By Kevin McDermott
ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
09/27/2007
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Bettors who want to gamble on horse racing without making a trip to Fairmount Park could someday place their bets, watch the races, and then pay up or collect — all with a few keystrokes on a home computer.
The state's gambling industry says that Internet horse race betting is already happening around the country and that Illinois is missing out on a huge jackpot of revenue because the state hasn't authorized it for Illinois' racing industry.
"Internet gaming is here," said Marc Laino, executive director of the Illinois Racing Board, which would oversee Internet horse race betting if it is instituted under pending legislation. "Trying to stop it in Illinois will only limit the potential revenue for the state."
Opponents say it's the ultimate in gambling expansion — expanding along with it the social problems and personal economic losses that have shadowed other forms of legalized gambling.
"It's 'click your mouse, lose your house.' This is the very worst kind of gambling," said John Kindt, a professor of business and legal policy at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a national anti-gambling activist. "It's gambling at every work desk, at every school desk, in every living room."
Whether it actually happens could be determined in the next few weeks, as the Illinois House decides whether to pass a massive gambling expansion bill that the Senate approved last week. It would add three new casinos to the nine currently operating in Illinois, and allow the current ones to expand, to raise money for state construction projects.
The House could be a hard sell, because Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, generally opposes gambling expansion.
A short section tucked inside the 267-page bill allows for "advance deposit wagering" by Illinois horse tracks through third-party licensees. The word "Internet" isn't mentioned, but both sides of the gaming debate say the effect of the section is clear: It would allow Fairmount Park and other Illinois tracks to enter into agreements with Internet gambling sites, which would then act as electronic off-track betting parlors for the tracks.
Illinois patrons could, from their personal computers, use credit cards to set up prepaid gambling accounts with those Internet sites. They would bet on upcoming horse races being conducted at Fairmount or other tracks, placing the bets by computer or phone. Depending on the system, the patrons could view the race through the computer. Once the race is run, losses would be deducted from the pre-paid account, and wins would be added to it.
Law on the issue is murky. The federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, implemented last year, bans most forms of online gambling nationwide but makes an exception for online horse race wagering. Illinois law generally bans Internet gambling, and while it's not clear that includes horse racing, no Illinois track has attempted to test the issue.
Still, officials say there's little doubt that individual Illinoisans do bet online in other states' horse racing systems — a Belleville resident betting via the Internet on a Kentucky horse race, for example. There's no effective way for Illinois officials to prevent that, they say, and there are concerns that it would be a violation of interstate commerce to try.
"It's going on right now, even though it's supposedly illegal" in Illinois, said Joe Ruppert, vice president for Fairmount Park, the Collinsville racetrack.
The result, said Laino, the Illinois Racing Board director, is that many Illinois dollars that would otherwise be bet at Illinois tracks are instead going out of state. By some estimates, the state's horse racing industry is losing $50 million to $100 million a year to other states' Internet betting systems.
"It's in play in most of the country," said Laino. "We're one of the few racing jurisdictions that haven't authorized it. We're losing out."
Anti-gaming activists such as Kindt say the social costs of Internet gambling outweigh the profit for states.
Kindt, who testified before Congress last year in favor of the legislation banning most online gambling, said the usual dangers of gambling addiction were multiplied when gamblers didn't even have to leave their homes to do it.
Fairmount Park might be interested in a setting up an online betting system if the state allows it, but that would depend on the details of the yet-unwritten regulations, said Ruppert.
Gamblers at Fairmount on Wednesday expressed only mild enthusiasm for the idea of online horse betting. Most said they preferred the experience of going to the park or to off-track betting parlors. They said they liked the atmosphere and social aspect of it but would consider going online if they couldn't make it out of the house.
"I don't own a computer," said Gary Gubser of Granite City. "It's better to come here anyway."
The bill pending in the Legislature is HB2035.
ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
09/27/2007
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Bettors who want to gamble on horse racing without making a trip to Fairmount Park could someday place their bets, watch the races, and then pay up or collect — all with a few keystrokes on a home computer.
The state's gambling industry says that Internet horse race betting is already happening around the country and that Illinois is missing out on a huge jackpot of revenue because the state hasn't authorized it for Illinois' racing industry.
"Internet gaming is here," said Marc Laino, executive director of the Illinois Racing Board, which would oversee Internet horse race betting if it is instituted under pending legislation. "Trying to stop it in Illinois will only limit the potential revenue for the state."
Opponents say it's the ultimate in gambling expansion — expanding along with it the social problems and personal economic losses that have shadowed other forms of legalized gambling.
"It's 'click your mouse, lose your house.' This is the very worst kind of gambling," said John Kindt, a professor of business and legal policy at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a national anti-gambling activist. "It's gambling at every work desk, at every school desk, in every living room."
Whether it actually happens could be determined in the next few weeks, as the Illinois House decides whether to pass a massive gambling expansion bill that the Senate approved last week. It would add three new casinos to the nine currently operating in Illinois, and allow the current ones to expand, to raise money for state construction projects.
The House could be a hard sell, because Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, generally opposes gambling expansion.
A short section tucked inside the 267-page bill allows for "advance deposit wagering" by Illinois horse tracks through third-party licensees. The word "Internet" isn't mentioned, but both sides of the gaming debate say the effect of the section is clear: It would allow Fairmount Park and other Illinois tracks to enter into agreements with Internet gambling sites, which would then act as electronic off-track betting parlors for the tracks.
Illinois patrons could, from their personal computers, use credit cards to set up prepaid gambling accounts with those Internet sites. They would bet on upcoming horse races being conducted at Fairmount or other tracks, placing the bets by computer or phone. Depending on the system, the patrons could view the race through the computer. Once the race is run, losses would be deducted from the pre-paid account, and wins would be added to it.
Law on the issue is murky. The federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, implemented last year, bans most forms of online gambling nationwide but makes an exception for online horse race wagering. Illinois law generally bans Internet gambling, and while it's not clear that includes horse racing, no Illinois track has attempted to test the issue.
Still, officials say there's little doubt that individual Illinoisans do bet online in other states' horse racing systems — a Belleville resident betting via the Internet on a Kentucky horse race, for example. There's no effective way for Illinois officials to prevent that, they say, and there are concerns that it would be a violation of interstate commerce to try.
"It's going on right now, even though it's supposedly illegal" in Illinois, said Joe Ruppert, vice president for Fairmount Park, the Collinsville racetrack.
The result, said Laino, the Illinois Racing Board director, is that many Illinois dollars that would otherwise be bet at Illinois tracks are instead going out of state. By some estimates, the state's horse racing industry is losing $50 million to $100 million a year to other states' Internet betting systems.
"It's in play in most of the country," said Laino. "We're one of the few racing jurisdictions that haven't authorized it. We're losing out."
Anti-gaming activists such as Kindt say the social costs of Internet gambling outweigh the profit for states.
Kindt, who testified before Congress last year in favor of the legislation banning most online gambling, said the usual dangers of gambling addiction were multiplied when gamblers didn't even have to leave their homes to do it.
Fairmount Park might be interested in a setting up an online betting system if the state allows it, but that would depend on the details of the yet-unwritten regulations, said Ruppert.
Gamblers at Fairmount on Wednesday expressed only mild enthusiasm for the idea of online horse betting. Most said they preferred the experience of going to the park or to off-track betting parlors. They said they liked the atmosphere and social aspect of it but would consider going online if they couldn't make it out of the house.
"I don't own a computer," said Gary Gubser of Granite City. "It's better to come here anyway."
The bill pending in the Legislature is HB2035.
