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Illinois: Las Vegas of the Midwest?

Back in May, a measure to expand gambling in Illinois was approved by a committee in the Illinois House of Representatives, provoking Governor Pat Quinn to remark, “We have no interest in becoming the Las Vegas of the Midwest.” Apparently content to continue his knee-jerk and misdirected gambling policy, I believe Governor Quinn is passing up yet another opportunity to attract business and expand freedom in Illinois. The question is, why not be the Las Vegas of the Midwest? Why not be a beacon of prosperity, tourism, and growth? More importantly, why not allow the citizens of Illinois the freedom to choose the kind of entertainment they want to enjoy?

Rather than continue to pursue piecemeal gaming regulation, I believe that most forms of gambling should simply be legalized with one piece of legislation. Currently, the gambling laws of Illinois are bewildering and if I were to read them to a stranger, he or she would think there was no sense to them whatsoever. For example, Illinois has a state-run lottery, and while land-based casinos are illegal, permanently docking a huge gambling barge in a river is not. Although I can walk into an off-track betting facility and put $2 to win on Mysunshine, it is illegal to make a bet with my friends over Sunday night football. Until last year, it was illegal to wager money on video poker, but patrons have bet on the sly in bars for decades.

Well you can’t be involved in gambling without getting addicted to betting in a big way as waging money has bigger benefits in the coming future that every gambler tries to capitalize upon which is why https://jasaqq.cc is quite a popular sport.

In my lifetime, the kind of gambling allowed by the State of Illinois has always been justified by the tax revenue it generates. When riverboat casinos became legal in 1990, their proponents argued that they would be a boon for state taxes and provide relief for our ailing public schools. The state lottery was also supposed to raise millions of dollars for public education. Governor Pat Quinn legalized video poker under the rationale that it would help pay for public works projects. But I wonder why this justification needs to be made at all. Why is gambling only okay if it generates revenue for the state?

What business is it of the state if a person wants to bet on a horse race, baseball game, black jack, the stock market, or anything else? A multibillion dollar business, as it turns out, and if money is being made anywhere you better believe the state will be there to get its hands on as much of it as possible. Illinois charges its riverboat casinos an admissions tax of $3 per person and imposes a graduated wagering tax up to a maximum of 50 percent on annual adjusted gross receipts of $200 million or more. Before 2007, each of our ten riverboat casinos had to pay a base fee of between $30 and $200 million dollars to the state. That is in addition to the nearly $623 million per year in lottery revenue received by Illinois public schools (about 9.6 percent of its annual education budget).

The usual suspects of the right and left do not understand that economic freedom is at the heart of this matter. Gambling should be legalized, some liberals argue, so that it can be “brought out of the shadows” by being taxed and regulated by the government. On the other side, Focus on the Family wants you to believe that legalized gambling will bring a wave of suicide, pawn shops, and other misfortune. In fact, in their “issue analysis” on the subject, they cite the Illinois Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling, which concluded that a grand total of 20 people had committed suicide as a result of gambling addiction in the eight years after riverboat casinos became legal in Illinois.

Not to worry – the State of Illinois actually allows you to ban yourself from river boat casinos. To date, over 6,000 people have signed up for the program, and it is no joke. In May 2008, Hollywood Casino in Aurora was fined $800,000 for mailing promotional material to 146 “self-excluded” persons.

It is not the role of the state to pick and choose which forms of economic interaction to recognize, or to shield people from their personal failings. There is no logical reason why it should be legal to bet on a horse race and not on a poker game, or to play the slot machines on a boat and not on land (does buoyancy make a difference?). The distinction is ludicrous. Government has no right to ban the voluntary, mutual exchange of money between consenting adults, or to then turn around and “allow” it as long as the state gets to keep a chuck of the winnings. All forms of gambling, as long as they are honest and voluntary, should be decriminalized and their taxation eased. Let us spin the roulette wheel, and let fate – not the government – decide whether we win or lose.

Incredibly Cheap Ways to Gamble in Las Vegas

Many casino patrons realize the odds are against them when they gamble, and that money they wager is simply for entertainment. One Las Vegas dealer explained it this way: “You’re paying for time. How much you pay for that time is up to you.”

Even with sticking to table-minimum wagers, a short streak of bad luck can eat up your bankroll in a real hurry. For those looking to stretch out their gambling budget to the extreme (and get a few free cocktails as a bonus), there are a few options that offer the ultimate time for dollar value.

Live Keno

Keno sports some of the world’s worst odds, but at the pace of five or six games and hour, a twenty-dollar bill wagered at the rate of a buck or two a game can last quite some time.

Bingo

Bingo offers a minimum buy-in of $4 to $5 per session. The snooze factor is high, but you get about an hour of action and you’re in the game until the very end. Most strip casinos don’t offer bingo anymore, but it’s still available downtown and off-strip.

Sports Betting

A professional football game lasts around three hours, offering quite a bit of value for an $11 bet. Pick a side and hang on for the ride! Baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, auto racing, and more are available in the major sports books of Las Vegas.

It isn’t as easy as playing situs judi online as it involves taking huge risks at times and there have been occasions where sports players have even put their lifetime earnings in the hopes of making it big.

Pai Gow Poker

Classic table games like blackjack, roulette, and especially craps (nicknamed “the world’s fastest gambling game” by gaming authority John Scarne) can move at a bankroll-crushing pace. Newer games such as Casino War or Three Card Poker are specifically engineered to separate the player from his money in the shortest amount of time.

Conversely, Pai Gow Poker is about as slow-paced as table games go. It’s easy to learn, has a reasonably low house edge, and with a table minimum low enough it’s not impossible to make a Benjamin Franklin last for hours. Brush up on proper hand-setting strategy and learn how to bank the game when it’s your turn to reduce the house advantage to a minimum.

Watch out for Bargains That Aren’t Really Bargains

Penny slots may look like a deal at a worthless cent, but the truth is most penny machines have numerous pay lines and accept multiple coins per line. A machine with nine pay lines accepting up to five coins per line is really a 45 cent per spin machine. Many penny machines accept hundreds of coins per spin. Suddenly, you’re betting dollars in a penny machine. Considering how long a single spin lasts, the astronomical house advantage on a typical slot machine should have the gambler wanting cheap betting thrills looking elsewhere.

How Much Do You Want to Pay?

If your primary interest is beating the casino, keno or bingo won’t cut it without a tremendous amount of luck. However, gambling entertainment doesn’t have to come at a hefty price if you seek out some of the bargain-basement offerings. If you’re interested in extending the amount of time you have your money in action, one of these options might appeal to you.