Five other regions have also been earmarked for casinos, at yet-to-be-determined locations in Lake County, Rockford, Danville, Cook County, and Williamson County.<\/p>\n
Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) said last week Illinois is losing $1.6 billion in gambling revenue because casino expansion in neighboring states is drawing residents and their hard-earned dough across the state line.<\/p>\n
\n“We’re surrounded by five states that have declared war on Illinois and they’re building casinos on our borders,” he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nMoney to Be Made<\/b><\/h2>\n
According to Senator Terry Link (D-Waukegan), the driving force behind legislation, research suggests that the new casinos would bring the state nearly $1 billion in set-up fees alone. The Chicago property, and those in its suburbs, would pay a license fee of $100,000 plus $30,000 per gambling position; i.e, for each slot machine or table game seat.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe doors would be open for conventions, which is something that southern Illinois does not have,\u201d added Senator Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg).<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nHowever, others pointed out that expansion would have a detrimental impact on<\/p>\n
existing riverboat casinos, which currently give 50 percent of their revenues to the state, which may mean actual tax revenues figures may not be quite as pretty as have projected.<\/p>\n
The riverboats, however, would be permitted to house 400 more slot machines as compensation<\/a>, while the bill would also authorize slots at four horse racing tracks, as well as at Chicago airports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Illinois Senate approved a bill last week that would authorize six new land-based casinos in the state, however the proposal is stuck in limbo until lawmakers agree on a slew of other economy-boosting bills to go along with it. This is Illinois\u2019 so-called \u201cGrand Bargain,\u201d a legislative package which hopes to bring an end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":46234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Illinois Senate Approves Casino Expansion But \u201cGrand Bargain\u201d is Proving a Hard Bargain<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n