MORE GAMBLING NOT THE ANSWER FOR STATE

IN FISCAL YEAR 2000, people in Illinois spent $1.5 billion on the state's
lottery games. Riverboat gamblers were an even more active lot last year,
with the adjusted gross receipts on the state's nine riverboat casinos
totaling nearly $1.66 billion.

One would think the more than $3 billion in gaming activity would satisfy
Illinois' penchant for gambling. Apparently not.

State Sen. Walter Dudycz, R-Chicago, is proposing legislation that would
legalize, regulate and tax video poker machines. Dudycz's proposal would
essentially create thousands of miniature casinos across the state of Illinois.

Proponents of this potentially massive increase in legalized gaming in
Illinois are trying to sell the idea wrapped in a couple of warm and fuzzy
arguments - it's good for small businesses and it's good for school kids.

THE CONTENTION that small businesses would benefit is the stronger of the
two arguments. A study conducted by Joe Wilkins, a professor in the College
of Business and Management at the University of Illinois at Springfield,
indicated that legal video poker machines would assist up to 20,000 small
businesses in Illinois.

Wilkins notes that legalizing, regulating and taxing the machines would
also help to eliminate the illegal versions of these devices that operate
in many taverns and other businesses today.

"This would be a significant impediment to organized crime," said Wilkins.

Of course, the exact same logic can be applied to the legalization of
marijuana, or heroin, for that matter. In fact, the state might make even
more off that. And gaming addiction experts will tell you that gambling can
cause problems every bit as serious as those caused by drugs.

PROPONENTS OF THE measure argue that it is a way to spread the wealth.
Currently, only the 10 communities with riverboat casinos receive the
lion's share of the gaming benefits in Illinois, they note. This would
allow just about any tavern or other interested small business in the state
to put in three video poker machines and start raking in the profits.

But opponents say what Dudycz's plan really would spread statewide would be
the pain and problems associated with gambling. The opponents have a
federal analysis of gambling expansion on their side.

A report issued two years ago by the National Gambling Impact Commission
said that "convenience gambling, such as electronic devices in neighborhood
outlets, provides fewer economic benefits and creates potentially greater
social costs by making gambling more available and accessible."

While the bill does not say the money would be earmarked for education,
already some proponents are starting to beat that tired drum. By now most
Illinoisans are smart enough not to be swayed to approve more gambling with
the promise that the proceeds will bail out public schools. The numbers
simply don't work.

THE ILLINOIS LOTTERY truly does send a lot of money to the Common School
Fund - $515 million in fiscal year 2000 to be exact. But guess what? That
still is less than 10 percent of the state's total contribution to schools
and only about 3 percent of the total $17.3 billion spent that year from
all sources - local, state and federal - on public education.

We can't look to gambling to significantly improve education funding in
Illinois, and unless we are committed to putting Las Vegas out of business,
we also would be foolish to expect it to provide widespread economic gain
to the state.

Given the many negatives associated with gaming, whether legal or illegal,
Dudycz is asking the state to take too much of a gamble.