Casino regulators to learn about compulsive gambling

James Webb

Monday, May 1, 2000 | 3:43 a.m.

CHICAGO - Illinois casino regulators will take a crash course on compulsive gambling, motivated by concerns that state government has ignored the problem and may have made it worse with a 1999 law allowing riverboat casinos to remained docked.

In a day-long public hearing starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the state's James R. Thompson Center, the Illinois Gaming Board expects to hear thumbnail testimony from more than 20 researchers, addiction counselors, casino industry officials, anti-gambling activists and other experts.

Topics include: defining and identifying gambling disorders; the scope of the problem; factors that affect compulsive gambling; and efforts to address the problem.

"I think some people will view this as 'It's against gaming,' but I think our role as a regulator is to maintain the integrity of the gaming board and the system," Gaming Board Chairman Gregory C. Jones said. "You're not just cheerleaders (for gambling), you want to see it succeed .... But if there are some consequences to that, maybe you should look at that and see if there's something you can do."

Jones is a prime motivator behind the first such board meeting since riverboat gambling began in 1991, but he says he has the support of his fellow newcomers on the five-member regulatory panel - all have been appointed by Gov. George Ryan within the past year. Jones has been struck by the stories of problem gamblers, and by the fact that Illinois is alone among the Midwest's riverboat gambling states in not providing state funding on the issue.

Although Illinois also has a lottery and horse racing tracks, compulsive gambling concerns have focused on the casino industry. Those concerns were heightened last year when state lawmakers eliminated cruising requirements for the nine riverboat casino operations, allowing continuous access for gamblers. Casino revenues, along with state and local gambling taxes, have skyrocketed since the move.

Gambling critics say more gambling means more problems, and they are pushing for restrictions on access to cash and credit at the casinos, an idea opposed by casino operators. Ryan has advocated the removal of automatic teller machines from casinos, but the idea has gone nowhere in the Illinois Legislature. Lawmakers also failed to allocate $2 million from the state's share of casino taxes for a compulsive gambling initiative Ryan supported this spring.

Rockford minister Tom Grey, head of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, said a hearing without action by the board or legislature would be a sham.

"This board has got an opportunity to come back and say, 'Hey, dockside gambling has maximized profits, but it's also maximized pain and we have to do something about it,"' Grey said.

The Illinois Casino Gaming Association, which represents eight of the nine casinos, wants to highlight what the industry is voluntarily doing - such as funding a statewide compulsive gambling help line since 1996.

The industry also supports funding compulsive gambling programs out of existing state taxes on gambling, said Tom O'Donnell, head of the association and general manager of Harrah's Joliet casino.

"Our biggest concern at this point in time is to make it extremely clear to the citizens of Illinois that we truly understand that a small percentage of patrons ultimately have difficulties and we want to be on the leading edge of assisting those folks," O'Donnell said.