IL Governor Prioritizes Pensions Above Gambling
Despite political support for a proposed resort casino in downtown Chicago, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has said he considers pension reform to be his top priority, coming in ahead of gambling expansion in the state.
Quinn, who took office in 2009 after former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was removed from office by a unanimous vote after attempting to sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat, has been against expanded gambling in the past and last year vetoed legislation that would have brought five new casinos to Illinois, including one in Chicago, as well as cleared the way for video slot machines at racetracks.
In an appearance on local PBS affiliate WTTW‘s Chicago Tonight, Quinn said that lawmakers needed to focus their attention on the pension issue, using a culinary metaphor to compare expanded gambling to dessert.
Quinn stated that politicians in Springfield needed “to eat our spinach and our Brussels sprouts and everything else before you can have any kind of dessert like gambling.”
Quinn’s comment earned a snappy retort from State Representative Lou Lang (D-Skokie), who fired back that Quinn was treating the matter “as if it’s some toy we’re playing with and he’s going to withhold toys from children until they eat their vegetables.”
A bill similar to the one Quinn vetoed last year has reached his desk, however he has not signed it, saying that the legislation fails to assuage his ethical concerns.
Illinois is facing a public pension system that is unfunded to the tune of $96.8 billion, a crisis the state legislature has thus far failed to resolve.
“I certainly agree that the most significant problem we have in the state is dealing with our pension system and I agree we have to get to the bottom of that. But the Illinois General Assembly is quite capable of doing more than one thing at a time,” Lang said.
In other Illinois gambling news, two companies offering online wagering on horse races to Illinois residents have been ordered to cease operation by the Illinois Racing Board.
Internet horse race wagering, known as advance deposit wagering, was permitted in the state prior to January 9, when lawmakers failed to renew the law allowing it. As a result, license renewals were declined to the four companies operating in the state.
Two of them, however, allegedly ignored warnings from the Illinois Racing Board that they would no longer be allowed to accept bets from Illinois residents. Those companies, Xpressbet, and TwinSpires, which is owned by Churchill Downs, the company that also owns the Kentucky Derby, are continuing to accept wagers from bettors located in Illinois.
When contacted by the Daily Herald, neither company commented on the matter. The Racing Board has referred the issue to the office of the Illinois Attorney General.
The situation came to light after Anita Bedell, who directs the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems, demanded that Illinois Attorney Lisa Madigan put a stop to illegal gambling activities.
Bedell said,”We need to make sure that gambling in the state is strictly regulated.”
It is not outside the realm of possibility that the state legislature could renew the law, as Internet horse race wagering brought big revenues to Illinois. The state collected $1.8 million in taxes from online wagering in 2012, with the four licensed companies having logged earnings of $122 million.
In addition to the serious budget issues facing the state, increased pressure from casinos located across state lines in Indiana have lawmakers looking very closely at expanded gaming in the state as a way of bringing in much-needed state revenue. While this story is echoed in many states across the nation, the push and pull between pro-gambling forces in Illinois and the stalwart Quinn have made this one to watch.
