During a raucous community meeting where police removed more than a half-dozen citizens, the Aurora, Illinois City Council unanimously approved a redevelopment deal between the city and Hollywood Casino to move the casino from downtown to the northeast side of Aurora.
Penn Entertainment would invest at least $300 million in the project and the city would offer nearly $60 million in bonds. Also, the city will give the casino city-owned land worth $8 million and will also transfer $6.65 million in options to buy two sites adjacent to the casino.
The venue would feature a casino with 950 gaming machines and a Barstool Sportsbook, plus a 200-room hotel, six restaurants, meeting rooms, an outside event area and a 10,000-square-foot event center.
Opponents of the agreement said the casino can move from downtown but they’re against using property taxes to help pay for it. They noted Penn Entertainment, which reported $2.75 billion in gross profits in 2021, according to a Nasdaq report, can afford to build the casino itself. They said city money should go to schools and other taxing bodies.
The protesters also said the city should have discussed the deal in public forums to get residents’ opinions, and a traffic-impact study should have been completed. They said the deal was rushed. In response, David Dibo, director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, said the redevelopment agreement would “kick-start” the process. He said public forums and a large open house could be held.
Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin countered that the city has worked on moving the casino for four years, purchasing properties near the proposed casino site. City and casino officials have said factors such as the proliferation of casinos and the smoking ban have caused casino revenue the city receives to drop from $15 million to $6 million a year. However, Dibo said casino and city officials have estimated gaming tax could double to at least $12 million a year and food and beverage and hotel-motel taxes could bring in another $1 million a year.
When the casino opened in 1993, it was required by the state to be on a riverboat that would cruise the Fox River during gambling sessions. The city successfully lobbied the state to change the law so the casino could move onto dry land without having to get a new state gambling license. As required by state law, the casino portion of the current facility is located on a permanently moored barge.
Todd George, executive vice president of operations for Penn Entertainment, said the project represents “a casino of the future. We feel with the offering we put together that we have a shot at making Aurora proud, at making Penn Entertainment proud.”
Chris Rogers, executive vice president for business development and strategies for Penn, said it was “difficult to justify expanding in Illinois” due to the proliferation of video gambling machines. He said Illinois has enough video gambling machines to equal about 40 casinos. “The status quo is not a good situation for either Penn or the city of Aurora,” he said.
But the city urged Penn to consider an expansion with a facility that’s more of a resort than a casino. Rogers said the proposed location at Farnsworth and I-88 is “spectacular” and “superior” to the downtown location. Much of the needed infrastructure is intact, with about 10 times the amount of traffic going by compared to downtown, he said.
Rogers said the new casino would employ 700 people, twice the current number. Hollywood Casino General Manager Greg Moore said the jobs pay well and about 15 percent of the employees have worked at the casino for 20 years or longer. “Team members have been loyal to Aurora,” he said.
