

To keep the focus away from the real questions about how their business works, gambling interests have spent $12 million in Massachusetts promoting a fictional “jobs, revenues, and inevitability” narrative over the last decade. If every legislator on Beacon Hill was outspent 5 to 1 during his or her campaign, never mind 500 to 1, nearly all of them would lose reelection regardless of their merit. Yet we allow casino operators to tout polling numbers as genuine evidence of public support, despite their incomparable spending advantage. The latest Globe poll showed casinos clinging to support from 52 percent of those polled. In the modern annals of political history, is there any other individual or group that has spent so much for so long with so little to show for it?

Even the prodigious spending of gambling interests, however, cannot hide the most revealing truth of all: this is a product or service that the people who own it and promote it do not use. Nearly every leader of the three constituencies who advocate for casinos and the Lottery – gambling operators, labor union officials, and political officeholders – has publicly acknowledged they rarely lose their own money in casinos or on Lottery tickets.

Yet they still push the “jobs” message. Bernie Madoff employed people and he produced a lot of revenue but who believes his kind of phony prosperity is the right direction for our state and for our country? After a decade of housing bubbles and financial speculation, the era of casino capitalism is over.

A vote for casinos is not a vote for jobs. A vote for casinos is a vote for a something-for-nothing scheme that veils the most cut-throat business in the country. But above all else, a vote for casinos is a vote about who we are as a people.

Leslie Bernal is the executive director of Stop Predatory Gambling and a resident of Lawrence.

I am convinced that some of our state lawmakers are addicted to the idea of gambling as an indirect tax and revenue source. Last week we alerted you to three other bills which would greatly expand gambling in Illinois.

Lawmakers have introduced a new bill, and it looks like it is on a fast track to passage before the end of this week. An amendment to HB 4927 will legalize penny slot machines, round-the-clock video gambling at truck stops, and allow video gambling operations near day care centers, pre-schools, youth centers, community colleges, and universities.

Take ACTION: Don’t delay in speaking out! This and the other gambling bills are moving fast!  Contact your lawmakers an email or a fax to tell them “NO MORE GAMBLING — PERIOD.”

Our friends at ILCAAAP also tell us that there may be a new bill for slots at the racetracks being worked out and could come out later today. This could transform Illinois’ 6 racetracks into land-based casinos.

A Second Level of Concern

On page 14 of this amendment, “school” is defined to mean “an elementary or secondary public school, or an elementary or secondary private school registered with or recognized by the State Board of Education. “School” does not include a day care center or a home school. [Emphasis added.]

Illinois law has traditionally recognized home schools as private schools. By specifically not including home schools in the definition, our lawmakers are setting a dangerous precedent that could lead to the erosion of home education liberties. This is completely unacceptable.

Springfield lawmakers are again pushing a number of bills that would expand predatory gambling in Illinois. With the construction of the state’s 10th casino underway in Des Plaines and the passage of legislation that would allow up to 5 video slot machines in neighborhood establishments where liquor is served, Illinois will potentially have more gambling opportunities than any other state in the nation — including Nevada!

But state lawmakers want more. It would seem that the state is not doing enough to exploit and steal from the very citizens they are to serve.

• SB 3146 allows OTBs (Off Track Betting Parlors) near pre-Schools, day care centers, community colleges, trade schools and universities.
• SB 744 expands gambling by allowing round the clock video gambling at truck stops-24 hours a day, 7 days a week! The bill also allows PENNY bets on video gambling machines.
• State lawmakers are also trying to work out an agreement for slots and video gambling machines at racetracks. (See story HERE.)

Take ACTION: This is your chance to speak up before it’s too late and before it’s rammed through the legislature in back room deals!  Send your lawmakers an email or a fax to tell them “NO MORE GAMBLING.”

The problems with gambling are not just with those who lose financially — that’s obvious — but the wider community also loses as gamblers engage in destructive behavior: they commit crimes, run up large debts, damage relationships with family and friends, and commit suicide at rates alarmingly higher than the rest of society.

Gambling is no economic panacea — even in Illinois’ big cities. It would actually add to the homeless problem, bring increases in crime, suicide, domestic abuse, and alcohol abuse while creating broken families and new addictions.

It cannot be overstated — the social costs of gambling far outweigh the perceived financial benefits.

Dear Friends,

Elected officials in the City of Rockford are planning to vote on an ordinance to ban video gambling machines within city limits. The proposal goes to the full Rockford City Council on January 11th, with a vote expected on January 18th at 6 p.m. at Rockford City Hall (425 East State Street).

There are 5 Aldermen whose positions are unknown. Please contact Rockford Mayor Larry J. Morrissey and your Alderman before Monday and try to attend the meeting. Bring your neighbors. Your presence will make a huge impact on the vote.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email to Mayor Morrissey and the five Aldermen (listed below) to encourage them to vote in favor of the video gambling ban.

Click HERE for additional information on the harms of gambling.

Rockford Aldermen:

Joe Sosnowski (R) – Ward 1

Patrick Curran (R) – Ward 2

Karen Elyea (D) – Ward 11

John Beck (R) – Ward 12

Bill Robertson (I) – Ward 14

Background

The Illinois General Assembly passed and Governor Quinn signed into law, a bill allowing liquor-serving establishments to have up to 5 video gambling machines. The law allows for cities and counties to pass ordinances banning these. Over 50 communities and counties have already passed bans, thereby preventing local family restaurants from turning into mini casinos. Video gambling is rightly called the “crack cocaine” of gambling. There’s no skill required and studies have found that it takes approximately one year to become severely addicted, versus 4 years of other forms of gambling.

The State of Illinois has a serious revenue shortfall which they think they can fix by expanding gambling, but in order for the State to profit, it needs to create thousands of losers. Is this good public policy? Hardly! With the potential of an increase in gambling addictions which lead to bankruptcy, divorce and even suicide, state lawmakers and the Governor have done Illinois residents a great disservice.