Gamblers and Illinois

Readers,

We have discussed gambling on the blog before, during the aldermanic election. Many people think its an easy way to generate revenue contrary to recent documentation by other nearby casinos with weak bottom lines. There is all sorts of evidence to demonstrate gambling doesn't do much for local economies, and in fact, can do more harm then good. That said, it looks as though Chicago will get its one casino, soon. Governor Quinn, cautious about gambling, and rightly so, given its grand history with nefarious mob characters, has re-appointed Judge Aaron Jaffee to the Illinois Gaming Board. This is a great move and I hope state legislators approve his appointment. I have listened to Judge Jaffe speak on many occasion, and he KNOWS the gaming business and won't tolerate any monkey business. He knows if graft and corruption are re-connected to gambling in Illinois in any way, casinos are over.

Gamblers and Illinois


October 26, 2011
Last week, Gov. Pat Quinn dropped one cleated boot on the legislative wise guys who keep trying to use casino expansion bills to gut state oversight of licensed gambling. The governor said unequivocally that he will veto any such legislation. That includes the bill passed May 31 that, among other travesties, would let Chicago's City Hall regulate much of a city-owned casino and specifically would ban Illinois State Police from having an anti-crime role at that facility. The legislators who inserted those foolhardy provisions need to confess publicly.Late Monday, Quinn dropped the other cleated boot on legislators as they gathered in Springfield for their fall veto session: He reappointed Judge Aaron Jaffe as chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board, which on Jaffe's six-year watch has kept Illinois' 10 casinos free of scandal. Quinn didn't rub the reappointment in the face of lawmakers who hear the word "gambling" and think "easy revenue" rather than "potential for organized crime." But the Springfield wise guys surely got Quinn's timing and his unspoken message to them: As you plot gambling expansion, know that I want Jaffe. Unlike you, he puts integrity first.

The governor's imperative here isn't just a paean to good government. Quinn understands what Jaffe understands but many legislators clearly do not: Word of a crime problem at any Illinois casino would immediately drive away gamblers, devastate the industry statewide � and choke the revenue stream that last year poured $466 million into state and local government treasuries. No bettor who even suspects that a state's casinos are rigged will patronize them.All some legislators evidently can grasp is that Jaffe takes this business of protecting Illinois gambling too seriously to suit them. They moan that his agency hasn't yet rolled out the video gambling they unfortunately legalized in 2009, even though preparing to license and regulate some 45,000 gambling terminals statewide is a mammoth task for the Gaming Board. The 409-page casino expansion bill legislators passed this year would force the board to issue provisional licenses to video gambling applicants before the board has time to finish its investigations.This sort of petulance is common with gaming packages. In November 2010, we explained that state Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, sponsor of an expansion bill then under discussion, had 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 tried to ask Link if that was why his bill specifically would fire the five Gaming Board members who made that decision and still served. But Link didn't return our calls.So don't be surprised if Jaffe finds long knives sharpened when his reappointment comes before the Illinois Senate for confirmation. Bring it: We cannot wait to see which senators choose to speak or vote against Jaffe and his proven protection of casino integrity. That record includes his board's decision, citing concerns about criminal influence, to keep that 10th casino license out of Rosemont. We're also grateful to the board members who stood fast with Jaffe long after their own terms expired: Joe Moore Jr., Charles Gardner, the Rev. Eugene Winkler and Judge James E. Sullivan, who departed in April. On Monday, Quinn appointed their replacements: Maribeth Vander Weele, Lee Gould, Michael Holewinski and Z (Zaldwaynaka) Scott.Welcome, newcomers, to a world in which two past governors (see Ryan, George, and Blagojevich, Rod) tried to steer decisions of a Gaming Board that is supposed to operate independently. We hope each of you will squawk, loudly, if a pol ever tries to squeeze you.Any effort to inject politics into casino oversight doesn't only threaten the integrity of legalized gambling. It also threatens the revenue gamblers give to Illinois.