Few politicians willing to take ownership of video gambling

By year's end, thousands of bars and liquor-serving restaurants across the state are set to start rolling out video gambling machines, making Illinois one of the largest wagering states in the nation.

But while most lawmakers voted for this unprecedented legalization last year, few politicians are now willing to take ownership of the controversial expansion.

"I have no excitement about video gaming," says Gov. Pat Quinn, who signed the law and agreed with top lawmakers in closed-door meetings to back it.

Since passing the so-called law, Quinn and other top Democrats, including Senate President John Cullerton of Chicago, have blamed its inclusion as a partial funding source for a $31 billion public works package on the minority Republican leaders.

Quinn told the Daily Herald recently that House Republican Leader Tom Cross brought the idea to him as a "nonnegotiable" deal to gain GOP votes on a measure that required supermajority support in the legislature.

"I actually had to look at Tom Cross, son of a Methodist minister, and he said, 'Yes. Video gaming... for our votes we have to have video gaming,'" Quinn said.

It is an account hotly disputed by Cross and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, who claim Quinn is playing politics with the issue.

The back and forth is representative of the spot politicians find themselves in now that the lucrative gambling expansion is law and credit or blame, depending on one's opinion of video gambling, is being doled out, especially in an election season.

Since the law passed, it appears public opinion has been turning against the idea. Quinn said he demanded communities be allowed to opt out of the legalization, and so far, 62 mostly suburban towns and counties have chosen that course.

And with the primary campaign season boiling, numerous candidates for top office have criticized the law or distanced themselves from it - as is the case with Quinn himself.

Nearly all the Republicans seeking the party's backing for governor in this year's primary have blasted the legalization.

But politicians are just as happy to spend the money the slotlike machines bring in.

The state expects as many as 45,000 machines to be up and running in 15,000 locations for a total of at least $300 million in new state revenue.

Along with higher motorist fees, liquor taxes and an online expansion of the state's lottery, video gambling cash is going to fund a political treasure trove of road, transit and school construction projects.

Quinn said during his state of the State address last week, that he wanted to be the "building governor," and that he relished in the thought of cutting ribbons across the state on project after project - events that will lead up to the Nov. 2 general election.

Quinn considers the public works spending plan an economic engine, as do most lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. It has been 10 years since such a massive spending plan was approved, with year after year passing while negotiations on a new plan failed.

The pent-up demand from labor unions, construction companies, schools, business groups, transit advocates and mayors was palatable in the General Assembly when Quinn took office following the ouster of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested on corruption charges.

The pressure was so intense, state Sen. Kirk Dillard later recounted that he felt he had "a gun to my head" to vote for it even though he now says he opposes video gambling in his run for governor in the Republican primary.

Meanwhile, top Republicans who supported video gambling in the legislature last year are disputing the Democrats' attempt to blame them.

Cross and Radogno say they did agree to support it, but it wasn't a "nonnegotiable" position as Quinn claims. They point out that gambling expansion has always been on the table when it comes to funding road, transit and school construction.

Video gambling, the Republican leaders say, ended up being the one gambling measure that could gain widespread support, as opposed to a Chicago casino, slots at racetracks like Arlington Park or more casinos in other parts of the state.

"That looked to be a responsible source that could pass into law," said Radogno spokeswoman Patty Schuh. "Gaming was always on the table."

Cross spokeswoman Sarah Wojcicki said, "To go back and nitpick about whose idea was whose, I don't think is very productive."

"We said that was something we could support," Wojcicki said of video gambling before pointing out, "The Democratic leaders signed on and the governor actually signed the bill."

Quinn was particular about blaming Republicans for the measure when he was asked about one of the proposal's key lobbyists, Cook County Democratic Chairman Joseph Berrios.

Berrios also rules on property tax appeals from his other seat on the Cook County Board of Review and is running for Cook County Assessor.

Berrios endorsed Quinn in his primary campaign, swinging the muscle of the official Democratic apparatus behind him in his bid against Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes.

Quinn said he "doesn't really feel" that is a conflict of interest and he has expressed an openness to repealing the video gambling law if lawmakers can agree on another funding source to bring in as much as $300 million a year - a politically difficult move, to be sure.

Quinn did express some of the same ideas proponents of video gambling have advocated: The machines are already used illegally in countless bars and clubs. Legalization will ultimately regulate an underground business that is now dominated by organized crime. Bars, restaurant and gambling device organizations backed the proposal.

"By regulating it, there may be some positive virtue," he said.

Yet, Quinn was clear that it wasn't the merits of the proposal that gained Quinn's required signature. It was the money those machines, perhaps as many as 45,000 statewide, will bring.

"That is how to get our economy out of a ditch," Quinn said of the public works spending package. "That is how you sometimes make a decision for the greater good."