Prairie State Poker

New at Reason: Joe Bob Briggs attempts to make sense of gambling laws and gambling taxes in the state of Illinois.

Comments

[Vinnie]

Hey jon B... you'se wanna friggin' start somethin? ;}

[jon B.]

More and more the government seems like a large man named Vinnie who says, "Ya know, 'dis is a nice place you got here. Maybe you wanna keep it a little longer you pay me to protect it for you." I fear that the gov. has become completely malignant. Heinlein said that a bureaucratic class would soon start to see themselves as an aristocracy and I guess he was right.

[very very troll]

I think that Indian gaming is a perfect turnabout/fairplay occurence, the spirit of the native american was leeched from north america by waspish progress now the wasps find their souls leeched by native american progressive slots. perfect, just perfect.

[Warren]

dude,
The gubmint won't legalize pot because it's already addicted to the money spent in the name of the War On Drugs. It doesn't even matter that there is (far) more money to be had from a legalized, regulated, and taxed drug trade. The established powers are addicted to the WOD, ending prohibition (even for pot) would require a new establishment.

[Plutarck]

Actually, they could legalize pot - theoretically - just not anything else. They could concede pot is ok but still keep up their utterly illogical stance on every other drug they somehow, for some reason, decide is bad and evil. I'm a bit confused as to how altering one's mind became a forbidden thing, yet prayer and meditation remains legal...

...anyhow, just remember that illogic has never stopped the government before, and it probably won't ever, either. Never underestimate the ability of masses of people to overlook fact and logic in favor of justifying why it is ok to do exactly what everyone else is doing.

"Peer pressure" - I always cringe when I hear the term, for it seems it is always used to ignorantly apply only to, say, teenagers, when adults are just as effected by it - more so, probably - than anyone else.

[Russ]

I think Illinois has a total of zero Indian casinos, so the lack of competition has something to do with the Illinois "raperesentatives" trying to get away with this.

[dude]

Actually the main people making big cash off the indian casinos are - wait for it - the old white guys in suits who run the gambling corporations. Very few indian casinos are actually run by indians. They hire someone to run it for them and get some part of the profits. The whole "indian" in "indian casinos" is pretty much a legal fiction.

In other news, interesting how the govt seems to be socializing vice lately. A generation ago there were very few lotteries. Now lots of states are dependant on gambling money. Also, we've reached the point where the tobacco industry is almost nationalized: I bet government gets more $$ off of a pack of cigs than the tobacco companies get anymore. Then you have to wonder: for all its protestations, does government really want you to stop smoking?

If pot is ever legalized, it won't be because we come to our senses - it will be because government finally figures out how much money there is to be made.

[headscratcher]

"Crime Down but Murders and Rapes Up, FBI Says"

Come again?

SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,89537,00.html

Hello?