McHenry County Residents Put $600,000,000 in Slot Machines

School supporters promote every tax hike with the cry of

“It’s for the kids.”

Supporters of government-authorized have the mantra:

“It’s entertainment.”

Maybe, but the money put into video poker machines isn’t being spent in local stores.

It isn’t buying goods and services, as traditionally defined.

Not going for groceries, gasoline, rent, the mortgage, retirement savings.

Local governments get a cut, but the real winners, under the law passed by the Illinois General Assembly, are the machine owners.

Take a look at how much was spent in each jurisdiction authorizing slot machines:

MUNICIPALITY AMOUNT PLAYED
Algonquin $26,385,696.81
Bull Valley $196,712.92
Cary $21,643,042.28
Crystal Lake $26,868,473.83
Fox Lake $73,308,380.57
Fox River Grove $23,853,196.03
Harvard $30,029,221.34
Huntley $40,940,326.56
Island Lake $17,997,236.09
Johnsburg $28,993,599.23
Lake In the Hills $48,330,003.34
Marengo $22,391,940.32
McCullom Lake $5,727,558.21
McHenry $112,160,759.28
McHenry County $69,372,572.06
Spring Grove $14,520,348.79
Woodstock $50,119,440.64
   
MCHENRY COUNTY MUNIS / COUNTY  
Total Played $612,838,508.30
Total Net wagers $51,093,039.24
Municipal share $2,554,735.70
State Share $12,773,700.16
Total Establishments 253
Total Machines 1,131

Clearly, McHenry is the gambling capital of McHenry County.


Comments

McHenry County Residents Put $600,000,000 in Slot Machines — 16 Comments

  1. Not “McHenry County residents”…..more like “people who used McHenry County slots”

  2. Take the Fox Lake total out, no FL slots in McHenry Co.

  3. This proves a fool and his money, were lucky to have gotten together in the first place.

  4. That’s God’s way of separating poor people from smart people.

  5. I am trying to gather the point of publishing this information on the blog?

  6. There are a few establishments that are Fox Lake and in our County

  7. What happens to the gaming monies designated going to Municipalities and the State? Is this money strictly used to pay for education expenses such as teachers’ and administrators’ salaries, benefits, pensions and colas?

    Many decades ago the State of Illinois started a lottery with the stated intent to fund education. To what extent are lottery proceeds used STRICTLY for education expenses?

    Let’s have a new State law regarding the proceeds from all lottery, gambling and gaming receipts in the State to help fund education.

    Additionally, freeze all HOME OWNER real estate taxes in the State of Illinois for 10 years and only allow raises for teachers/administrators and colas for pensioners from the proceeds of lotteries and gaming.

  8. So how come the school boards can’t lower their tax levies?

    ANSWER: Mike Madigan steals it.

  9. @bred winner

    I believe that if you look closely at the Illinois State Lottery, ALL of the proceeds of the lottery ARE going towards education.

    You have to do more than scratch the surface however to see that those lying, weasel scumbags in the Illinois legislature played a shell game with us.

    Once we were suckered into going along with the lottery, they kept their word and channeled all that money to the schools, what they also did was to STOP funding education from other sources to the extent that lottery money was available.

    Simply put: If the state contributed $500M to education BEFORE the passage of the lottery, it decreased funding from other sources the year AFTER passage to the extent the lottery showed a profit.

    If the lottery showed a profit of $50M that first year, then the schools still got the same $500M but the legislators now had an extra $50M to dole out to their friends, pork barrel projects, and, in some cases, line their pockets.

    Just goes to show that those who play the lottery aren’t the only dumb asses.

    Those of us, myself included, who allowed the lottery to come into being based upon the word of the legislature are also dumb asses!

  10. The deal to pass the lottery had its money going to pay for the RTA.

    The estimated subsidy for the RTA the first year was $67-568 million.

    The Lottery brought in with a million dollars of that subsidy, surely a excellent job of projecting.

    That is not to say that citizens were not sold the Lottery on the grounds that it would go to education.

    It just was not the way the package went down.

  11. **ANSWER: Mike Madigan steals it.**

    LOL. So now Mike Madigan is stealing local property tax revenues?

  12. Give, you are absolutely correct. giving the state more money is liking giving a alcoholic a bottle and telling him you can only have one small sip a day.

  13. Re: “I am trying to gather the point of publishing this information on the blog?”

    “Is this money strictly used to pay for education expenses such as teachers’ and administrators’ salaries, benefits, pensions and colas?”

    In fact, video gaming has reduced allocation of state funding for education by at least $70,000,000.

    That $70,000,000 is now obtained via local property taxes!!!

    https://features.propublica.org/the-bad-bet/how-illinois-bet-on-video-gambling-and-lost/

    Insofar as how much money from the lottery actually goes for education, the answer is ZERO!!!!

    For every penny that lottery gives to education, the state reduces the allocation from the general fund – net result: LOTTERY CONTRIBUTES ZERO TO EDUCATION.

    Wake up folks! YOU filled the Springfield swamp with the critters!!!

  14. What other kinds of fun activities which are now illegal might the State of Illinois legalize to reap tens or hundreds of million dollars revenue per year to help pay for extravagent pensions, salaries and benefits of government employees?

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