The Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems sent out the following press release today encouraging opposition to another Illinois casino – this one in north central DeKalb County.
OPPOSE HR 504, ILCAAAP says, despite sponsorship by House members of both major parties, and sponsored by Republican state Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon).
"The measure expresses support for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation's efforts to regain possession of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation that was illegally sold by the federal government in 1849. The bill paves the way for a Native American Casino to be built in Shabbona, Illinois."
A prime concern must be the crime and moral decline that often accompanies casinos. Gaming chips away at the innocence and morals of society and is the antithesis to the notion that fiscal responsibility and embracing a clean, healthy environment are good national characteristics.
Casinos are crime magnets with two types of illegal activity: Internal corruption that includes money laundering, loan sharking and mob influence, and street crime. It is the increase in crime directly spilling from casino doors that have the most immediate effect on surrounding communities. For nearby neighborhoods, these include DUI-related accidents, home robberies, and mail theft. If a precedent is set that Indian casinos are no longer restricted to reservation lands, negatives will impact neighboring areas like never before.
According to a 2012 study of casino crime by University of Maryland researchers, there is a 10 percent increase in substance abuse, suicide, violent crime, theft, and bankruptcy when a new casino opens in town. Other studies found 8 – 9 percent of crime increases at a cost near $70 per year for every person living nearby. After Atlantic City’s rapid casino growth in the 1980s, crime increased by 100 percent in a 30-mile radius surrounding the area. Read
