Nearly a decade ago, Illinois lawmakers legalized video gambling. They hoped that the machines, which offered up electronic versions of games like slots or poker, would generate billions of dollars of revenue for the state. So they passed a bill quickly, with little debate, to expand the industry dramatically. Illinois now has more than 30,000 of these machines, and more locations to legally place a bet than Nevada. A ProPublica Illinois investigation has found that the expansion of video gambling hasn’t pulled Illinois out of debt — it’s actually accelerated it. While people in Illinois have gambled a lot more on machines that can be highly addictive, most of the additional money has ended up in the hands of a small group of companies behind video gambling.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
The problem with video gambling machines
Nearly a decade ago, Illinois lawmakers legalized video gambling. They hoped that the machines, which offered up electronic versions of games like slots or poker, would generate billions of dollars of revenue for the state. So they passed a bill quickly, with little debate, to expand the industry dramatically. Illinois now has more than 30,000 of these machines, and more locations to legally place a bet than Nevada. A ProPublica Illinois investigation has found that the expansion of video gambling hasn’t pulled Illinois out of debt — it’s actually accelerated it. While people in Illinois have gambled a lot more on machines that can be highly addictive, most of the additional money has ended up in the hands of a small group of companies behind video gambling.
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