Three cities were selected in Illinois to obtain a casino license

Waukegan, Rosemont and Des Plaines comprise the trio, whose representatives will show up this Tuesday before the council, with new arguments to convince its members to obtain the license.

Calumet, Stickney, Cícero and Harvey were not chosen, leaving Trilliant Gaming IL LLC from Rosemont; Midwest Gaming from DesPlaines and Waukegan Gaming LLC as finalists, waiting for a definite decision that would be taken before the end of 2008.

Ray Vucovich, government director of Waukegan, said: "The council has applied the original criterion to give advantage to the less-favoured communities. At this moment, we are working on the final presentation”.

The three finalists, through their representatives, will present before the Council, for an hour, the reasons why they consider they deserve to obtain the casino license. "I believe we have a very good opportunity to obtain a license”, said Richard Hyde, mayor of Waukegan.

Hyde indicated that the location of the city is ideal for a casino. “We would not affect casinos in Elgin, Joliet or Aurora", he pointed. He also said that Rosemont, the strongest competitor in terms of money bet with us$ 435 million, compared to us$ 225 million in Waukegan, would not be a good option. "Rosemont has 4,000 inhabitants and we have 91,000, and we are also the third poorest city in the state”, commented Hyde.

The mayor said that a casino in Waukegan would benefit the region and would attract customers in a ratio of 25 to 30 miles. Besides, it would promote the creation of approximately 1,500 new employments at us$ 13 and us$ 15 per hour that would benefit Lake County and nearby communities.

"We need casinos to help the poorest communities and we are in the same situation than Elgin, Joliet and Aurora before they had their casinos”, added Hyde.

Besides, lawyer Paul Janson said, on behalf of Trilliant Gaming IL LLC of Rosemont, that he could not make comments on the matter. “I can just say it is exciting to be among the three finalists”, he indicated.

Janson added that the presentation will last 1 hour and 30 minutes for answers and questions. “I cannot bring details on who will support it", he said.