Chicago voters remain lukewarm to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push for a city casino and aren't sold on his plan to put slot machines at the airports, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll found.
The results come as the mayor presses for the third straight year to get the city a slice of a major gambling expansion that Gov. Pat Quinn already has vetoed twice. The governor has signaled that he remains concerned about oversight and regulation of a Chicago casino as the General Assembly approaches adjournment at month's end.
The latest poll found that 49 percent of Chicago voters surveyed support a casino while 43 percent oppose it. Those numbers are nearly flipped from an October survey that had 49 percent of city voters opposed to a statewide gambling expansion that included a Chicago casino, compared with 40 percent who supported it.
Historically, Chicagoans appear to have hedged their bets on the gambling proposition. In February 2012, 54 percent of city voters backed gambling expansion. In a December 2010 poll, 47 percent supported a city-owned casino.
The new poll indicated that younger voters by far were the most supportive of a Chicago-based casino. Fully 56 percent of voters ages 18-35 backed bringing gambling to the city, compared with 40 percent who disagreed.
The latest survey also found a racial gap in the support of expanded gambling. Among white voters surveyed, 54 percent supported a casino with just 38 percent opposed. African-American voters were evenly split at 46 percent, and Latino voters narrowly backed a casino, 49 percent to 46 percent.
"Chicago needs a piece of the action, too," said Ken McBride, 76, a poll respondent who is a retired accountant living on the Far Northwest Side. "We might as well have a casino because they've added them everywhere else."
Emanuel has tried to bolster his latest casino push by proclaiming that all of the city's proceeds from gambling expansion would go toward public school construction and modernization. Previous incarnations also would have earmarked proceeds for city infrastructure.
Darnell Carson, 57, a poll respondent who is unemployed and lives on the West Side, said he's skeptical the city really would use all of the money for education, but he said he supports a Chicago casino to prevent potential tax revenue from continuing to leave Illinois.
"I want it because I like the idea of keeping the money here at home, instead of letting it go to another state," Carson said. "My mother goes to casinos all over the place in Indiana and Wisconsin. Why shouldn't she be able to do it right here?"
Emanuel, too, has argued that a Chicago casino would prevent the city and state from losing out on millions in tax revenue that casinos in northwest Indiana have taken from Illinois residents for more than a decade.
But the city's gambling expansion push hasn't been limited to a casino.
Emanuel's administration also has lobbied for the flexibility to place some of the 4,000 city gambling positions at O'Hare International and Midway airports.
The latest poll suggests voters dislike the idea of slot machines greeting visitors. Just 43 percent of voters polled approved of airport slots while 51 percent disapproved.
Again, the poll found a divide along racial lines. White voters were almost evenly split on airport gambling, with 48 percent in support and 47 percent opposed. By comparison, 41 percent of black voters backed the slots to 53 percent who were opposed, while 42 percent of Latino voters backed the change and 55 percent did not.
The poll of 800 registered voters was conducted April 30-May 6 and has an error margin of 3.5 percentage points.
If state lawmakers were to approve the slots, Chicago would become the first U.S. city outside Nevada to offer gambling at an airport. Currently, only McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and Reno-Tahoe International Airport offer slot machines.
In both those airports, the blinking lights and ringing bells of the slots are visible on the terminals, greeting travelers as they walk off a plane. The Emanuel administration, however, does not envision the same kind of atmosphere in Chicago.
"If this does move forward, it will not be like Las Vegas where slots are visible as soon as you walk off a plane," said Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the mayor. "Any slot machines would be in a secured, separate area similar to a private airline club — where individuals can access, but they are not readily visible to people traveling through the airport."
The current version of the gambling expansion bill requires the slots to be located beyond security checkpoints and available only to airline passengers who are at least 21 and "members of a private club."
Another administration source noted that many international airports offer gambling as an amenity and said the administration believes airport slots are a good idea that would be appealing to travelers. Having slots at O'Hare and Midway, the source said, also would be a benefit to the city because it would allow it to tap revenue from gamblers traveling to the region who might not visit a downtown casino.
McBride, the Northwest Side retiree who supports a casino, said he's concerned about what airport slots would do to the city's image and is skeptical about the financial impact.
"Slots will just clutter things up. I don't think those will be a big revenue-maker anyway," he said. "People don't go to the airport to gamble. They go there to get on a plane."
Sharon Becker, another survey respondent, said that while she opposes a downtown casino, she wouldn't mind slots at O'Hare and Midway.
"I think a casino would create more problems than the city already has, but slot machines at the airport would be OK," said Becker, 70, who lives in the Gold Coast neighborhood. "That would just bring in revenue from the travelers, so why not?"
