Saturday, April 29, 2006
Racetrack Subsidy - So Lame
Horse racing in Illinois was the first government-regulated gambling enterprise.
Favored individuals were given regional gambling monopolies. They were called racetracks.
It was so corrupt a process that former Democratic Party Governor Otto Kerner was convicted and sent to jail.
(The conviction was overturned after he died, but Congress enacted subsequent legislation that affirmed the theory used to convict Kerner. Bill Barnhart, Kerner co-biographer with former State Rep. Gene Schlickman wrote a fascinating history of this in Sunday’s Tribune.)
Then, about 1990, competition in the form of new regional gambling monopolies--benignly called riverboat casinos--were granted. Of course, insiders got to invest this time, too, but no one has gone to jail yet.
The racetrack owners howled at the loss of revenue to the more exciting electronic money grabbers.
(Actually, the call I received asking for my support for a similar bailout from Barrington Hills resident and constituent Richard Duchossois in the late 1990’s was quite urbane. I can understand how this soft-spoken man has been so successful.)
First, they wanted to be allowed to turn their tracks into mini-casinos, asking for the most profitable gambling device—slot machines.
When they couldn’t get that, they went for a straight subsidy.
Today’s Chicago Tribune story tells of the legislature passing a bill to force the casinos to subsidize the racetracks by $32-$35 million a year.
It will be interesting to see if Governor Rod Blagojevich will sign the bill. He got a lot of free airplane rides during his 2002 campaign from racetrack owners.
We know he broke his promise not to accept donations from gambling interests.
The Tribune article’s headline is
Favored individuals were given regional gambling monopolies. They were called racetracks.It was so corrupt a process that former Democratic Party Governor Otto Kerner was convicted and sent to jail.
(The conviction was overturned after he died, but Congress enacted subsequent legislation that affirmed the theory used to convict Kerner. Bill Barnhart, Kerner co-biographer with former State Rep. Gene Schlickman wrote a fascinating history of this in Sunday’s Tribune.)
Then, about 1990, competition in the form of new regional gambling monopolies--benignly called riverboat casinos--were granted. Of course, insiders got to invest this time, too, but no one has gone to jail yet.
The racetrack owners howled at the loss of revenue to the more exciting electronic money grabbers.
(Actually, the call I received asking for my support for a similar bailout from Barrington Hills resident and constituent Richard Duchossois in the late 1990’s was quite urbane. I can understand how this soft-spoken man has been so successful.)
First, they wanted to be allowed to turn their tracks into mini-casinos, asking for the most profitable gambling device—slot machines.
When they couldn’t get that, they went for a straight subsidy.
Today’s Chicago Tribune story tells of the legislature passing a bill to force the casinos to subsidize the racetracks by $32-$35 million a year.
It will be interesting to see if Governor Rod Blagojevich will sign the bill. He got a lot of free airplane rides during his 2002 campaign from racetrack owners.
We know he broke his promise not to accept donations from gambling interests.The Tribune article’s headline is
House gives horse racing a leg up,but I think it’s just lame.
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The St. Louis Post Dispatch (May 1) examined the 70 House members who voted for the racetrack subsidy and the 32 who voted No. The Yes voters average 5 times more in campaign donations from racetracks than the No voters. In addition, the tracks are bigger donors overall than the casinos. I'm sure all the Yes voters would indignantly proclaim no relationship between donations and votes.
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