Illinois casinos catch flack for scholarship contest

Thursday, May 7, 1998 | 10:42 a.m.

Critics say the message is mixed - at best.

"It's good public relations for the casinos. It's 'We're the good guys, because we're giving the scholarships,"' said Anita Bedell, the head of Illinois Church Action on Alcohol Problems and a leading gambling opponent. "But it's also brand identification."

Christopher Anderson, executive director of the Illinois Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling, added, "There's an inescapable hypocrisy in there, and it's the same as tobacco companies going in there or the alcohol companies coming in and saying don't use our product."

Riverboat officials defend their program, called Project 21, by pointing out that it does not require any mention of the sponsoring casinos.

The legal age to gamble is 21 in most states, and casino operators can face big fines if an underage gambler is caught. But college students and teen-agers can get in, just as they've managed to buy alcohol or get into bars, with fake or borrowed ID cards.

Harrah's created the program and brought it to Illinois when it opened a riverboat casino in downtown Joliet, 34 miles southwest of Chicago, in 1993. Empress Casino Joliet began co-sponsoring the contests last year, said Harrah's spokeswoman Caroline Qualls.

The casinos hope the state's seven other riverboat operators join in. All 11 of Missouri's riverboats have adopted it.

"We're trying to get kids to actually think about, to research, to actually decide for themselves that the money that they spend could be spent on getting themselves an education, getting themselves a car, actually bettering their lives," Qualls said.

"The thrill that they may seek won't be there for them if they start to gamble too early. And too early is before you're 21."

The contest is open to area high school and college students, and for the first time this year includes a video category. This year's winners will get a $1,000 prize that can be used for continuing education. Honorable mention is worth $500.

Anderson said casinos should pay an outside group to provide education to teens about gambling's potential problems. His organization gets funding from casinos to train gambling counselors and work with compulsive gambling groups.

Part of the problem may be that while the state makes hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue off the riverboats alone, it spends little to deal with gambling's potential for social harm, critics say.

"Something is better than nothing," said the Rev. Richard Johnson, vice president of the Joliet school board. "A lot of people are ready to throw bricks and to criticize, but ante up the bucks and put up your program."