State Senators Bob Wirch, a Democrat and Van Wanggaard, a Republican, issued a joint statement Wednesday claiming a new report from the state’s Legislative Reference Bureau says the financial risk to the state from a Kenosha casino is significantly reduced from when then-Governor Scott Walker denied a casino there in 2015. Walker denied the casino because of the state’s financial liability based on the compacts at the time. In 2018, Walker and the Potawatomi tribe revised the compacts reducing the exposure.

We disagree with these senators and the report. A new casino anywhere comes with great risk to the state because it will bring crime, destroy local businesses, heighten the risk for additional addictions, and result in more problem gamblers, which in turn endangers marriages and families, the foundation of the state. These are risks we simply can’t afford.