Casino Blues

I don't really have a dog in this Chicago casino fight, with these thoughts:
Please don't put it on Grand & Halsted! Traffic is already bad to the point of congestion around here. The secondary proposed spot, Van Buren & Canal St. area, isn't much better. I say slum it over by McCormick.
Why is gambling such a controversial issue? is it all those Godfather-esque movies? is it because of the Temperance league remnants of years ago? Or what?

[Daley] said he was open to the possibility of converting the oldest and easternmost building of the McCormick Place complex to gaming use. City sources said other possible locations could be a railroad right-of-way west of the Chicago River near Grand Avenue and Halsted Street, and a mostly vacant tract near the old post office building.

.....and....

Daley's announcement was greeted with vehement opposition from two groups.

Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, raised questions about how the city could own the casino license and prevent organized crime from getting involved.

"The city couldn't oversee a truck enterprise without the mob getting involved," Grey said, referring to recent revelations about the Daley administration's scandal-plagued Hired Truck Program. "And now they want to own a casino and they say they won't let the mob get involved? Come on."

Doug Dobmeyer of the Task Force to Oppose Gambling in Chicago, asserted that additional revenues may flow into governmental coffers "but the social cost will be monumental to the citizens of this city."

Labor and business leaders applauded Daley's proposal.

Gambling would be one more attraction for visitors, and one that they already can get in other cities, said Christopher Bowers, chief executive of the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau. "The most important thing is, from a competitive standpoint, we need to have something like this," he said.

I have no interest in gambling, so don't really care what happens, as long as the City of Chicago can pay for more bike paths, I'll be happy.