 In 2009
the state of Illinois passed video gaming laws that opened
the door for gaming machines that legally pay out money to winners.
The law mandated that existing machines that were "for
entertainment purposes only" be outlawed and business owners would
be forced to either do away with video gaming or take on the new
state-approved machines.
The original plan had been to have the old machines removed from
local establishments by the end of July this year and new machines
in their place by late summer. However, there was a snafu in the
state's bidding process for the master computer that would connect
all the machines to the state. Because of this, the new program is
on hold until possibly midyear 2011.
Bedell said this gives the city an opportunity to consider
whether or not it should pass ordinances banning the new machines.
She said that before the machines are installed, the council can
make this decision easily, but if they wait until the machines are
in place, then banning them would have to be via a referendum put on
a ballot. She said getting video gambling out of Lincoln would then
become much more difficult.
Armed with a packet of information that she passed out to
alderman and the media, Bedell went through several scenarios of
what can happen to people who become addicted to video gambling.
She noted statistics from other states and even Canada and
Australia where the machines have been legalized and used and the
dire effect it has had on many members of those communities.
She said that the machines themselves have been studied and found
to have an addictive effect through their video presentation. It
appears that the video displays have the ability to put people in a
trance-like state that prevents them from having the willpower to
walk away from them.
She referred to the machines as the "cocaine of gambling," saying
that while studies show that it generally takes up to five years to
become addicted to casino gambling, video gambling can become an
addiction in less than one year.
She cited a case in South Carolina where a mother had left her
baby in a car to quickly run into a local business, was attracted to
the machine and seven hours later came out to find that her baby had
died.
She also noted that in areas where these machines are legal,
there is an increase in crime, especially fraud; an increase in
suicides, as players lose everything they have to support their
habit; and an increase in domestic problems such as abuse, child
neglect, loss of assets and divorce.
Bedell also explained that current laws prohibit casinos from
cashing third-party checks, but the gaming law will actually
encourage businesses to do so. This means that payroll checks can be
taken directly to a gaming business, cashed and spent without ever
making it home to the family.
In addition, she explained that in California it had been
discovered that the state's welfare cards, which are equivalent to
the Illinois Link card, can be used in these machines.
"I called the Illinois gaming board and was told that in Illinois
the casinos cannot take the Link cards in their ATMs, but there is
no way to stop that from happening in the video gambling machines,"
Bedell said.
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Another issue that Bedell raised was the change in the law as it
pertains to truck stops.
The law was initially written to coincide with liquor license
laws and stated that gambling would only be allowed during the hours
when a business has the legal right to sell alcohol. However, the
truck stop rule allows those specific establishments to keep their
machines up and running 24 hours a day.
Bedell also told the council that the machines would have a
strong local following. She noted that there are many people who
won't drive to Peoria or St. Louis to a casino but would drive
across town to a video gaming establishment. Therefore the patrons'
losses that make the machines profitable to businesses and the state
would be out of the pockets of local residents.
During the discussion that followed Bedell's presentation, Mayor
Keith Snyder commented as he has in the past that the city would
receive 5 percent of the "net" revenues from the machines. He said
that $5 gained by the city would equate to $100 lost by a player.
Alderman David Wilmert asked if the city could permit the
machines with regulations attached to them and was told by city
attorney Bill Bates that the city would not have that power. He said
that as the state law is written, it is an "all or nothing"
situation.
While the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems
is housed out of Springfield, it is a statewide organization,
established in 1898. Their mission for more than 100 years has been
to address problems of addiction and work toward prevention. They
began as a faith-based organization addressing the problems of
alcoholism but have expanded their mission into drugs and now
gambling.
Snyder said that on a local level, he had also received letters
from Dustin Fulton of Jefferson Street Christian Church and Rebecca
Van Nydeggen of The Salvation Army expressing their opposition to
the new machines.
[By NILA SMITH]
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