Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Question of the day: 2021 Golden Horseshoe Awards
Next Post: *** LIVE COVERAGE ***
Posted in:
* Greg Hinz…
As bidders for a proposed Chicago casino prepare to showcase their plans to the public next week, one is taking an argument by bidder Neil Bluhm and turning it against Bluhm himself.
Bally’s, which has proposed to open a casino either on truck marshaling yards west of McCormick Place or on the Tribune printing plant property at Halsted and Chicago, is arguing it is the only bidder without a conflict of interest that could drive down gambling revenue and the tax take at the Chicago facility.
That’s a reference to the fact that Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming operates the Rivers Casino just west of Chicago in suburban Des Plaines, and that bidder Hard Rock has a casino just over the border in Indiana. […]
One prominent gaming consultant Bally’s referred me to, Matt Landry, the principal in New Hampshire-based Strategic Market Advisors, said that with tax rates in Chicago, Des Plaines and Indiana all at different levels, it will be tempting for a company to use marketing, incentive programs and the like to drive customers to where the tax rate is lowest.
Makes some sense.
* Mitchell Armentrout…
State regulators on Wednesday named their chosen developers to break ground on a new casino in Waukegan and another straddling the border of south suburban Homewood and East Hazel Crest, ending a selection process that dragged on for more than two years due to COVID-19 shutdowns and other delays.
While the location of the north suburban gambling emporium was never in doubt, the Illinois Gaming Board picked Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts Inc. to set up its high-stakes shop at the shuttered Fountain Square shopping center in Waukegan — though a legal challenge from a spurned competitor could still be looming.
The field was much wider for the south suburban casino license. The state gambling law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2019 that paved the way for the new casinos pitted a handful of suburbs against each other to bid for what is expected to be a cash cow for south suburban communities that have been economically neglected for generations.
Homewood/East Hazel Crest beat out Matteson with a proposal to build the casino just off Interstate 80 near 175th and Halsted streets. Calumet City and Lynwood were culled from the bidding process in October.
* Fran Spielman…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to lift the Chicago ban on sports betting — and impose a 2% tax on gross revenues from it — got stuck in a joint City Council committee Tuesday after a surprise buzz-saw of opposition from mayoral allies.
The trouble started when Connor Brashear, chief of staff to Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang-Bennett, pegged the city’s annual take from a 2% tax on sports betting in and around Chicago stadiums at $400,000 to $500,000.
That’s based on an estimated $25 million in annual revenue from sports betting in Chicago.
“I just think $400,000-to-$500,000-a-year to the city of Chicago is really paltry—even when you add in the licensing fee that these guys are gonna have to pay. It seems like peanuts for an industry that is growing,” said Budget Committee Chairwoman Pat Dowell (3rd). […]
Even Ald. George Cardenas (12th), Lightfoot’s deputy floor leader, complained 2% was “not enough” and the city was “rushing” a sports betting ordinance with no minority participation — one that threatens to undermine the casino revenue needed to shore up police and fire pensions.
* A related media advisory…
A group of Black Economic Development Activists led by retired State Senator Rickey Hendon fight for Minority Ownership in Sports Betting. They are seeking a change in State Law which is needed to help the effort which failed yesterday to bring Sports Betting to Chicago. “Our hope is to help Mayor Lightfoot in her efforts and to give people of color a chance to get minority participation within ten blocks of the stadiums”, Hendon said. The Senator was Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Gaming and a Member of the Gaming Committee when he served in the Illinois Senate.
* Press release…
Governor JB Pritzker today joined elected officials, stakeholders, and labor leaders to break ground on the new Walker’s Bluff Resort and Casino. Made possible after the Illinois Gaming Board’s June 9, 2021 determination that Walker’s Bluff is preliminarily suitable for licensure, the new resort is slated to include a 116-room hotel along with a gaming floor, event center, and multiple restaurants, among other attractions.
“I was proud to work with the General Assembly to expand gaming and bring jobs and economic opportunity to Southern Illinois. Walker’s Bluff was already a popular attraction, bringing in tourists and business meetings from across the region. Now with the addition of hundreds of slot machines and game tables, and an on-site hotel, this expansion will bring in even more visitors to take advantage of the beauty and hospitality of Southern Illinois,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “That also means more opportunity for working families across the region – creating 1,100 construction jobs and 330 permanent roles at the resort.”
Since 2008, Walker’s Bluff has served as an entertainment and tourist destination for Southern Illinois, offering jobs and opportunities to hundreds of local residents and bringing thousands of visitors face to face with Southern Illinois’ natural beauty. Thanks to the gaming bill that Governor Pritzker signed during his first year in office, the Walker’s Bluff Resort and Casino will open the door to even more economic development.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 3:19 pm
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Question of the day: 2021 Golden Horseshoe Awards
Next Post: *** LIVE COVERAGE ***
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Lightfoot’s only allies basically sinking her sports gambling proposal is… something.
Comment by Nick Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 3:30 pm
===That’s based on an estimated $25 million in annual revenue from sports betting in Chicago.===
Annual or monthly? That seems too small to be the annual amount.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 3:33 pm
== One prominent gaming consultant Bally’s referred me to, Matt Landry, the principal in New Hampshire-based Strategic Market Advisors, said that with tax rates in Chicago, Des Plaines and Indiana all at different levels, it will be tempting for a company to use marketing, incentive programs and the like to drive customers to where the tax rate is lowest. ==
Strikes me as a good point, it would seem that Chicago would want an operator who has all their Chicago media market (for want of a better geographic area) in one Chicago basket.
I don’t see how having multiple properties in the area is an advantage for Chicago in picking an operator, it is for the operator, but not the city.
Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 3:35 pm
I love how the only concerns are ever over the amount of cut the city can get or who’s allowed to own it.
Nothing about just giving city residents more options in life because they want them. Who cares about the actual residents.
Comment by 33rd ward Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 4:15 pm
Four towns competed for the South Suburban Casino, three majority black one majority white. They gave it to the white town.
Comment by head scratcher Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 4:48 pm
“As bidders for a proposed Chicago casino prepare to showcase their plans to the public next week”
What say Lou Lang and his Advantage Government Strategies LLC group ?
Comment by Donnie Elgin Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 4:51 pm
Great news for the Walkers Bluff crew
Comment by ANNON'IN Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 5:07 pm
==They gave it to the white town.==
Both Homewood and East Hazel Crest are majority minority towns. Being the furthest from NWI casinos and right off the interstate probably helped their chances. But keep with the conspiracy theories.
Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 5:13 pm
Southern Illinois can’t support two casinos.i give Metropolis 1 yr after walkers bluff opens.
Comment by Blue Dog Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 6:52 pm
I enjoy how we all make considerable efforts to ignore that there is ample economic research that demonstrates that casinos are what economists would describe as a “net social negative” and that gaming in general is a net social negative.
I guess people living in Carbondale, Carterville, and Marion can now decide to head up to the casino instead of playing the slots at their local “gaming parlor”, gas station, or a mid price restaurant that’s owners didn’t think the establishment was too classy to have machine gaming off to one side.
Comment by Candy Dogood Wednesday, Dec 8, 21 @ 9:51 pm
“I enjoy how we all make considerable efforts to ignore that there is ample economic research that demonstrates that casinos are what economists would describe as a “net social negative” and that gaming in general is a net social negative.”
I don’t really enjoy that. It concerns me when gambling is in an area that is isolated from other forms of entertainment.
I think a Chicago casino, if in an area that already attracts tourists, could be a net social positive, for people who seek gambling for entertainment purposes.
Comment by Da big bad wolf Thursday, Dec 9, 21 @ 8:27 am