Video poker critics talk to Kane Co. task force
Gambling opponents and two unusual pieces of advice from other county boards injected more doubt on the benefits of expanding gambling in Kane County than the task force studying the issue had heard yet.
The county task force on video gambling had reported a mostly positive response from the community, but Wednesday in its final public hearing it got a mostly negative response both from within the county and outside it.
The hourlong hearing featured comments from several religious groups, a medical doctor and even a former Cook County police officer all opposed to a gambling expansion.
"It does not look like economic development to me," said the Rev. Al Patten. "It looks like economic rape."
Patten spoke of the increased social costs of additional policing, gambling addiction, increased crime, more broken homes, more suicides and a flood of bankruptcy cases for local courts to deal with. All of those were fears often repeated by the opponents throughout the hearing.
Dr. F.P. Johnson, of Loyola University, said his main concern is the exposure young people will have to the bright lights and thrills of winning money in an environment that resembles the video games they're already fond of.
"That's the kind of inoculation I don't want my grandchildren to receive," Johnson said.
But perhaps the most unusual opposition came with the appearance of DuPage County Board member Brien Sheahan and Cook County Board member Bridget Gainer.
Sheahan delivered a request for Kane County to ban video gambling. Sheahan said the request came on behalf of the entire DuPage County Board and its chairman, Bob Schillerstrom.
Sheahan told the task force DuPage County banned video gambling because its "quality of life is not for sale." He said he expects the individual communities in DuPage County will all follow the example of the DuPage County Board.
Gainer told the task force the income gains for government from a gambling expansion are an illusion. She painted a picture of local main streets with legalized video gambling as: "strip mall, currency exchange, payday lender, video poker." Gainer said making a social ill legal doesn't make it desirable.
"There's lots of things that are out there anyway," Gainer said. "That doesn't mean we want to invite them into our neighborhoods."
Task force Chairman Jesse Vazquez said he appreciated the comments from the other counties, but said Kane County is unlike DuPage in that it already has legalized gambling in communities that are unlikely to ban video gambling.
The task force will meet again on Sept. 30 to vote on a recommendation it will forward to the full county board.
Gaming: Task force will vote on recommendation next week
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