The results come as the mayor presses for the third straight year to get the city a slice of a major gambling expansion that Gov. Pat Quinn already has vetoed twice. The governor has signaled that he remains concerned about oversight and regulation of a Chicago casino as the General Assembly approaches adjournment at month's end.
The latest poll found that 49 percent of Chicago voters surveyed support a casino while 43 percent oppose it. Those numbers are nearly flipped from an October survey that had 49 percent of city voters opposed to a statewide gambling expansion that included a Chicago casino, compared with 40 percent who supported it.
Historically, Chicagoans appear to have hedged their bets on the gambling proposition. In February 2012, 54 percent of city voters backed gambling expansion. In a December 2010 poll, 47 percent supported a city-owned casino.
The new poll indicated that younger voters by far were the most supportive of a Chicago-based casino. Fully 56 percent of voters ages 18-35 backed bringing gambling to the city, compared with 40 percent who disagreed.
The latest survey also found a racial gap in the support of expanded gambling. Among white voters surveyed, 54 percent supported a casino with just 38 percent opposed. African-American voters were evenly split at 46 percent, and Latino voters narrowly backed a casino, 49 percent to 46 percent.
"Chicago needs a piece of the action, too," said Ken McBride, 76, a poll respondent who is a retired accountant living on the Far Northwest Side. "We might as well have a casino because they've added them everywhere else."
Emanuel has tried to bolster his latest casino push by proclaiming that all of the city's proceeds from gambling expansion would go toward public school construction and modernization. Previous incarnations also would have earmarked proceeds for city infrastructure.
Darnell Carson, 57, a poll respondent who is unemployed and lives on the West Side, said he's skeptical the city really would use all of the money for education, but he said he supports a Chicago casino to prevent potential tax revenue from continuing to leave Illinois.
"I want it because I like the idea of keeping the money here at home, instead of letting it go to another state," Carson said. "My mother goes to casinos all over the place in Indiana and Wisconsin. Why shouldn't she be able to do it right here?"
Emanuel, too, has argued that a Chicago casino would prevent the city and state from losing out on millions in tax revenue that casinos in northwest Indiana have taken from Illinois residents for more than a decade.
But the city's gambling expansion push hasn't been limited to a casino.
Emanuel's administration also has lobbied for the flexibility to place some of the 4,000 city gambling positions at O'Hare International and Midway airports.
The latest poll suggests voters dislike the idea of slot machines greeting visitors. Just 43 percent of voters polled approved of airport slots while 51 percent disapproved.
Again, the poll found a divide along racial lines. White voters were almost evenly split on airport gambling, with 48 percent in support and 47 percent opposed. By comparison, 41 percent of black voters backed the slots to 53 percent who were opposed, while 42 percent of Latino voters backed the change and 55 percent did not.
The poll of 800 registered voters was conducted April 30-May 6 and has an error margin of 3.5 percentage points.
If state lawmakers were to approve the slots, Chicago would become the first U.S. city outside Nevada to offer gambling at an airport. Currently, only McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and Reno-Tahoe International Airport offer slot machines.
In both those airports, the blinking lights and ringing bells of the slots are visible on the terminals, greeting travelers as they walk off a plane. The Emanuel administration, however, does not envision the same kind of atmosphere in Chicago.
"If this does move forward, it will not be like Las Vegas where slots are visible as soon as you walk off a plane," said Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the mayor. "Any slot machines would be in a secured, separate area similar to a private airline club — where individuals can access, but they are not readily visible to people traveling through the airport."
The current version of the gambling expansion bill requires the slots to be located beyond security checkpoints and available only to airline passengers who are at least 21 and "members of a private club."
Another administration source noted that many international airports offer gambling as an amenity and said the administration believes airport slots are a good idea that would be appealing to travelers. Having slots at O'Hare and Midway, the source said, also would be a benefit to the city because it would allow it to tap revenue from gamblers traveling to the region who might not visit a downtown casino.
McBride, the Northwest Side retiree who supports a casino, said he's concerned about what airport slots would do to the city's image and is skeptical about the financial impact.
"Slots will just clutter things up. I don't think those will be a big revenue-maker anyway," he said. "People don't go to the airport to gamble. They go there to get on a plane."
Sharon Becker, another survey respondent, said that while she opposes a downtown casino, she wouldn't mind slots at O'Hare and Midway.
"I think a casino would create more problems than the city already has, but slot machines at the airport would be OK," said Becker, 70, who lives in the Gold Coast neighborhood. "That would just bring in revenue from the travelers, so why not?"
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