ILCAAAP Gambling Alert - No More Gambling!

www.ilcaaap.org

The owners of Arlington Park closed the racetrack 18 years ago, saying that competition from casinos was killing horse racing. Two years later, under Governor Ryan, the Horse Racing Act was amended to subsidize horse racing by reducing or eliminating taxes. Duchossois led the drive by track owners for at least $67 million in annual tax breaks and subsidies as compensation for business siphoned off by Illinois riverboats, according to the Chicago Tribune,

The racetracks have been lobbying for years for slot machines. Now, the tracks want table games and slots to transform their facilities into full-blown casinos. Legislators are led to believe this will "save horse racing" and agriculture jobs. However, this is not true. The number of "live" racing days has been reduced at all tracks and eliminated altogether at two.

Illinois Racing Board pulls plug on Balmoral and Maywood Racetracks
Balmoral had sought to race on Friday and Saturday nights from January through November and Maywood on Friday and Saturday nights from November through December. However, Hawthorne Race Course, which had not conducted harness racing since 2008, will get those race dates.

After unsuccessfully fighting to eliminate Hawthorne's spring thoroughbred meets for the last four years, Arlington International Racecourse formed an alliance with its former adversary and the tracks made a joint presentation to the Illinois Racing Board.

Hawthorne agreed to give Arlington a portion of the host track money it receives from out-of-state simulcasts, and Arlington supported Hawthorne's requests for the two harness meetings and its usual spring and fall thoroughbred meetings. Read more:

Transforming racetracks into land-based casinos will not "save horse racing" but it will make wealthy track owners richer and greatly expand the number of casinos in Illinois.

For immediate action:

1. Contact your State Senator and State Representative to tell them NO MORE GAMBLING. 
2. Contact the Governor and tell him NO MORE GAMBLING! (Phone: 217-782-0244 or 312-814-2121) 
3. Share this Alert with your faith community and ask them to PRAY. 
4. Forward to 10 others.

Video Gambling Update

St. Charles on verge of legalizing video gambling

How St. Charles went from 'no' to 'yes' on video gambling

Elmhurst revisits video gambling ban

Palos Hills Votes No To Video Gambling Cafes

Video slot machines spin through some suburbs - The turnaround was due to new members joining the City Council and the council heeding the opinions expressed by local business owners, who felt they were at a disadvantage because neighboring communities were allowing them in businesses that serve alcohol.