CWA of Illinois Says Casino Gambling always a “Bad Bet”      4/23/2008

Palos Heights, Illinois -- Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Illinois stands strongly opposed to any expansion of gambling proposals in Illinois because gambling hurts and exploits families.

The human toll on communities where casinos are located is well-documented, and the damage to families, including women and children, is an established fact of social science. Health-related issues, harm to women, family conflict and abuse, domestic violence, financial strains, divorce, a link with substance abuse, increased crime, homelessness, and even suicides as a result of gambling addictions have been studied and reported.

On January 24, 2007, for example, a 33 year-old Minooka, Illinois, man said he robbed a Marseilles bank to pay for gambling debts. In December, 2006, former Maple Park Village President Mark Delaney was one of eleven who pleaded guilty to illegal gambling charges after a raid on a local tavern in Kane County in 2004.

Former Pekin, Illinois, Mayor Lyn Howard, 68, used a credit card to rack up nearly $4,000 in gambling losses over three days in 2004. Prosecutors said he used the city-issued card to receive about $1,400 in cash advances to gamble at the Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria; his conviction was appealed.

Professor John Kindt, from the University of Illinois in Urbana, at an April, 2006, U.S. House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security hearing, testified that gambling costs society $3 for every $1 of benefit.

Professor Kindt has also noted that “the number of addicted gamblers doubles around the gambling facility.”

Also, more women gamble than men. Women who are problem gamblers have a two to three times higher incidence of substance dependence than other women according to one report. A Harvard Medical School report found that gambling disorders were “significantly more prevalent among young people.” And gambling participation among the oldest segment of our population has grown dramatically – from 35 percent in 1975 to 80 percent in 1999, according to another report.

Just a few years ago, the late U.S. Senator from Illinois, Senator Paul Simon, related this true story. His mother was a member of a Lutheran church in downstate Collinsville “that had a fine substitute teacher” at its school. “Unknown to the teacher’s family, she had been visiting a gambling boat,” the senator said. “Money the family thought had gone to pay the rent and family bills had, instead, gone into wagers. One day, she left a message for her family, drove her car to a shopping center and killed herself.” The cost, of course, is never to just that one family. This teacher’s death certainly impacted her students, as well as friends and neighbors. It should affect all of us as well.

The hidden costs of legalized gambling can affect even the occasional gambler. An upstanding member of the community can get carried away in a social gambling situation, lose a whole paycheck, and send his family into financial turmoil. The experience of guilt after causing this kind of harm to the family can have serious mental and physical effects.

President Lyndon Johnson once said, “The family is the cornerstone of our society…unless we work to strengthen the family, to create conditions under which most parents will stay together, all the rest—schools, playgrounds, public assistance and private concern—will never be enough.” CWA agrees we need to be vigilant in finding ways to strengthen families in our state, including current and continuing efforts to oppose legalized gambling, casino or otherwise, which undermines family stability.

The facts are in. Gambling hurts and exploits families. No amount of short-term revenue will ever change or justify that fact. Gambling with Illinois families is always high-stakes and always a bad bet. CWA of Illinois opposes any expansion of legalized gambling in Illinois and supports efforts to rid our state of this gambling scourge.

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