Gambling’s cost to families is ignored

Absolutely despicable! The fact that the new Rivers Casino in Des Plaines was caught promoting its vice to struggling gambling addicts is outrageous. How else can we describe Rivers’ attempt to lure vulnerable victims to the lair?

Rivers specifically targeted people who recognize they are problem gamblers — people who have voluntarily put themselves on a self-exclusion list to be kept out of gambling establishments. There are thousands on this list.

This isn’t really a big surprise; after all, the gambling industry is built on greed and exploitation. Thanks to complicit state lawmakers, gambling has been allowed to expand across the state and nation, so much so now they’ve saturated the market. If casinos want to stay afloat, they need plenty of losers, so their new targets are self-identified addicts.

Since state lawmakers approved the casinos, giving their imprimatur to these exploitative games of chance to get their share of the booty, does it really matter who they target or exploit? As long as the state and gambling industry get their ill-gotten cut, it doesn’t matter how much it costs the families and legitimate businesses of Illinois.

David E. Smith

Executive director

Illinois Family Institute

Carol Stream