🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan06.052839.26500@uumeme.chi.il.us>, statz@uumeme.chi.il.us 
(Louis B. Del Boccio) writes:
> There are many good reasons to have casino-style gambling in this
> City. Here are but a few...

I don't feel all that strongly either way on the casino issue, but I have
problems with some of these arguments in favor of it:
 
> 1. Chicago needs the jobs to grow.

The sort of jobs offered in casinos aren't exactly conducive to "growing"
Chicago. Getting a production industry going would seem to promise more
real growth: ABC Widgets gets startup help; moves into available light
industrial building; employs xx employees; employees put out successful
product; business expands and hires more; surrounding area benefits from
increasing number of prospering employees; etc.

With a casino, its main function is to collect money, which is funneled
to its parent company, which pays off its investors, and that's about it.
It doesn't generate a product per se of any use to anyone in the immediate
area who didn't win at the blackjack table, and most of its employees are
just minimum-wage drones with little marketable skills for advancement.

> 2. Chicago sorely needs a larger taxbase to support itself, without
>    further burdening the already strained property owners with yet
>    another tax increase. 

Sure, but are we going to hear Mayor Daley announce "Due to casino income,
there will be no property tax increase this year"? Doubtful, what with
budgets always expanding to fill the amount of available funds and then some.

> 3. Gambling is already legal in Chicago, and throughout Illinois and
>    Wisconsin.  In fact there are already functioning casinos as close
>    as Milwaukee, not to mention the plethora of river boat-style
>    gambling establishments as nearby as Joliet Il (about 25 miles
>    west of the city) 

Well, so what? Are these communities living in significantly better cir-
cumstances thanks to casinos? And are their environments comparable to
Chicago's?

> 4. VFW, Moose and other fraternal organizations, as well as the
>    Roman Catholic Church, all hold regular 'Bingo' and 'Las Vegas
>    Night' affairs. 

Yes, but as low-scale tax-exempt fundraisers, nowhere near the scale of
Las Vegas-type casinos.

> On the issue on crime.. Many are worried that casinos would bring
> crime to our city.  Well.anyone can see that crime is on the
> increase and our neighborhoods are in worse shape now than in any
> recent memory and things are not getting much better.

What they're worried about is syndicate crime, infiltrating casino
management and skimming profits off the top. Crime is on the increase
in the neighborhoods, but it's not the mafioso doing carjackings and
home invasions.

> Could a casino really make things worse? on the contrary, income
> generated from a casino-entertainment center would be a boom to our
> crumbling city.

You might get _some_ income from taxes, but the majority of the funds
spent by people here would go to the casino owners, wherever they are.

> Chicago was once known as a convention and tourism center.  We have
> the world's busiest airport and for years we were the hub of night
> life in the Midwest. Lately all that has been changing. With Sun-Belt
> cities like Houston and Atlanta developing their tourism base,

We still are the hub. Where else do people in the Midwest go for a good
time? Houston and Atlanta are hardly in the same geographic area...

> If you Ban casino gambling in Chicago, you MUST also ban every OTHER
> form of gambling  " Lottery , Horse racing , Bingo and RiverBoat
> gambling. Wouldn't it just make more sense to legalize it?

Why exactly do we have to ban every other form of gambling just because
we don't need casinos? I thought you were just explaining (above) all
the good things that derive from gambling.

If casinos come to Chicago, I'll probably stop by and play a few bucks.
If they don't, well, maybe I'll go to Vegas sometime. But realistically,
let's not overdo the theoretical benefits; let's do a bit more research
and see how, say, Atlantic City is faring these days, compared to what
it was like before they got casinos there...

Andrew C. Green
Datalogics, Inc.      Internet: acg@hermes.dlogics.com
441 W. Huron          UUCP: ..!uunet!dlogics!acg
Chicago, IL  60610    FAX: (312) 266-4473