[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                ``IS GAMBLING EXPANSION NEVER-ENDING?''

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, municipalities, States, Indian 
reservations, and other entities are desperate for funds, so desperate 
that more and more are looking to gambling as a source of revenue.
  We know from our own history that there are problems with that, 
exactly how serious the problems are and to what extent we should view 
this as a serious problem for the future, I do not know.
  I do believe it is a subject that ought to be examined and is not now 
seriously being examined.
  Recently, my hometown newspaper, the Southern Illinoisan, had an 
editorial titled, ``Is Gambling Expansion Never-Ending?''
  It asks some questions about the State of Illinois that we should be 
asking around the country.
  We cannot expect governments to forego a desperately needed source of 
revenue, but we also have to recognize that we are creating some future 
problems for our Nation.
  I ask to insert the editorial into the Record at this point.
  The editorial follows:

                  Is Gambling Expansion Never-Ending?

       If electronic gambling really attracts bettors to the 
     tracks, then how long will it be before horse-racing becomes 
     an afterthought to the track owners, who now are de facto 
     casino operators? If that occurs, then horse-racing as we 
     know it may no longer exist anyway.
       In the never-ending quest for more and more gambling, 
     there's a proposal afloat to put video poker games and slot 
     machines at racetracks to help the horse racing industry 
     compete with riverboat casinos.
       Whao! Hold your horses. It's time to stop this upward 
     spiral of anything-goes-to-make-a-buck gambling.
       Represetatives for racehorse owners and other racetracks 
     told a legislative panel recently that riverboat gambling has 
     severely cut into their profits since its introduction in 
     1990. The legislature currently is studying proposals to add 
     more licenses for riverboats.
       The horse-racing industry has also opposed casino gambling 
     in Chicago on the grounds that it would further erode the 
     ability to make money.
       We recognize that horse racing is the grandaddy of Illinois 
     gambling and that it helps support agriculture in downstate 
     Illinois. But at some point, someone has to develop the 
     intestinal fortitude to say, ``the buck stops here.''
       Givig racetrack operators more gambling tools to compete 
     with other sources makes little sense. It only continues 
     escalating the promise of easy money. And that easy-money 
     appeal that grabs the gambler also grabbed a lot of our state 
     officials along the way.
       The horse-racing industry makes a valid point when it says 
     that riverboats have an unfair advantage over racetracks 
     because they can operate 24 hours a day all year. The answer 
     isn't to go hog-wild with yet another tier of gambling in the 
     state.
       Horse-racing interests complained in 1986 that the lottery 
     was hurting them. Tracks then received tax cuts and the 
     ability to operate off-track betting parlors. Now riverboats 
     are the villains. Perhaps a combination of revising some 
     restrictions that exist, plus the horse-racing industry 
     itself developing comprehensive marketing strategies, would 
     serve us better than new toys. If electronic gambling really 
     attracts bettors to the tracks, then how long will it be 
     before horse-racing becomes an afterthought to the track 
     owners, who now are de facto casino operators? If that 
     occurs, then horse-racing as we know it may no longer exist 
     anyway.
       While many lines have been crossed in the continuing spread 
     of gambling, that doesn't mean a total abandonment of 
     standards. And those standards don't necessarily have to be 
     grounded on morality.
       More to the point is the state's willingness to promise 
     grandiose results from ``just one more'' form of gambling. 
     Heck, we've saved education with the state-run numbers 
     racket; we've saved tourism with riverboat gambling; and we 
     may yet save Chicago with some sort of expanded casino 
     gambling. Surely, we must be fair and save horse-racing as 
     it's existed for 100 years.
       The state has yet to realize that the gambling revenue is 
     finite. If we put electronic gaming at horse-tracks, that 
     vicious circle will only continue. Maybe riverboat gamblers 
     will want to wager on animals racing around the decks.
       Proponents of all these different measures see dollar 
     signs. More money if we expand, the end of this or that 
     industry if we don't. It's time to call a bluff or two and 
     figure out exactly what the stakes are before we're in over 
     our heads.

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