* August 21 Sun-Times story…

A coalition of mayors from mostly African American south suburbs are calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to reconsider a key portion of the state’s new gambling law, which they say gives the house edge to owners of a combination horse racetrack-casino over majority-black towns vying for a separate casino license nearby.

Not only would the two new full-blown gambling dens compete with one another for customers in a saturated suburban market, but the law also potentially allows the racino owners to block a traditional casino from setting up shop in the first place. That “11th hour” provision to the gaming bill only benefits “a wealthy, white track owner,” according to Matteson Village President Sheila Chalmers-Currin.

First of all, the south suburbs isn’t currently saturated with casinos. The south suburbs have been trying for years to get a casino, now they’re getting two and possibly a third in the form of a racino.

And as I told you then, this criticism was based on a misreading of the new state law. The statute only allows current track owners to veto the location of a new racino, not the south suburban casinos. The Matteson mayor even acknowledged her mistake to the Sun-Times in a follow-up article…

The Matteson mayor acknowledged the misreading, saying she and other south suburban leaders have since “gotten some clarification on that” from state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, an architect of the casino expansion.

* And then the Matteson mayor and others held a press conference over the weekend to repeat their initially false claims…

A group of south suburban mayors claims the recently passed gaming bill has a bias against their communities.

Matteson Mayor Sheila Chalmers-Currin said south suburbs are being short-changed in their effort to build a casino. […]

Chalmers-Currin said the gaming bill gives the horse racing industry full control of where any future casino will be located.

“This proposed law appears to allow two casinos, but we know this will never happen and the favored track owner will have the only gaming property in Cook County.”