Coming to Gas Stations and Convenience Stores Near You

by Cal Skinner 

As we were on our vacation to the Intermountain West the last part of June, my family was amused at my taking photos of gambling signs and machines. Look at the difference in the British Petroleum gas station sign in Minnesota, seen at the left, and the one just across the South Dakota border to the right. (Click to enlarge any image.)

Under the capital construction plan McHenry County's Pam Althoff and Mike Tryon supported, there will be five slot machines (euphemistically called “video poker machines”) in all sorts of establishments that have liquor licenses. Think your neighborhood convenience store. No longer will people have to travel to the Elgin casino to lose their paycheck.

I found my first shot machines at a Wisconsin truck stop where we ate at the Happy Trails Roadside Dinner. (To my surprise, there was nothing about Roy Rogers.) They were located in a little room between the gas station and convenience store and the restaurant. One was called

Treasure Hunt.

My son thought it was neat. The slot machine looked just like the video games younger kids play. In the hall near the lottery stand was a machine I haven't seen since the Caribbean cruise we took about seven years ago. There, the

Pot of Silver

game was in the ship's casino. Clearly, it was a gambling device, luring people by showing racks of quarters which could, oh so easily, be swept into the tray for you to take home. We found the same kind of machine, albeit jammed, at the Dixie Truckers Stop south of Bloomington on I-55.

It was called

Tropical Treasure

there and can be seen sitting to the left of the other slot machines. Governor Pat Quinn is about to break ties to his party's liberals and sign this massive expansion of gambling bill on Monday. I believe I have read that this expansion will make turn Illinois into the biggest gambling state in the United States of America. Somehow, with our sordid history of corruption, that seems appropriate. I don't suppose calls to Quinn's office would make any difference now that he has announced his deal with the devil, but, if you feel strongly about protecting the weakest among us, please give him a call.

Comments

[elginite]

Thank you for the Elgin plug :)

[Dennis C. Ryan]

This reminds me of all the "video games" every
7-ELEVEN had in the store twenty years ago. Kids would spend their whole allowances "competing" against each other playing these worthless electronic games.
(Tongue in cheek time, now:) "At least with the slots,
they would have a chance to get something back for their time and money."
Seriously, you can't protect a fool from himself.