To the surprise of no one, other than Dick Daley is gone...
Chicago casino to be approved. HEY! How about putting it on this vacant island?
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TMetzinger
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And, HEY, you could put an airport around the slot machines!
ScottM
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iBazinga!
When I read that yesterday in the Trib I just knew that Meigs was gonna be a casino site. All we need now is the official announcement. It has been a long time coming and what this state really needs is another place for people to gamble. After all gambling is a tax on those poor at math and what better place to put a casino is in the middle of the CPS! Should get plenty of business from the people that think they can get rich off of 98% payoff slots.
steingar
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It took four tries, but they finally got their casino here. It got voted in on the promise of jobs and revenue.
I hate it. Yeah, you get a short-lived construction boom. But the nut is only so big. For every SOB who walks in an blow his wad on craps, there's one less SOB drinking at a bar, eating at a restaurant, or going to the movies. For every dealer, there is one less bar maid, or chef, or waitress. And the profits wind up going to fabulously wealthy individuals who have likely never stepped foot in the state being drained of capital by said casino.
Abe Lincoln was wrong. You can fool all the people all the time. The casino owners have done it. And they must be laughing their asses off. I hate the whole thing.
I hate it. Yeah, you get a short-lived construction boom. But the nut is only so big. For every SOB who walks in an blow his wad on craps, there's one less SOB drinking at a bar, eating at a restaurant, or going to the movies. For every dealer, there is one less bar maid, or chef, or waitress. And the profits wind up going to fabulously wealthy individuals who have likely never stepped foot in the state being drained of capital by said casino.
Abe Lincoln was wrong. You can fool all the people all the time. The casino owners have done it. And they must be laughing their asses off. I hate the whole thing.
sba55
En-Route
I didn't think IL could go even farther downhill. There's just too many reasons not to visit now. It all starts at the airport with all their banners with claims far removed from reality, like "Major Dick welcomes you to Chicago" and "O'Hare - the BUSIEST airport of the world!". Yuck.
Yep, I've noticed a definite degradation in American society since the proliferation of gambling. I think Atlantic City and Nevada along with horse racing and the state lotteries was about the right level. Everybody can play the lottery, you can take a quick road trip with your buddies and play the ponies and you take a vacation to go gamble for real. It kept the gambling "in check" so to speak. Now you have such easy access to it in so many places that you see a lot more poor people in the casinos playing with their last $100 because "that wasn't enough to make it till the next check anyway, might as well try to win some with it."
But in fairness, gambling is not a "tax on the poor" really, because there's a hell of a lot of really rich people drop a hell of a lot of money at casinos.
But in fairness, gambling is not a "tax on the poor" really, because there's a hell of a lot of really rich people drop a hell of a lot of money at casinos.
JeffDG
Touchdown! Greaser!
Most casino games and all lotteries are a tax on people who are bad at math.
I don't see them as a tax at all because nobody has to participate.
If you are reasonably good at math and statistics, you can make money by handicapping horses, there is a good bit you have to learn though to do it effectively.
The lottery isn't gambling for most people. Most people get an entertainment service spending some time dreaming lottery dreams at a buck a pop... Hard to buy that kind of entertainment for a dollar.
steingar
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Gambling is and always has been a voluntary tax on stupidity.
ScottM
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iBazinga!
Gambling is a tax on those poor at math.
jtheune
Ejection Handle Pulled
More accurately some gambling is a tax on those who are poor at math. Those games that are based on chance are rigged to give the house the odds over time. Those games where you are playing against another player (s) like poker don't fall into the same category.
And a casino, like most pie-in-the-sky-promise developments is a fraud. It offers very few jobs in the first place and it's guaranteed when the heat settles and nobody's looking they get a deal to not only pay no taxes, but to keep any sales tax money themselves.
Item: Illinois just paid Motorola to stay and other companies like Sears are making moaning sounds to get a similar deal. The tax deal says the executives don't even have to pay the (recently raised) income tax. That's the deal that Boeing got.
