Adding slot machines to area horse race tracks could mean more money for agriculture and higher education, and more money in a time of low funds is always good.
Legislation was recently proposed to create racinos, which add video, telephone and Internet wagering to Michigan horse racetracks and also could provide higher education some much-needed extra cash.
In declaring his immediate support of pro-racino state legislation as a means of possibly generating university revenue, MSU President M. Peter McPherson makes a strong statement of where his vested interests lie - in 'U'.
The current legislation to bring racinos to Michigan racetracks calls for video slot machines to be installed at horse-racing venues in an effort to provide a variety of activities to gamblers. Proponents say the bill could generate $400 million for the state general fund to combat the $920 million budget shortfall.
We applaud McPherson's early support and leadership for an initiative that apparently does MSU no immediate or coming financial harm.
Critics, on the other hand,dispute racinos as the evil scourge of gambling addiction running rampant, and they don't want to support the funneling of dirty money to MSU funds.
So, while McPherson's support was based on a seemingly certain method of helping MSU through a budget crisis, his ethics have taken heat.
Gambling is gambling is gambling. The addition of racinos to racetracks merely offers gamblers more ways to, well, gamble. Gambling abuse is the culprit in giving racinos a black eye, not the practice of gambling.
Placing a bet on "She's a Lady" to chalk in the third is hardly compulsive and certainly not a cut to the general welfare.
Gambling remains a personal choice, squarely on the shoulders of the individual to determine where his or her wages rest at the end of the day.
The abuse of gambling is the unethical element in the equation, not the practice itself. Since a substantial amount of these gambled wages goes into the state's general fund earmarked for agriculture and MSU, it makes McPherson's support look smart.
A $400 million check will not be written from the racinos directly to MSU. State school aid potentially would receive $150 million per year, and of the remaining income, 35 percent would head to the general fund after the racetracks carve their shares.
There is no promise that agricultural research would be the primary beneficiary of that 35 percent, but the ramifications of denying the bill's potential to provide a substantial amount of funding to MSU would look more foolish down the road than a full-scale denouncement now.
It doesn't look as if racinos will overflow MSU's pockets with cash any time soon, but for McPherson to state agriculture as his chief reason for backing the racino bill, it does look more and more like a solid bet that racinos will come up a winner for 'U' in the long run.
