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Gambling Bill Edges Closer

December 12, 2007

House Speaker Michael Madigan showed his hand in gambling negotiations Monday, proposing a major expansion that would raise $1 billion a year through three additional casinos and thousands of slot machines at riverboats and horse tracks. Until now Madigan hadn't spelled out what he considers acceptable gambling expansion, complicating negotiations and leading to complaints that he was stalling.

State officials face growing pressure to come up with a massive deal by year's end on a statewide construction program and aid for Chicago-area mass transit systems. The construction would be funded by money from gambling expansion.

There was no clear indication that Madigan's proposal represented a significant breakthrough in months of discussions. Both Senate President Emil Jones and House Republican Leader Tom Cross cautioned after talking to Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday that there is more work to be done.

"So is there agreement? No. But the list (of disagreements) is getting smaller," Cross said.

Many downstate lawmakers refuse to support aid for Chicago transit unless it is accompanied by new construction projects across Illinois. That, in turn, requires a deal on the notoriously complex issue of gambling.

Two top House Democrats who introduced Madigan's plan at a Chicago news conference argued it was the catalyst for a resolution.

"This is the linchpin that's going to drive everything," said Rep. Bob Molaro, D-Chicago. "This is the real deal."

The House will meet next Monday to consider the proposal, Madigan said in a letter to lawmakers.

The new proposal includes many of the elements that already passed the Senate in September, including a huge, land-based casino in Chicago and thousands more slot machines at Illinois' nine existing riverboats.

Madigan's plan also calls for another new riverboat casino and reissuing Illinois' 10th casino license, which has been tied up in legal limbo since it was approved for the Chicago suburb of Rosemont in 1999. The Senate-backed plan called for creating two new licenses.

The speaker also wants 3,600 gambling positions at the state's five horse racing tracks, something the Senate idea did not include.

Both the Senate and the Madigan proposals call for a 70-30 split of new gambling money between construction and education, but Cross said there is no agreement yet on how to divide up the education portion.

Other possible roadblocks include how many hundreds of millions of dollars to charge the city of Chicago for the right to own a mega-casino, how to divide up ownership for minorities and women in the new casino licenses and how to restructure the Illinois Gaming Board that regulates casinos.

Jones, D-Chicago, said he still needed to see the fine print of Madigan's plan.

"You can put one thing on paper but it's what the words actually say," Jones said. "One word can change the whole concept."

Madigan didn't attend Monday's meeting, saying he wasn't officially invited. But spokesman Steve Brown said Madigan's regular meetings recently with Cross and Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson have been "much more productive," allowing the Republicans to discuss details with Jones and Blagojevich later.

The Democratic governor wasn't present but took part in the meeting by phone. His office would not say where the governor was.

The House hopes to vote on the gambling expansion plan and mass transit aid early next week, but a construction projects bill may not be ready then, Brown said.

The governor's office hadn't seen details of the proposal and would need to compare them with what leaders had discussed in recent weeks, said Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch.

"What we need to do is develop a plan to pass in both chambers," Rausch said.

Casino-Racing Updates The Lang-Molaro legislation includes:

A city-owned casino in Chicago with 4,000 gaming positions. State lawmakers would require the city to pay $200 million for its casino license — an amount that could be paid by whoever manages the facility on the city’s behalf. The Senate bill is seeking $800 million from the city to cover the cost of the license.

Besides Chicago’s casino, two new 1,200-position casinos (the same size as existing ones) that could go anywhere in the state. One of the casinos would be built through an auction of the state’s dormant 10th casino license. Another would be built through a new gaming license, which would be auctioned off.

Slot and video-poker machines at Arlington Park and the state’s four other horse tracks. All told, the tracks could have up to 3,600 machines, with 1,100 at Arlington, 900 at Hawthorne, 800 at Maywood, 300 at Balmoral and 500 at Downstate Fairmount. The so-called “racinos” would operate virtually 24 hours a day — the same hours at Illinois’ existing casinos.

Expansion of the state’s existing nine casinos not to exceed 3,500 new positions total.

Reforms to the Illinois Gaming and Racing boards to give them more regulatory power.