Riverboats on agenda as national commission comes to Chicago

Both sides are approaching this latest in a series of on-site hearings by the nine-member National Gambling Impact Study Commission as a stage to reach the national media with their stories about riverboat gambling's failure - or success. All the while, they are looking to shape the panel's report to their advantage.

"The commission is operating on its own timeline to have a report done in 1999. The battle is being fought daily," said Tom Grey, the head of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. "This is just a little chance for us to come off the frontlines."

Grey hopes the panel will issue a report that says "gambling will not work every place," a document opponents can use to persuade communities to reject - or even repeal - gambling.

The casino industry doesn't object to a report outlining "the questions and answers that local and state officials have to ask and have to get in order to make an informed decision" about gambling, said Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., president of the American Gaming Association.

But the industry is guarding against any final product that suggests the federal government get involved with casino gambling.

"The worst thing that can happen, I think, is for some proposal for federal taxation of the industry," Fahrenkopf said.

Observers say it's unlikely that the national panel, created by Congress, will call for direct intervention into legalized gambling, which is largely the domain of state legislatures.

The commission made its first fact-finding visit in January to Atlantic City, which legalized casinos in 1976, and then heard about American Indian casinos and lotteries during a March visit to Boston.

In Chicago, media attention may focus on the panel's examination of Internet gambling - a hot topic nationally - during an afternoon session on the second day.

But before that, a stream of publicists, politicians and preachers will talk about the Midwestern riverboat industry. It exploded after being legalized by state lawmakers in the early 1990s during a time of economic distress, and is now mostly floating in place due to a combination of competition, opposition and big-money politics.

In Illinois, for example, lawmakers touted paddle-wheeled boats featuring blackjack tables and slot machines as a way for struggling blue-collar river communities to rebuild their economies after their industries left and their downtowns emptied. Illinois' 10 riverboat operations were popular beyond expectations, providing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue to the state, which earmarks it for public education, and to local governments, which have used the money to rebuild roads, buy new police cars and lower local taxes and fees. Supporters also point to about 12,000 jobs in the riverboat industry in Illinois.

The early success in Illinois and Iowa was followed by the legalization of floating casinos in Indiana and Missouri. But the increased competition hurt some riverboats - one has closed in Illinois and another is struggling with competition from Iowa. Similar competitive struggles are playing out in neighboring states.

And at the same time, critics began warning of behind-the-scenes problems - the personal and social costs of compulsive gambling, the wisdom of government policies that depend on people losing their money and the inconclusive evidence that the riverboats spawn any new development beyond the glitzy pavilions where they dock.

What's left has been astatus quo of sorts that suggests the gloss has worn off the promise of floating casinos, but the public is happy enough with the gambling it's got, observers said.

"I think the average person in the Midwest still sees gambling as a little sinful, but they're entirely tolerant," said Michael Belletire, administrator of the Illinois Gaming Board, which regulates the state's 10 riverboat operations.

archive