Five frustrated state representatives from Chicago’s south suburbs recently sent a letter to Governor J.B. Pritzker, asking him to push the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) to award a casino license to one of four competing operators.
They wrote, “Your constituents in south suburban Chicago have suffered many hardships in the last two years, but none may be worse than the failure of their own government to act on legislatively sanctioned proposals to create new jobs, higher incomes and more robust local economies.”
The five—state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, chair of the House Cities and Villages Committee, Marcus Evans, Nick Smith, Bob Rita and Debbie Meyers-Martin—added, “Please spur IGB into action. Every day that we delay the casino project in the Southland—where annual household incomes range as low as $27,000—means another day that families in our area are denied chances to win better jobs and better incomes.”
Rita led the push for gaming expansion legislation approved by lawmakers in May 2019. The legislation required the gaming board to solicit and review applications and award a casino license to the south suburbs by October 2020. Board members have said they’re overwhelmed with work related to Covid-19 and other aspects of the 2019 gaming expansion.
The applicants are Calumet City and partner Delaware North; Wind Creek LLC and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians; Lynwood and the Ho-Chunk Nation; and Matteson and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Currently a consultant hired by the gaming board has been conducting background checks and reviewing other materials.
“The bottom line is, the applicants, they don’t feel they’re any closer,” DeLuca said. He added his group has met a few times with the gaming board “where there was very good communication. I felt they were very transparent and forthright about what the process was. The problem is, there doesn’t seem to be follow through on that, and that’s what prompted this letter.”
Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter responded, “The IGB fully appreciates the significance of the new casino license to the communities of the south suburbs. The casino application process is a rigorous and significant undertaking. The IGB is obligated to act in the public interest and to ensure that the licensing process adheres to the law and operates with accountability, integrity and transparency.”
