* Are the gaming bill negotiations working? Maybe…

[State Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, one of the gambling bill’s sponsors] said he thinks the governor and the bill’s sponsors are 75 percent of the way toward a resolution.

Quinn also hinted at a timetable. “I think here by the end of the summer, we’ll have some basic principles that we have to have,” he said.

* But getting the governor to comment publicly about specifics has been nearly impossible. Yesterday, he told reporters that the Gaming Board had identified three regulatory problems with the bill, but he didn’t even say what those were. Considering that many or even most of the Board’s objections were shown to be without merit, maybe that’s why he wouldn’t elaborate. And Mayor Emanuel pointed out yesterday that he was for proper oversight…

“Jobs and proper oversight go hand in hand,” Emanuel said during an online chat hosted by the Better Government Association. “They are not at loggerheads.”

“I want the right oversight, because I want the integrity of this, and it can be done,” Emanuel added.

* Until now, one of the few specific problems Quinn has cited is that he doesn’t want slots at the State Fair Grandstand, even though people bet on horses almost every day during the event…

“Harness racing has been at the fair for a long time, but when you put in slot machines, that’s a wholly different situation,” Quinn said. “Who needs slot machines when you have (Grandstand entertainer) MC Hammer?”

But those slots will mean money for Downstate programs…

A gaggle of expansion supporters flooded the rally, wearing bright orange T-shirts asking Quinn to sign the legislation.

Gerard Fabrizius, chairman of the Kane-DuPage Soil and Water Conservation District, was among them, though he didn’t have an orange shirt because organizers ran out.

The gambling package includes the promise of new money for districts like his, which is why he traveled to Springfield to show his support.

“He needs to sign it because we’re floundering locally,” Fabrizius said.

* Quinn did offer up something new yesterday. Apparently, the existing casinos have gotten to him…

“I don’t think we can have what’s called cannibalization of gaming in Illinois, where there’s so many different places there’s gambling that it ends up hurting the overall product,” Quinn said. “We have to do this in a prudent way.”

Considering all that Illinois money going to Indiana’s casinos, however, this may not be as big a problem as it may appear. Also, Quinn has publicly dissed Danville’s bid to host a casino. Where the heck would they cannibalize from?

* Watch Gov. Quinn discuss the gaming issue…