Chairman Tracy steps down from Gaming Board
Thursday, Jun 20, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Capitol News Illinois…
Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Inc. completed its $326 million acquisition of a majority stake in Rivers Casino in Des Plaines despite state gambling regulators concerns that the new ownership group does not include enough women and minorities.
The Illinois Gaming Board gave its initial approval of the sale on March 1, pending the execution of final documents to seal the transaction. At the time, board members said they wanted Churchill Downs to make a “good faith effort” to bring in more women and minority investors over the next 90 days so they would comprise up to 10 percent of the ownership interest.
Gaming board officials confirmed this week the transaction was finalized June 4, despite the fact that there had been no stock sales to female and minority investors, something that had been a statutory condition of granting the original license in 2008 to a consortium that included Midwest Gaming and Entertainment LLC, Rush Street Gaming LLC, and a Canadian private equity firm, Clairvest Group Inc.
During a June 13 meeting in Chicago, Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Donald Tracy said that even though the deal had closed, he wanted the board to continue reviewing the transaction and to take up the issue again at the board’s next meeting Aug. 1. […]
Tracy made that comment during what turned out to be his final meeting as a member of the board. He has since resigned and Gov. J.B. Pritzker has accepted his resignation.
As we discussed earlier this week, Tracy was appointed by Gov. Rauner. The two were quite close.
- Glengarry - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 9:04 pm:
Great to see spammers here. Prepare to be blocked.
- Changed My Name - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 10:23 pm:
Say what you want about Tracy and I had zero respect for Rauner but Tracy’s predecessor Jaffe was nothing but a tool for Neil Bluhm. When they awarded that license to Rivers in Des Plaine’s it was a joke. A total set up. They took 10 or so bidders and picked three to bid against each other. The other two besides Rivers? Rosemont and Waukegan. Both had hair on them from the get go that everyone knew about beforehand (Rosemont mobbed up and Waukegan Cellini). And then those problems were the excuse that the board used why they had to take a much lower bid from Rivers. A bid hundreds of millions less. How and why they made it to the final three was a joke.
Bluhm made out like a bandit.