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Tuesday, October 14, 2008 8:59 PM CDT
Where will the next Illinois casino land?



SPRINGFIELD — Potential sites for a new casino in Illinois are set to be announced Wednesday, and observers of the industry say odds are it’ll end up somewhere in the Chicago area.

Several Chicago-area suburbs have made no secret of their desire to lure gamblers – along with their tourism and tax dollars – to their towns.

But if Illinois locales outside of Chicago have interests in gaining the state’s 10th casino license, they appear to have been mostly quiet about it.

Though the process so far has been kept mostly under wraps, lawmakers from the southern Illinois, Decatur and Bloomington areas said Tuesday they haven’t heard any inklings locally about luring a casino.

A spokeswoman for the northern Illinois city of Rockford, which is often mentioned as a casino candidate, said casino talks have been quiet lately.

Danville is also regularly brought up as a contender, but Mayor Scott Eisenhauer said his city mulled the idea for two months before deciding not to bid for the 10th license.

’’We gave it a great deal of thought and consideration,’’ he said.

Exactly what towns are bidding for a new casino, and which companies they’ve partnered with, are set to be revealed at an Illinois Gaming Board meeting in Chicago Wednesday. An attorney for the board said he couldn’t make those bids public Tuesday.

Illinois Casino Gaming Association director Tom Swoik said focus on the Chicago area as a casino’s new home might be inevitable, but that nothing’s set in stone.

’’There’s no doubt the market up here is bigger,’’ he said from Chicago.

The state’s 10th casino license has been in flux for several years. It has been tied up in court and bid processes since 2001, after a deal to host the 10th license in the Chicago-area village of Rosemont fell apart.

Now, the state’s budget is betting on someone bidding at least $575 million to build a new Illinois casino before July of next year. Some have questioned that number, noting Illinois gambling revenues have dipped this year thanks to the state’s indoor smoking ban and economic pressures.

Mike Riopell can be reached at mike.riopell@lee.net or 789-0865

 


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