{"id":195590,"date":"2021-12-16T02:01:42","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T10:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=195590"},"modified":"2021-12-16T09:48:50","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T17:48:50","slug":"chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, Cites High Addiction Rates Among Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some area residents in Chicago’s Chinatown are speaking up about their concerns regarding a casino resort potentially coming to the community.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago
Chicago’s Willis Tower is seen in the distance from the Windy City’s Chinatown neighborhood. Some in the Asian community believe a casino resort is best reserved for elsewhere in Chicago. (Image: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Illinois passed a commercial gaming bill in 2019 that Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed into law that July. The casino expansion package authorized five casinos in the Chicago suburbs<\/a>, plus a larger integrated resort (IR) downtown.<\/p>\n

\n

Last month, Chicago unveiled the five qualifying IR proposals<\/a> for the lone downtown Windy City casino license. Four of them are targeting sites in the Near South Side, which is adjacent to Chinatown.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rush Street Gaming, Bally’s, and Hard Rock have each rendered IR schemes to the city that propose large casino resorts in and around the McCormick Place convention center. Chicago-based Rush Street has pitched the city two IR possibilities for the McCormick area.<\/p>\n

Asian Gambling Prevalence <\/b><\/h2>\n

Community leaders in the Chinatown community believe bringing such a casino to the neighborhood would exploit a population that is already vulnerable to developing gambling problems.<\/p>\n

\n

If you were to ask anyone off the street, most likely nine out of 10 will tell you they know someone who struggles with gambling,”<\/strong> declared resident Eunice Liao.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Liao made her comments to Block Club Chicago<\/i><\/a>, a local nonprofit news organization. Liao heads a problem gambling program in Chinatown at the Pui Tak Center, a church-based community center. Chicago’s Greater Chinatown community has a population estimated at north of 30,000 people.<\/p>\n

Gambling is a cherished pastime for many Asian cultures. “If you don’t gamble, you don’t know how lucky you are,” is a popular saying among Chinese gamblers.<\/p>\n

But mental health experts say the line between recreational gambling and playing for entertainment’s sake is often blurred with problem gaming behavior.<\/p>\n

“Casinos have capitalized on this by marketing aggressively to Asians — especially Asian immigrants — by offering Asian entertainers, ethnic food, free transportation, and even card dealers who speak Asian languages,” explains a Psychology Today<\/i> study on problem gambling risks in Asian populations in the US where casinos exist nearby.<\/p>\n

Casinos Could Quash Worries<\/b><\/h2>\n

Rush, Bally’s, and Hard Rock are set to present their five casino blueprints during an in-person and online streaming event today beginning at 12:45 pm CST.<\/p>\n

In-person attendees, as well as those watching remotely, will be able to ask the casino operators questions regarding their development plans. The press conference will stream online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Chicago’s request for proposals issued in April detailed an array of minimum requirements and amenities for qualifying IR bids. The RFP stated that proposals must come with 500 or fewer hotel rooms, meeting space, restaurants and bars, and an entertainment venue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But the RFP said nothing about what sort of requirements the downtown Chicago casino must offer to prevent the resort from delivering societal harms to at-risk populations.<\/p>\n

One solution is to allocate a small portion of the associated gaming tax revenue the casino would generate, opines Grace Cham McKibben, executive director of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community,<\/strong><\/p>\n

The goal is to fund local support and treatment programs in the communities directly surrounding the resort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some area residents in Chicago’s Chinatown are speaking up about their concerns regarding a casino resort potentially coming to the community. Illinois passed a commercial gaming bill in 2019 that Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed into law that July. The casino expansion package authorized five casinos in the Chicago suburbs, plus a larger integrated resort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":195596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, High Addiction Rates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some area residents in Chicago's Chinatown are speaking up with their concerns regarding a casino resort potentially coming to the community.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, High Addiction Rates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some area residents in Chicago's Chinatown are speaking up with their concerns regarding a casino resort potentially coming to the community.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T10:01:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T17:48:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/chinatown.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/\",\"name\":\"Chicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, High Addiction Rates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/chinatown.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-16T10:01:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-16T17:48:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"Some area residents in Chicago's Chinatown are speaking up with their concerns regarding a casino resort potentially coming to the community.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/chinatown.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/chinatown.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Chicago Chinatown casino integrated resort\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Chicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, Cites High Addiction Rates Among Community\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\",\"name\":\"Devin O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Devin O'Connor\"},\"description\":\"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, High Addiction Rates","description":"Some area residents in Chicago's Chinatown are speaking up with their concerns regarding a casino resort potentially coming to the community.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, High Addiction Rates","og_description":"Some area residents in Chicago's Chinatown are speaking up with their concerns regarding a casino resort potentially coming to the community.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-12-16T10:01:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-16T17:48:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/chinatown.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Devin O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CasinoorgDevinO","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Devin O'Connor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/","name":"Chicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, High Addiction Rates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/chinatown.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-16T10:01:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-16T17:48:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf"},"description":"Some area residents in Chicago's Chinatown are speaking up with their concerns regarding a casino resort potentially coming to the community.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/chinatown.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/chinatown.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Chicago Chinatown casino integrated resort"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-chinatown-voices-casino-concerns-high-addiction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Chicago Chinatown Voices Casino Concerns, Cites High Addiction Rates Among Community"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf","name":"Devin O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","caption":"Devin O'Connor"},"description":"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}