How many times does Gov. Rod Blagojevich think Illinois residents will get suckered by the promise to help education with new gambling money?

Thirty-two years ago, the Illinois Lottery was introduced as the saving grace for school funding. What legislators failed to tell us was that the lottery money was going into a big funnel called Education Fund. And for every dollar that went into the top, a dollar of general fund money for education dropped out the bottom to be spent on ever-increasing day-to-day operating expenses.

Now the governor wants to allow keno in up to 2,000 bars, restaurants, convenience stores, etc. Keno is a game where you place money on numbers with a chance to win.

And his hook? An estimated $40 million in annual revenue from keno could pay the debt service if $500 million is borrowed for school buildings. Of course the borrowing would occur before keno money flows. That's a pretty bad bet based on this administration's track record of borrowing and putting off the bulk of payments until after Blagojevich leaves office.

The governor thinks he can approve keno without legislative approval. He's been wrong before on his borrowing schemes " many times.

He's wrong again - morally, if not legally.

He says this is not the expansion of gambling he campaigned against. Sorry, governor, your credibility is still slipping.

If it is such a great idea, he should make it the hallmark of his re-election campaign this year. Let the voters decide come November - Blagojevich and expanded gambling vs. no Blagojevich.

No, he wants to borrow and dish the money out to "buy" constituent votes for himself and his friends in the Democratic Party. Never mind whether the "estimated $40 million" ever materializes or where the money will come from if keno doesn't pay the way.

Blagojevich wants to equate keno to bingo. Yes, both are numbers games.

However, keep this in mind about keno: "The chances of hitting one number in 80 is 0.25 percent, making keno among the worst bets you can make." That came from the first hit on an Internet site with the question, "What is keno?"

We also wonder what makes the governor think keno games will bring in $40 million more in revenue. Will we have that many more gamblers. No, they'll likely spread their losses from other games.

We also wonder what incentive bar owners will have to put new keno machines right next to their "entertainment only" poker machines " you know, the ones that never pay off above the table because that would be illegal in Illinois. Bar owners with poker machines can negotiate their take. We'd be willing to bet state government won't do that. Besides, does anyone really think bar owners with poker machines or similar "entertainment machines" will want state officials dropping by to check on their keno machines?

If the governor and his favored legislators want to "bring home the bacon" to their constituents in this re-election year, let them buy the pigs with their own money.