Gambling news from http://www.belleville.com/
If you want to bet on a sure winner, bet that Illinois politicians sooner or later will announce that more gambling is the solution to our state's financial problems.
George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich, after campaigning for governor on promises to oppose any expansion of gambling, changed their minds after they were safely in office. Gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka is changing her mind sooner.
In the spring Topinka said she opposed new forms of gambling. But last week she unveiled a plan for a land-based casino in Chicago and expanded gambling positions at existing sites.
That prompted Blagojevich to proclaim he opposes any expansion of gambling. How hypocritical. He unsuccessfully lobbied for keno in restaurants and bars and more gambling positions at existing casinos as ways to reduce the deficit. Now his plan is to sell the state lottery to a private company.
It's unfortunate that Blagojevich and Topinka want Illinois to become even more dependent on gambling than it already is. Both of them obviously realize this is not a sound revenue source for the state; that's why they at least occasionally oppose the expansion of gambling. But when pushed to come up with a way to generate more money for Illinois, they resort to ideas that seem unimaginative and desperate. Is gambling the best they can do?
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