Ovid Demaris’ 1969 screamer was sold by sensationalist Lyle Stuart Books as a history of Chicago as “the killing ground, the training school, the pace setter” for crime poisoning “every level of American society.” The ribald, even rabid verbiage teeters to collapse: “A multibillion-dollar-a-year extravaganza, gambling in Chicago makes Las Vegas look like a Saturday night crap game in the rear of Schultz’s delicatessen.” Of course now, book and policy are a state of Illinois franchise, meant to benefit education, yet still prone to predation, such as scratch-offs sold to 7-Eleven-level gamblers without informing them that the pot of marquee prizes is done. (Ray Pride)