Item: Illinois just paid Motorola to stay and other companies like Sears are making moaning sounds to get a similar deal. The tax deal says the executives don't even have to pay the (recently raised) income tax. That's the deal that Boeing got.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Colorado uses Lotto money to pay for prisons. Self-fulfilling prophecy?
Even better, all their TV ads and radio ads say "Lottery" pays for parks and recreation.
Note the subtle distinction... "Lotto" vs. "Lottery"... the little scratch games pay for the parks. The big money stuff pays for prisons and/or goes into the General Fund for politicians to use for all sorts of tomfoolery.
Ingenious Marketing campaign. I've told countless folks about the Lotto going to the prisons and they look at me like I'm crazy -- they've heard all those touchy-feely advertisements about how "Lottery pays for your State Parks" for so many years, they just don't even get the difference.
Even better, all their TV ads and radio ads say "Lottery" pays for parks and recreation.
Note the subtle distinction... "Lotto" vs. "Lottery"... the little scratch games pay for the parks. The big money stuff pays for prisons and/or goes into the General Fund for politicians to use for all sorts of tomfoolery.
Ingenious Marketing campaign. I've told countless folks about the Lotto going to the prisons and they look at me like I'm crazy -- they've heard all those touchy-feely advertisements about how "Lottery pays for your State Parks" for so many years, they just don't even get the difference.
Similarly, the lottery in Illinois was sold with "ALL revenue will go the schools!" It does. And then since the schools subsidies that were paid by the state don't have to be, that money in the general fund is freed up to go to our pals.
Craps table is the only place in the house where you get a bet with an even break with the house. In general though, you are correct, in the end, the house wins.
The best way to make a living gambling is horses but it's more work than a real job.
steingar
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Not hard at all. Just watch the veterinarians.
JeffDG
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You can tilt Blackjack in your favour too, within the rules, but the House tends to dislike that, and exercises their option not to play with you!
John Baker
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John Baker
You can live off welfare, if you know how to play the game.
You can live off the ponies, if you know how to play the game.
You can live off unemployment, if you know how to play the game.
You can live off casino gambling, if you know how to play the game.
You can live off the taxpayer, if you know how to play the game.
If you really know the game, you can live off the suckers, and do really well.
All of the above " occupations"have one thing in common, they produce nothing.
For every winner, there are probably more than a hundred losers.
Yup, building a better America, that's what it's all about.
John
You can live off the ponies, if you know how to play the game.
You can live off unemployment, if you know how to play the game.
You can live off casino gambling, if you know how to play the game.
You can live off the taxpayer, if you know how to play the game.
If you really know the game, you can live off the suckers, and do really well.
All of the above " occupations"have one thing in common, they produce nothing.
For every winner, there are probably more than a hundred losers.
Yup, building a better America, that's what it's all about.
John
SkyHog
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Everything Offends Me
You've never played Casino War, have you?
Anyway I look at it, its a 50/50 odds game. I also don't think it'll be around for long.
SkyHog
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Everything Offends Me
No you can't. You can tilt Blackjack to be less in their favor (damn you foreigners, there's no U!), but not into your favor, unless you're talking about using mirrors. Card counting is easily overcome by using the electronic shoes, and busting hand technique is really just a means to help shift the odds LESS toward the house. But even counting, in a pure sense with single hand decks and no electronic shoes only provides the slight possibility of an upper hand. Remember those burnt cards between hands?
That's what I usually play. At worst I can play for several hours with a 7 hand minimum stake, call it $40 these days. Usually I'll make a little money. You also have to use betting discipline as well as odds/hit/stand rules. Most people are poor gamblers though. My mate on my last boat Padge, he was a sorry soul at the Roulette wheel....
EdFred
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My brother is convinced he always makes money by betting 5 4-corner positions in roulette.
wsuffa
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Mike A:
As long as they don't propose to put it next door to you in place of the senior housing!
