House District 50 GOP hopefuls: Gambling no fix for budget
Looking to taxes on video blackjack or expanding casino gambling aren't good solutions to the state of Illinois' spending problems, according to three Republicans who want to be the next 50th House District representative.
State Rep. Kay Hatcher of Yorkville voted "no" last spring on the state budget deal that legalized video gambling, with the state's cut of fees and taxes going to support spending on capital projects such as roads.
Hatcher does not believe gambling is a consistent revenue stream on which to base any sustained program.
Furthermore, the expansion could hurt the legal gambling already taking place in the 50th District, she says. The Hollywood Casino on the Fox River in downtown Aurora is in the 50th District. The Grand Victoria Casino in downtown Elgin, while not in her district, funnels money to the Kane County Riverboat Fund, which is spent on projects and programs throughout the county. The 50th District is in Kane and Kendall counties.
"There are a finite number of people who enjoy gaming," she said in a Daily Herald questionnaire, "and my guess is that any new venues would simply dilute the existing clientele, spreading it among more diverse areas and dropping the revenues of existing avenues."
Opponent Bob McQuillan of Geneva also says he is against expanding gambling. "The projected revenue from gambling never goes to where it is supposed to go. Why should the taxpayers believe it will this time?" he said. Residents have complained for more than 30 years that when the Illinois Lottery was approved in 1973, it was sold on the idea that it was going for education. But the lottery legislation actually just specified lottery money go in to the general fund, which supports education. "We've been fooled by this too many years," McQuillan said, both in Illinois and in Pennsylvania, where he used to live.
He also thinks that the projected revenue from video gambling isn't enough anyway to fix the budget hole. "It is a very small drop in the bucket for what they need," he said Monday.
And the state's cut of the proceeds "is just another tax for people that enjoy that kind of entertainment," he said.
Keith Wheeler of Oswego, also seeking the Republican nomination, said in his questionnaire that "continual expansions" of gambling is not a long-term solution. "Before we expand any revenue sources, we have to truly reform our spending issues right now," he said Monday.
He also thinks video gambling or allowing more casinos is something of a philosophical slap in the face to efforts to treat gambling addictions, and says he has a lot of questions about the regulation of video gambling that lead him to not support it. However, depending on the specifics of a Chicago casino proposal (such as if the money were to be dedicated to eliminating state support for the Chicago Transit Authority), he might vote for that.
"We are already a very expensive state in a very competitive environment. Revenue to the state grew rapidly in the earlier part of the decade. Our leaders in Springfield just accelerated spending even more rapidly over that time and now we have to face the problem," he said, calling for cuts in spending instead to erase deficits.
The primary is Feb. 2.