Political FIx: Much about schools, little about gambling

A post on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Political Fix blog echoes what I have been writing all along- the gambling interests operating in Missouri are looking to vastly improve their bottom lines, all the while claiming that it's being done for Missouri's children.

Tbe Post-Dispatch noted the money Ameristar Casinos and Pinnacle Entertainment poured into the Yes On A Coalition earlier this month, something originally written about in the Sept. 10 Turner Report.

Here is the take of the Post-Dispatch's Jake Wagman:

The Nov. 4 ballot item would erase all betting limits at Missouri casinos. It would also provide an incremental increase to the percentage of gambling revenue dedicated to education — which is why when the casinos flood state airwaves in the coming weeks with commercials supporting the push, you’ll hear plenty about helping schools and little if anything about gambling.

The concept of paying for education through gambling is a flawed one, but it is even more so when a ballot issue would eliminate Missouri's innovative loss-limit requirements and when it would serve as a barrier to any competition to the state's firmly-entrenched gambling operations.