With the Crystal Lake City Council again being courted by local liquor serving establishments for permission to install slot machines, the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems organization sent me gambling losses from December, 2014, though May, 2014.
The total for the period is $18,603,977.81.
That’s money which could have been spent on goods and services.
Losses (rounded to the nearest thousand dollars) in gambling establishments by jurisdiction follow:
Algonquin – $673,000- Cary – $56,000
- Fox Lake – $4,270,000
- Fox River Grove – $754,000
- Huntley – $824,000
- Johnsburg – $1,868,000
- Lake in the Hills – $540,000
- Lakemoor – $577,000
- Marengo – $1,193,000
- McCullom Lake – $360,000
- McHenry – $3,295,000
- McHenry County – $914,000
- Port Barrington – $822,000
- Richmond – $496,000
- Ringwood – $126,000
- Spring Grove – $397,000
- Union – $58,000
- Woodstock – $1,419,000
The money people lost follows:
Cal
Good report on what was lost but what was the income to the county?
Read the official report at Hammerand.com
See the report listed as video gaming tax
In Huntley one of those establishments that has video gaming is the American Legion.
I am sure that many of the folks who use the Grafton Food Pantry are the same who lose their grocery money gambling.
Any reason Harvard was left off?
The numbers for McHenry County do not match what is on the State web site.
The State web site shows $1,363,905.31 in gambling losses and a net revenue for the County of $68,198.90 from the beginning up to the end of July 2014.
Buttons…it’s appears obvious that you have no idea what you are talking about.
Those that “lose” their money at the AL are the same folks that support the Food Pantry…ask Betty Zirk!
it looks like two extra months of revenue – May 2014 to July 2014.
One of the saddest events of my primary campaign was finding out that an elderly woman who was in McHenry County Public Housing and receiving a food allowance from Public Aid was selling her food allowance for cash for Video Gaming and then going to her neighbors, begging for food as she had nothing to eat.
You will note that my numbers don’t go through July.
I did not prepare the table.
Cal
The Church Action numbers you posted match $ for $ to the official county numbers for the current year
And to the numbers posted for the year at http://www.igb.illinios.gov/video
The State site just has more Current data in that it includes June and July $
Cal, I have to admit you really do seem to find some interesting things posted on your blog.
I don’t subscribe to the NorthWest herald.
However, I don’t recall seeing anything related to this topic posted online on their webpage.
Thank you for the data, I found it very interesting.
Interesting… Betty Zirk is tied to the American Legion that benefits from the gambling proceeds and she is also tied to the Grafton Food Pantry that feeds those who gamble away their money that should be used to buy groceries. Isn’t she an elected official?
To suggest that any government should have the authority to forbid/criminalize gambling is absurd!
Gambling may be a problem for some and a harmless pastime for others…
In any case it is NOT the governments role to forbid it.
The hypocrisy is staggering to hear some complain when government seeks to pass an ordinance prohibiting us from parking our RV’s/boats on our property, yet those same folks then condone government encroachment by telling us we are forbidden to gamble??
Do those we elect to govern us know what’s best for all of our lives or don’t they?
Should those who we elect to govern us be able to dictate what we do with our money,time and property or shouldn’t they?
And if gambling is to be forbidden, how is it that they discern between slot machines, video poker, and, say, lottery tickets/scratch-offs/lotto/powerball, etc??
Either gambling is criminal or it isn’t!
Bottom line, It is not for any government to decide whether or not anyone should be able to gamble, be it video poker, slots, or lottery tickets…
But, I’m just one of those crazy people that like to live my life… cause no harm… and be free to live my life unmolested…
Gee, Patrick. Where did anyone say anything like that?
This is a tsk, tsk tsk report.
Has nothing to do with the soapbox you are on.
Patrick: Legalized gambling is simply a tax on the poor.
Do you think Buffet, Gates, Rauner, Quinn, Franks, Durbin, Zuckerburg spend any time on Video gaming machines?
Be careful what you wish for….
It concerns me greatly when those who would otherwise speak out for “Less/Limited Government” or against the “unconstitutional actions” of governments, later flip and suddenly welcome government encroachment under the guise of “protecting us from ourselves”.
We either want the government to tell us how to live, or we do not… We say it is none of the govt’s business if we park our boat on our property… we say it is none of the govt’s business if we carry a firearm… but, then we ask the government to create a law forbidding us from spending our money at a poker machine?
Don’t kill the messenger, folks, but that IS HYPOCRISY!
As far as legalized gambling being deemed a “tax on the poor”… you may perceive it that way if you wish, but if it is a tax, then it is at least a voluntary tax. But, that would still beg the question… Why are all the lotteries still legal? or Church Bingo”s??
You simply can not create laws based on subjective views or morals.
Hi Cal, I´ve read almost all your articles from http://mchenrycountyblog.com/category/slot-machines/ category.
Although slot incomes and revenues are huge, you need to look for a trend.
Gambling was many many years gold mine – Las Vegas, Monaco, Macau..
Your figures are not so big like in Las Vegas, but BUT, in this time of internet age, everything moves here – social relationships, dating, shopping, and
even gambling!
So if we talk about Las Vegas Sands example:
On a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) basis, operating income in the first quarter of 2015 decreased 37.8% to $711.1 million, compared to $1.14 billion in the first quarter of 2014.
Net income attributable to Las Vegas Sands in the first quarter of 2015 decreased 34.0% to $511.9 million, compared to $776.2 million in the first quarter of 2014, while diluted earnings per share in the first quarter of 2015 decreased 32.6% to $0.64, compared to $0.95 in the prior-year quarter(http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/las-vegas-sands-reports-first-quarter-2015-results-300070490.html)
The reason is (and you need to look at whole case from this point of view), you can play popular casino games online, and even for free!
I looked up for any example – on the site http://freeslots77.com/, millions of people can play around 500 slot games FOR FREE and on the website http://slotsmax.com/ (it is very ugly website) you can play almost 1000!! And if you want, you can find many online casinos, where you can play for real money.
And the last think – the most of the gambling companies are off-shore companies, so why not keep these “gambling” money for us and for our government..