This is a bit odd.

Senate President Emil Jones Jr. on Thursday urged members of the Illinois Gaming Board to protect investments that minorities and women made in the bankrupt Emerald Casino, while some of those investors proposed an alternate plan that would allow them to keep their money.

Gambling opponents responded that it wasn’t the Gaming Board’s job to protect minority and women investors from risk.[…]

In an unusual move, Jones personally addressed the Gaming Board for the first time. He told members that lawmakers passed a law that required some investors in Emerald be minorities and women.

“You must do the right thing. You must protect those investors because we wrote the law to ensure that they participate,” the Chicago Democrat said. “Why should one adhere to the law if their investment is subject to be jeopardized?”

Jones, who is black and has been a strong advocate for making sure riverboat gambling proceeds benefit poor and minority communities, said he knows several of the minority and women investors in Emerald Casino.