So, you think gambling is popular everywhere in Wisconsin? Wanna bet?

You can find about two dozen casinos, primarily operated by Native American tribes, all over Wisconsin. One place you won’t find a casino is La Crosse, because the local population has traditionally spoken out against organized gambling. There have been exceptions. In 1966, TV Bingo could be seen on some Wisconsin television stations, including Channel 8 in La Crosse. State leaders shut that down within a few months, arguing that businesses giving away Bingo cards was unfair to competitors that did not.

In 1973, a statewide referendum to allow bingo games for charity was approved. The following year, a John Doe investigation of illegal gambling led to a fine for a past president of La Crosse’s First National Bank, for setting up a “Las Vegas Night” at the La Crosse Club.

Wisconsin had its own lottery by 1988, and that same year, the city of La Crosse turned down a plan for a greyhound dog racing track near Mount La Crosse. Onalaska tried to apply for a dog track license, but missed a state deadline by a few minutes. Wisconsin approved five dog tracks, at sites like Kenosha, Hudson, and Dells. But once casinos were approved, the dog tracks all died out.

Shortly after a riverboat casino opened in Marquette, Iowa in 1994, the Lac du Flambeau tribe and Mayor Pat Zielke announced plans to convert La Crosse’s Holiday Inn into a $50 million casino. With the restaurant industry and local clergy leading the opposition to the plan, that idea was defeated in a La Crosse County referendum. Just five years later, the Ho-Chunk proposed a La Crosse casino. That led to another referendum, and another defeat. Since then, not much casino talk in the river city. But it’s an idea that got lots of support, yesterday in La Crosse.