As long as they don't propose to put it next door to you in place of the senior housing!
Mike A:
As long as they don't propose to put it next door to you in place of the senior housing!
It would be an improvement, if not for an even worse parking problem.
Amazingly, I think a casino developer would be more ingenuous.
A casino and a titty bar, no better neighbors to be had. You can retire because they will pay you off not to complain about the inevitable nuisances.Mike A:
As long as they don't propose to put it next door to you in place of the senior housing!
Are you kidding? They would build a parking garage that will handle their business and some, the community could probably get use.... "Yeah, if you can't find parking close, just park at the casino..."
OkieFlyer
En-Route
We've got Indian casinos out the wazoo here in OK. They have built many over the past few years, and it's amazing (in a bad way) to see how many people are becoming addicted to gambling. Very sad to me. In a short time, I've seen gambling wreck families, ruin relationships, cause bankrupcy, etc. A few days ago I noticed the old men that hang out at the donut shop talking about how much they won or lost at the casino instead of talking about politics and the weather like they used to. From what I've seen, casinos are detestable institutions and you should do what you can to keep them out of your state. They always say that a portion of the earnings are going to some worthy cause, but trust me, even if they are being truthful, it aint worth it. Just my 2 pence.
Yep, the proliferation of gambling has had an overall negative impact on American society.
steingar
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Agreed. But its is backed by really big money, so expect to see it in a municipality near you.
denverpilot
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FTFY. :-(
There is no lack of morals, everyone has them, they may just not be your morals.
bbchien
Touchdown! Greaser!
It may be the other way around, too......
Jay Honeck
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Iowa (where we lived for 13 years, till 2010) is a great example of how gambling becomes a noose.
- It started with a proposal for riverboat gambling. Who couldn't support that? Paddle-wheelers plying the Mississippi River, loaded with Mark Twain-types playing cards! Best of all, the proceeds (not "profits") would go to schools. Political ads proliferated. "It's for the children!"
What's not to like?
- Then, it became too expensive for the boats to leave shore. Gas prices, you know. We understand -- you only have to leave shore once a day, now.
- Then, they waived the requirement to leave shore at all. Maintenance on those big paddle-wheelers is so expensive!
- Then, organized crime (the real power behind gambling, BTW) discovered that Iowa didn't necessarily have rivers in the best spots for casinos. Since the law was written that the casinos had to be built on boats, they simply dug a big hole, filled it with water, and built their casinos on floating barges. Now they could put them almost anywhere.
- Then someone realized that the definition of a "boat" was that it "floats". So, they built the next casino on giant bags full of water. No more need for a big hole full of smelly water that needed constant attention! It looks just like a regular building, and is probably very earthquake resistant.
- Then, the legislature, realizing how silly it had all become, gave up the whole "boat" sham. Casinos can now look like, well, casinos everywhere.
It took a couple of decades, but organized criminal bosses -- working with the legislators they own -- show more patience than most heads of legitimate industry.
End result? At last count (and it's probably higher now) there were 19 casinos across Iowa -- a state with fewer people in it than the city of Chicago.
Nineteen!
This has changed Iowa -- and Iowans -- forever, IMHO. And not for the better.
Just one quick example of how the tide has changed there. The attitude in politics during our tenure in Iowa changed dramatically, from "Everyone deserves a fair shake" to "I'm getting mine, so eff-off!". Payola schemes, corruption, tax breaks for well-connected "businessmen" -- all have come to the fore in a state where this was formerly unknown.
Coincidence, perhaps -- but I doubt it.
denverpilot
Tied Down
I'm kinda with Dr B on this one. No one makes anyone go to a casino. We all choose what we do with our time.
