The list of local governments opting out of video gambling has lengthened to 221 municipalities
The gaming industry's many influential registered lobbyists know that video gambling is so unpopular in Illinois that it generally can't survive public hearings and open debate.
Chicago presents the industry with a different challenge. In order to permit video gambling, it looks to us as if the City Council would have to cast an affirmative vote to override the current ban.
State lawmakers sneakily fast-tracked it as a way to cover one-third of the cost of retiring state bonds for a $31 billion capital spending plan
Legislators could scale back the size of their capital plan, or they could find a better way to pay for it. The worst option: leaving the current law untouched.
Each time a local government opts out of video gambling, as the Cook County Board ought to do Tuesday, the folly of exploiting poor people who'll patronize this industry to pay for new roads becomes all the more obvious.
Click on the following for the full editorial: Choking video poker -- chicagotribune.com
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