Illinois State Attorney Makes Plea Against Expanded Gambling

State after state are quickly passing laws that will allow for casino gambling, mainly poker and slots, and while most are not meeting much resistance, Illinois has received a letter from a state attorney trying to stop the expansion.

State attorney Stewart Umholtz has sent a letter to House Republican Speaker Michael Madigan and Leader Tom Cross detailing the problems that have occurred in the time the Par-A-Dice Casino has been operating.

The Senate has already approved legislation to expand the allowed gambling in Illinois, but the House must also pass the legislation and the Governor must sign off on it as well.

Umholtz hopes that his letter persuades the House not to approve the measure and make it as difficult for casino expansion as possible.

He claims that much of Tazewell counties crime is due to gambling saying, "Since the casino arrived in Tazewell County, we have prosecuted a number of crimes directly related to the casino and many that are indirectly related to the casino."

He goes further into detail in the letter claiming, "I have seen the depletion of estates, children's trust funds, cemetery care funds, church funds, festival funds, and different types of government funds by individuals who have a gambling addiction."

The letter also states that most of these offenders have no previous criminal history. He hopes that his letter will sway politicians into thinking about the downfalls of gambling instead of just seeing the money signs that are flashed before them.

October 4, 2007
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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