Camel's nose in the tent. In an amazing coincidence that's exactly how it went in Illinois, too. The boat will leave the dock and the gambling sessions will be limited to nn hours until the boat didn't have to leave thr dock and the sessions never had to end. Add in there will only be 7-9-12-15-18 casino licenses and none near Chicago because this is to improve the economy of poor downstate towns, until now we'll build "one one": casino IN Chicago. HAHAHAHAHAHA
I making a vain attempt to warn my town that the developer who SCREAMED, "WE PAY OUR TAXES!" always, always, always, eventually applies as a poor non-profit to get a waiver from paying any taxes. The town taxpayers get to pay for the services their residents use.
Man is weak, gambling has been forever, it's like alcohol, pot and hookers, been there through all of recorded history. The difference is access. Casinos give you access to lose everything very easily. Couple people said it's "a tax on stupidity" and that is not correct. What it is is an exploitation of human weakness, and that's what makes it wrong.
Normal gambling in a community that does not have a casino: $1-$5 Lottery, $1-$5 on the football/sports pool at work/bar... a game of poker with the stakes and limits set appropriate to the group playing so everyone has a chance and no one leaves in their underwear...$20 each on the Triple Crown runs.... He doesn't really have access to turn himself into a pauper. Even a bookie will tell someone, "you can't afford that bet".
The Casino though makes access to full out gambling much easier. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really anti gambling, I do gamble. I just think it was better when Casino Gambling was a destination holiday for the average person while providing the degenerate gambler a place to live and gamble segregated in the desert or New Jersey where his disease can't spread
. I think everyday access to full on gambling is to great a temptation for too many.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Similar to Internet Addiction.
Some of us here may suffer from that terrible malady.
The country suddenly seems full of weak-willed people who can't make decisions about their lives. Seems to be popular to defend them as victims too. Makes people feel better -- as if they were fixing the problem -- I think.
That or perhaps "the casino was too accessible" is a convenient excuse?
Dunno. I was taught you never gamble with money you can't afford to lose. I doubt there's a single gambler who hasn't heard that line. So I have a hard time blaming the casinos.
(One could argue that Indian casinos are an interesting form of Karma, even. Or "turnabout is fair play".)
Whether they apply this well-known wisdom, I'd say is pretty much up to them.
Some of us here may suffer from that terrible malady.
The country suddenly seems full of weak-willed people who can't make decisions about their lives. Seems to be popular to defend them as victims too. Makes people feel better -- as if they were fixing the problem -- I think.
That or perhaps "the casino was too accessible" is a convenient excuse?
Dunno. I was taught you never gamble with money you can't afford to lose. I doubt there's a single gambler who hasn't heard that line. So I have a hard time blaming the casinos.
(One could argue that Indian casinos are an interesting form of Karma, even. Or "turnabout is fair play".)
Whether they apply this well-known wisdom, I'd say is pretty much up to them.
Similar to Internet Addiction.
Some of us here may suffer from that terrible malady.
The country suddenly seems full of weak-willed people who can't make decisions about their lives. Seems to be popular to defend them as victims too. Makes people feel better -- as if they were fixing the problem -- I think.
That or perhaps "the casino was too accessible" is a convenient excuse?
Dunno. I was taught you never gamble with money you can't afford to lose. I doubt there's a single gambler who hasn't heard that line. So I have a hard time blaming the casinos.
(One could argue that Indian casinos are an interesting form of Karma, even. Or "turnabout is fair play".)
Whether they apply this well-known wisdom, I'd say is pretty much up to them.
I don't care about them, I care about me. Broke ass stupid people commit crimes, those crimes have victims, they are the victims of casinos, not the weak willed moron who always thinks he'll make it up in just one good win. I could give a rat's ass if you just cleanse them from the gene pool, but society won't do that either. Before they were in places like Laughlin, Vegas or Reno, some in AC, now they are everywhere.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Ahh ok, I see where you're going with this.
Crime does have a tendency to be more widespread (read: closer) as the menbers of any society make more and more excuses for their (bad) personal behavior.
Crime does have a tendency to be more widespread (read: closer) as the menbers of any society make more and more excuses for their (bad) personal behavior.