Greedy Illinois Goverment

[Mark Heide]

Yup. Illinois is at it again. The government of Illinois is subjecting it's casinos to more taxes. Because the tax rate is so high, the casinos are now charging admission to get inside. From what I have heard, due to the taxes as being too high, the Casinos have limited their operating hours to 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., and have laid off employees. The major casinos in Illinois are not far from Indiana. Indiana was smart they put their casinos close to the Illinois border. What is wrong in Illinois?

Mark

[brad]

maybe thats why chicago mayor invoked homeland security or whatever and defied the courts and went in and in the cover of night tore up the airport runways on that one airport.

ITS SO THEY CANT GET OUT!! RUN RUN

[Clarkmeister]

brad,

What you don't understand is that Daley isn't Mayor. He is King by Birth and doesn't need the approval of those pesky courts. He does as he pleases until he dies bequeaths the throne to the nearest male who has the royal blood in his veins.


As for the casinos, the Governor has the audacity to be indignant about the Casinos being more concerned about *their* bottom line than they are about the *State's* bottom line. ROFL.

BTW, for those fans of the Laffer Curve, the IL gaming tax situation is a godsend. The tax rate went from 50% to 70% (not exactly, but the top tier rate did) and state tax revenues are projected to be flat or slightly declining for August.

[adios]

Illinois is running a budget deficit in the $billions somewhere. I haven't checked the data but it looks like Illinois probably increased outlays a lot during the boom years in the 90's and now during economically weaker times doesn't have the revenue to cover the outlays. So now they're desperate for any quick fix that will bring in money, sad. A few links regarding the crisis in Illinois:

Illinois' budget deficit may be less than predicted, national group says (http://illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=5510)

Blagojevich assesses budget situation; appoints new director (http://xavier.cs.northwestern.edu:8000/article.asp?articleID=6621&item=archives)

Republicans: Governor inflating size of deficit (http://www.rrstar.com/opinion/columnists/sweeny/20030218-32713.shtml)

web page (http://www.smorrill.com/2001VetoSessionReport.pdf)

State Chamber President Urges General Assembly: Fiscal Responsibility, Accountability, No New Taxes (http://www.ilchamber.org/ic/news/NR020312.asp)

[baggins]

What we need is a casino either downtown (meigs field?) or out near o'hare...

i haven't been to a casino since christmas. and i haven't been to an illinois casino in probably 2 years. admission? really? is there admission to the Hollywood Casino?

that's crazy! i mean, people know at some level that they're probably going to lose their money to the casino. but they don't mind as long as they have the chance to win. now they have to PAY for the opportunity to give the house money? wow. makes me want to stick to home games...

[Mark Heide]

brad,

The real reason why Daley closed Meigs is that it was not generating revenue for the city. Daley has had plans for years to turn it into a public park area to generate money from public events. Meigs field is just a one runway airport for the wealthy to fly their private planes at the expense of the city. It's really only the wealthy are mad that they no longer have the convenience of flying in directly downtown. Now, they have to fly their private planes in from the northern suburbs and fight the traffic just like the rest of us.

Mark

[Mark Heide]

Tom,

Thanks for the links. The problem is Illinois government does not think about how business operates. They forgot about the competition in Indiana.

Mark

[Mark Heide]

baggins,

My mom and sister frequently used to go to the casinos in Joliet, but now they started to go to Indiana instead. On their last trip they told me they had to pay $5 to get in. My sister said that the casino is not as crowded as it used to be. And, of course, they thought that the machines were tighter than usual.

Mark

[Clarkmeister]

The machines are unlikely to get significantly tighter. Hold %'s for July won't come out til next month, so we won't know for sure til then.

You can, however, see the devastating impact that the new law has had on admissions. Look at Harrah's, Empress, and Aurora. Significant declines both month over month and vs same period last year. And its only going to get worse as the word spreads about admissions. The state is going to get less tax revenue under the higher rate than they did under the lower rate.

http://www.igb.state.il.us/revreports/july2003statreport.pdf

[baggins]

looks like the state could use a few lessons in game theory, no?

[Mark Heide]

baggins,

The problem with the state is they have no business sense, or they have another agenda.

Illinois needs to realize that gambling is a competative business. The only reason why a casino would shorten its hours and layoff minimum wage employees is because they are not making any money with the taxes being to high.

Another possibility is that Gov. Blagovich does not want casinos in Illinois and would like to see them all go away. I mention this because of the problem that had occured when one of the boats sold its license to developers that started building a casino in Rosemont (which by the way is the perfect place to put it since Rosemont has many hotels, is located next to O'Hare Airport, and hosts conventions throughout the year) until they found out that the developers had organized crime ties.

The other big problem in Illinois is that they put these casinos in out of the way places that tourists will not go to. With that being said, I think casinos are doomed in Illinois unless they relocate them to places by the airports. So, Rosemont, and downtown Chicago would be the places to build them.

Mark

[Clarkmeister]

There have been comments indicating that the State is interested in taking over all the existing boats and buying out the current operators for a fraction of the initial license cost.

