Illinois Racing gets a kick

[GBBob]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

Up to 70 mil a year.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdo...hdog17.article

If we see half of that, I'll be surprised

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by GBBob

If we see half of that, I'll be surprised

Yeah it sounds like the geniuses down in Springfield want to spend the money on stupid "education." What a waste.

They should be taking money out of education and putting it into horse racing. Just teach the kiddies how to bet the Catalano and they'll do just fine.

[VOL JACK]

Originally Posted by GBBob

If we see half of that, I'll be surprised

Id say half would be best case scenerio, and if education is in the mess they say it is, it should go to the schools.

If I owned a small neighborhood grocery store and Wal-Mart moved in across the street, Id go before legislators and demand a percentage of their profits.

[GBBob]

Originally Posted by VOL JACK

Id say half would be best case scenerio, and if education is in the mess they say it is, it should go to the schools.

If I owned a small neighborhood grocery store and Wal-Mart moved in across the street, Id go before legislators and demand a percentage of their profits.

I know..I understand the priorities. Just trying to figure out how this money ( if it does) differs from the retro award they received for the existing casinos? That was a nice and I think sufficient chunk of change that could continue on. Was this above and beyond that?

[Scav]

Originally Posted by GBBob

I know..I understand the priorities. Just trying to figure out how this money ( if it does) differs from the retro award they received for the existing casinos? That was a nice and I think sufficient chunk of change that could continue on. Was this above and beyond that?

I think it differs.

I think when retro award was being ironed out, it was put in the contract that "When the 10th casino was awards, such and such goes to the racetracks"

I could be wrong though

[Cannon Shell]

Typical bs from the same old crybabies looking to curry favor with unions. The whole "education" argument is lame but people seem not to be able to see it for what it is, pandering to the teachers union. These mandates were given to the horse racing industry in lieu of casino licenses, the idea being that the politicians could take care of everyone. But now they want to renege on the deal because the state is broke? We are talking about money that has yet to even be made in a casino that does not yet exist. I'm tired of horseracing being treated as though it is not an important business that raises huge amounts of money for state governments. Why not place a tax on the current Cubs owners who are about to make a huge windfall on the sale of the team? It makes about as much sense.

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Typical bs from the same old crybabies looking to curry favor with unions. The whole "education" argument is lame but people seem not to be able to see it for what it is, pandering to the teachers union. These mandates were given to the horse racing industry in lieu of casino licenses, the idea being that the politicians could take care of everyone. But now they want to renege on the deal because the state is broke? We are talking about money that has yet to even be made in a casino that does not yet exist. I'm tired of horseracing being treated as though it is not an important business that raises huge amounts of money for state governments. Why not place a tax on the current Cubs owners who are about to make a huge windfall on the sale of the team? It makes about as much sense.

That may be part of it, but I think that angle is overhyped a bit. The big problem is simply that almost every politician - regardless of party - is only ever interested in short-term solutions because most of them can't see past the next election. If some new spending can be spun as spending on "education," a politician would be commiting political suicide if he or she voted against it. Too many of them just lack any sort of political courage whatsoever.
Investing in an industry that does - as you say - raise large amounts of money for the state, never seems to cross any of their minds because there is no immediate political advantage gained from it. The fact that investing more money in horse racing - or a host of other things - could improve the product, and therefore raise even more money for the state goverment, seems to be a concept that most of them are unwilling to care about. They just spend, spend, spend....without ever really investing in future financial security.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by miraja2

That may be part of it, but I think that angle is overhyped a bit. The big problem is simply that almost every politician - regardless of party - is only ever interested in short-term solutions because most of them can't see past the next election. If some new spending can be spun as spending on "education," a politician would be commiting political suicide if he or she voted against it. Too many of them just lack any sort of political courage whatsoever.
Investing in an industry that does - as you say - raise large amounts of money for the state, never seems to cross any of their minds because there is no immediate political advantage gained from it. The fact that investing more money in horse racing - or a host of other things - could improve the product, and therefore raise even more money for the state goverment, seems to be a concept that most of them are unwilling to care about. They just spend, spend, spend....without ever really investing in future financial security.

Well said

[dellinger63]

FYI: Meeks the guy trying to steal the cash has come up w/some lame brain ideas in the past including calling for public high school students to be absent the first day of class as a protest, obviously for $$$ and not for education. And earlier this year he took two bus loads of inner city students to New Trier in Winnetka to try and register. For those who aren't from the area Winnetka is about as wealthy as it gets in IL. Don't think they quite met the residency requirement but it was a nice try. I think Winnetka lost a few of their finest that day due to heart attacks.

[Scav]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

FYI: Meeks the guy trying to steal the cash has come up w/some lame brain ideas in the past including calling for public high school students to be absent the first day of class as a protest, obviously for $$$ and not for education. And earlier this year he took two bus loads of inner city students to New Trier in Winnetka to try and register. For those who aren't from the area Winnetka is about as wealthy as it gets in IL. Don't think they quite met the residency requirement but it was a nice try. I think Winnetka lost a few of their finest that day due to heart attacks.

Yeah, that guy loves seeing his face in the newspaper....