casino gamble: Jo Daviess leader says riverboat dealt empty promises, The

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Oct 15, 2000 | by Magney, Reid

The riverboat closed again in 1997, and state regulators moved to strip it of its license. Then last year the investors, with help from other gambling interests, persuaded state lawmakers to include a change in gambling laws that essentially required the Gaming Board to let them build a new casino on a floating barge in Rosemont, Ill. That license change, however, is still pending because another group that wants the Rosemont license has sued.

The Silver Eagle went south, leaving the county with a large dockside facility but no riverboat. The county later sold the water and sewer system it put in for the Silver Eagle to the city of East Dubuque for $1.

Barkow says some good did come out of the casino. The $3.4 million the county spent for infrastructure brought sewer and water service to an industrial park, where there are more than 200 new jobs, he said. "The county was smart enough to put the money into infrastructure," he said.

"If we made a mistake, we didn't require enough resources from the boat to take care of compulsive gamblers and to go to social service agencies," McFadden said. "County boards tend to look at revenue, not the other side of the issue."

If a community decides it wants gambling, "be smart about it," McFadden said. Gambling promoters "will tell you you're not going to have problems, but be prepared for it. People are going to need help. Build a safety net."

When a community brings in a casino, McFadden said, "What you do is take money from a large number of individuals and put it in the hands of a small number of people. You make the rich richer at the expense of people who can't afford it."

McFadden's county is just over the border from Wisconsin, and his dairy farm is in the northern part of the county, so he has a good view of local government in Wisconsin. Using casino money for property tax relief "is a big carrot for Wisconsin," he said.

However, McFadden has this advice: "They need to wire it down. If it gets into government's hands, it tends to get spent for things."

Despite Grey's failure to keep the riverboat out of Jo Daviess County, he became involved with antigambling groups elsewhere in Illinois and other states. Today, Grey is executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion.