Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Another Illinois Gaming Push?

March 4, 2010

The Statehouse is buzzing yet again with talk of a new gaming plan. This time, the players say, they have their acts together. Really.

The action started when Rep. Will Burns (D-Chicago) introduced a bill to put slot machines at horseracing tracks throughout Illinois. The idea would be to use the money for capital projects.

Part of the capital bill's current funding mechanism - video poker in taverns, truck stops and fraternal organizations - has come under increasingly heated attack by editorial boards while local governments are opting out at an alarming rate. The state's checkbook is empty, so using that to borrow money is difficult.

The Gaming Board is taking its sweet time in preparing rules and regulations for the placement of the slots. Mayor Daley also indicated recently that he wasn't thrilled with the idea of legalizing the machines for Chicago.

Things apparently got going when House Speaker Michael Madigan reportedly suggested that his bill be used as a basis for Burns' measure. That bill would raise more money than Burns' bill would have, so negotiations began in earnest.

Usually, the track owners will bicker amongst themselves and try to cut out the horsemen as much as possible until the whole thing dies, but negotiations have apparently gone far better this time around than in the past and the owners and the horsemen are reportedly close to an agreement. The sputtering economy and the fact that Illinois is losing quality horses to other states which have higher purses is apparently playing a major role in spurring the negotiators on.

Whether anything will ever come of this is anybody's guess at the moment, as usual. The Senate Democrats don't seem too excited, for instance, and Speaker Madigan's people aren't exactly jumping up and down with glee, although Madigan did reportedly have a meeting with proponents a few weeks ago in Chicago.

Rep. Burns dealt with numerous complicated negotiations when he was a high-level member of Senate Democratic staff, and his fresh approach is certainly drawing a lot of Statehouse interest. Gov. Quinn said in December that the state ought to take a look at slots at tracks. The new proposal would inject about $300 million almost immediately into the capital projects program.