[Mark Heide]

Clarkmeister,

My mom said that the last time she was at Harrah's in Joliet it reminded her of the Bellagio last time I took her to Vegas. I remember hardly anyone playing slots when I was on my way to the poker room there.

Interesting link.

Good Luck

Mark

[Mark Heide]

Clarkmeister,

I have not heard that one yet. But, I'm curious as to why? Any speculation?

Mark

[baggins]

Mark,

I agree. Illinois (i.e. Blagojevich) is either stupid or wants to see casinos in IL die.

I'd personally love to see a casino in either O'Hare or downtown. Daley wants it. It would bring them to places where people actually are and would travel to. It would (hopefully) bring casino poker to a more central location. and it would bring jobs. the 'degenerate, low-life-types' that many fear would follow such an industry already exist in IL. they are you and me and everybody who acts all high and mighty like they're better than people who like to play slots and hit the buffet for a fun evening.

So do I have to pay to go to Hollywood now? I haven't been there in 2 years.

[Ray Zee]

mark, on meigs field--

by closing it it brings that much more small plane traffic to ohare. so then the flights there get delayed and much more money gets wasted. plus when airports recieve federal money they have strings attached to keep the airport open. daley went around it once and lost so this time he just brought in the bulldozers with a lie to the people. he should be taken out of office for this. politicians that lie for their own purposes should not be allowed to stay.

[Clarkmeister]

"politicians that lie for their own purposes should not be allowed to stay. "

How are we going to replace all the politictians?

[Clarkmeister]

"Any speculation?"

If getting 50% of the revenue was better than the initial 35%, and getting 70% is better than 50%, surely 100% of the revenue is the best thing for the state, right?

[Clarkmeister]

A few interesting links:

Comments from the owner of one of the riverboats:

http://www.jobbankusa.com/News/Layoffs/layoffs61003b.html

Good article on recent impact follows. One choice quote from a State spokeswoman:

"the governor's goal is to make sure Illinois' economy is healthy, and a critical part of that is closing the $5 billion deficit and making sure that our budget is balanced . . . and the casino industry is one of many asked to share in closing the deficit."

LOLOL. I'm sure lots of industries were being taxed at 50% and subsequently had that rate increased to 70%. This is all before the federal government gets their 35% btw. What a joke.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0308030364aug03,0,7964047.story?coll=chi-business-hed


Casinos follow through and cut hours and jobs:

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030812/leisure_casinos_illinois_1.html

[Ray Zee]

the only way to have truthfullness from govt. is voting only for politicians that agree to take a lie dectector test every month on television. i cant believe some of the candidates that dont have a great chance havent thought of that as their slogan. this is just what the people want.

[Mark Heide]

Clarkmeister,

Thanks for the interesting links. It appears the casinos understand the customer and the state has no clue. People are not going to pay for admission and parking when they can easily go across the boarder to Indiana. Lastly, when my mom and sister don't see the slot machines areas crowded they don't play, because they believe that the reason no one is playing them is because they are not paying out a good percentage. That's why they have gone to Indiana to play.

Mark

[Mark Heide]

Ray,

If I had a small plane I wouldn't be flying out of O'Hare, I'd be flying out of Palwaukee. Here's a map to help you out:

http://yellowpages.superpages.com/supermaps/mapinit.jsp?SRC=&LID=0012724585&STYPE=S&GV=0&lat=4 2120964&lng=-87902746&POI1name=Palwaukee+Airport+Manager&POI1la t=042120964&POI1lng=-087902746&streetaddress=1020+Plant+Road&city=Wheel ing&state=IL&zip=60090&addressShow=&SRC=&C=Airport s&S=IL&R=N&MC=1&STYPE=S&CID=4581AG03994&MC=1&MAPWI DTH=800&MAPHEIGHT=600&level=8#Map

Meigs field is just was just an airport for the wealth gold coast residents. I've heard the O'Hare excuse before.

Actually, the majority of the residents in Chicago want Meigs to be turning into a public park area, just like the rest of the lakefront. Chicago has a tradition of making it's lakefront public property. Daley is only looking for ways to maximize revenue and Meigs was a loser.

Good Luck

Mark

[Mark Heide]

Clarkmeister,

I'm glad that none of these politicians run major corporations. If they did their actions would dwarf the fiascos of Enron and Worldcom.

Mark

[Mark Heide]

Ray,

I believe that if there is any truthfulness in government, it's not in the state where I live, or even in Washington D.C. I beieve that 99% of them have corporations stuffing money in their pockets.

Anyway, your buddy Bush wants to help stop the fires by where you live. He's suggesting to let loggers in to cut down all the small pine, but will need to make consessions by giving them a few big trees.

Good Luck

Mark

[Mark Heide]

baggins,

I don't know if Hollywood charges, but I know that Harrah's does. Give them a call. Anyway, if you want to play poker just go to Harrah's in Indiana. Even though I like the staff of the Hollywood poker room, which is friendlier than the majority, Harrah's has a lot more tables and choice.

Good Luck

Mark