Slots at tracks a cure-all? Maybe not

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Updated: December 4, 2011 11:15AM

If there’s still a chance to pass a gambling expansion bill in Illinois, we are struck by the irony of what must happen first.

Gov. Pat Quinn must risk enhancing his image as a flip-flopper or, to put it in kinder terms, he must adopt a mature compromise because the realities are changing. Will he? Can he? Is there time for the Southland to get one of five new casinos? It’s a close call on all three questions.

The only rescue method appears to be Quinn switching on slot machines at the race tracks, which many view as essential to save a struggling, if not failing, horse racing industry. The new casinos can’t pass without racing backers, including many downstate legislators, getting their way, too.

The crack in the window is very tight for any of this to happen next week in the final three days of the Legislature’s veto session.

There’s also the issue of whether horse racing in Illinois should be saved. The industry portrays itself as an agriculturally based employment engine, but it’s gambling. It’s a casino that uses horses instead of playing cards and roulette wheels.

It remains puzzling why Quinn is opposed to slots at tracks but OK with five new casinos. The tracks are gambling venues. Is it his ultimate bargaining chip to get other concessions in the bill? Or is he trying to kill gambling growth — his version of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown?

As for the viability of horse racing here, advocates say it produces 30,000 jobs and must be saved. But bettors have fled the tracks for casinos and their smorgasbord of betting. Would slots bring many of them back to the track?

Track wagering has slid from $1.3 billion in 1992 to $725 million last year. Total purses last year dropped nearly 25 percent compared with 2009 — meaning fewer and lesser horses and diminished interest in betting on them.

We’re OK with slots at the tracks, especially if it’s key to getting the new casinos. And if slot revenue can cure racing’s ills, all the better. But we’re not sure it can. Horse racing’s heyday may be history.