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"What Las Vegas has done, in classic Las Vegas style, they've turned many of these implosions into spectacles," said Geoff Schumacher, historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum.
The Virginia controversy over the casino comes amid a push in recent years to expand gambling options, particularly sports betting, in numerous states. Made easy and accessible online and on smartphone apps, sports betting has exploded in popularity since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door to states legalizing it.
The Tropicana's hotel towers tumbled in a celebration that included a fireworks display. It was the first implosion in nearly a decade for a city that loves fresh starts and that has made casino implosions as much a part of its identity as gambling itself.
Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, recently urged Catholics to treat gambling with caution, reminding the faithful that the Church opposes any gambling that puts a person’s financial stability at risk.
Illinois surpassed $2 billion in tax revenue last year from all types of gambling and the state lottery – a record bolstered by continued growth in video gambling, sports betting and the opening of several new casinos.
Horse racing, on the other hand, has continued to dwindle in Illinois. After Arlington Racetrack closed in 2021 and sold the land to the Chicago Bears, Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney and Fairmount Park in Collinsville are the only two racetracks remaining in operation. The report notes horse racing brought in “a mere $6 million” in state revenues last year, and that “racinos” – provided for in a massive 2019 law that legalized sports betting and created six new casino licenses – have not yet materialized as a lifeline for racetracks.
“The opening of additional casinos provides an abundance of new gaming opportunities for gamblers in Illinois,” the report said. “However, there are concerns of oversaturation. … By the end of FY 2024, the number of video gaming terminals in operation across Illinois has grown to over 48,000, the equivalent of over 40 ‘full-size’ Illinois casinos.”
The two juggernauts complained loudly about a new, higher-rate tax structure imposed on sports betting in May, though COGFA’s report noted that not all of Illinois’ sports betting licenses have yet been claimed, and that sports betting revenues “have grown rapidly” since the market launched in 2020.
As Las Vegas rapidly evolved in the following decades, including a building boom of Strip megaresorts in the 1990s, the Tropicana also underwent major changes. Two hotel towers were added in later years. In 1979, the casino's beloved $1 million green-and-amber stained glass ceiling was installed above the casino floor.
Archbishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago of Leon has rejected re-zoning proposals that would allow casinos to be built in the Mexican city. He charged that such places promote addiction, drug trafficking and prostitution.
The impetus for Burbidge’s remarks, made on the Arlington Diocese’s “Walk Humbly” podcast, is an effort by some lawmakers to allow residents of Northern Virginia to vote to create a new casino in Fairfax County near Washington, D.C.
By the 1970s, federal authorities investigating mobsters in Kansas City charged more than a dozen operatives with conspiring to skim $2 million in gambling revenue from Las Vegas casinos, including the Tropicana. Charges connected to the Tropicana alone resulted in five convictions.
COGFA’s report indicates overall casino revenue growth is mainly due to the success of Rivers Casino in Des Plaines and the opening of five new casinos statewide in the past few years. A sixth, in Chicago’s south suburbs, is slated to open later this fall.
Though video gambling may be eating away at Illinois’ casino industry – a fear that has been vocalized since negotiations on legalizing the terminals 15 years ago – the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s report also blames “added competition from new casinos across Illinois.”
