Illinois: new sports betting proposal brings back gambling expansion odds

A massive expansion of casino gambling in Illinois was back with a boost Monday as a Democratic lawmaker took steps to make it part of a popular plan to legalize sports betting. Rep. Robert Rita’s measure would allow construction of six additional casinos and added gambling seats at existing sites. The Blue Island Democrat said tacking it onto the sports wagering measure would neutralize the web of criticism that has hamstrung the expansion plan.

Rep. Mike Zalewski, a Riverside Democrat, has been pursuing legalized sports wagering since last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for Illinois and other states by ending a Nevada monopoly.

”Sports betting is a component that everybody is looking for,” Rita said after the Executive Committee passed technical action allowing Rita to proceed, as reported by The Chicago Sun Times. “The existing casinos are looking for the sports betting. It’s the common denominator that could bring it all together.”

Advocates say the time is ripe, too. They say the USD 350 million annual tax revenue from an expansion plan is necessary as additional financing for Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s USD 41.5 billion state construction plan, which Pritzker wants approved by Friday, the scheduled adjournment of the General Assembly’s spring session.

Rita’s plan has yet to be written into a legislative proposal, but he said it would look similar to past ideas by adding a land-based casino in Chicago and as many as five riverboat casinos: one in Lake County north of the city, another at a site in Chicago’s south suburbs, and then one each in Rockford, Danville and Williamson County, all in southern Illinois. The proposal would also add seats for gambling, including table games at horse racing tracks and the creation of sweepstakes wagering.

Past debate has focused on the size and scope of such an expansion, the political and moral resistance to gambling, and which groups would benefit or be left out of construction jobs and gambling revenue. Such proposals have also faced protest from the horse racing industry, which was decimated over the past three decades by casino wagering.

Rita resurrected the idea a year ago during the final week of the Legislature’s spring session, but it went nowhere. Efforts to expand casino gambling originated nearly a decade ago, with the idea for a Chicago casino. The plan was pushed hard by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who left office this month after two terms without a casino groundbreaking. That original plan won legislative approval in May 2011, but Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, used a parliamentary procedure to delay sending the plan to then-Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, who vetoed it after deeming it “top heavy” and a “pile of garbage.”

Illinois law currently sanctions 10 riverboat casino licenses. There are casinos in Alton, East Peoria, Rock Island, Metropolis, Aurora, East St. Louis, Elgin, Des Plaines — and two in Joliet.

Labor unions push

One of the state’s largest labor unions urged lawmakers to pass an expanded gambling bill in the waning days of the 2019 session, saying it would not only create new jobs in Illinois but would provide needed funding for a multi-billion-dollar capital improvements plan.

“Illinois is recovering from the trauma of four years of budget impasse, starving out vital services, and a public works stagnation,” Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, said during a Statehouse news conference Tuesday. “An expansion of gaming will help fund much-needed infrastructure construction and be a shot in the arm for revenue for this state.”

The biggest obstacle to passing a gambling measure this year, however, is that with only three days left in the regular session, the bill still hasn’t been written.

“We have 80 hours to go. What are you worried about?” quipped Sen. Terry Link, D-Indian Creek, one of the lead supporters of expanded gambling in the Senate. “The bill is being drafted. It’s not like this is all new concepts. We’re working off of bills we’ve done in the past. We’re tweaking. We’re changing them around a lot.”

As of Tuesday evening, the committee had not yet come to an agreement on how to treat existing online sports betting operations.