Chicago mayoral candidate and former Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy recently said he would support a casino at O’Hare International Airport as a way to help alleviate the city’s financial woes. Besides generating new revenue for the city, McCarthy said an airport casino would avoid the concerns associated with a city casino.
“The issue with a casino in the city, my understanding, was all of the problems it causes in the community. How about we put a casino in O’Hare Airport where now it’s for travelers coming through and it’s not going to affect the community, and anybody who goes there has to go through TSA? That’s going to eliminate the issue of the downside of not being able to control what happens, you know, whether it’s organized crime, prostitution, narcotics or whatever it is and, at the same time, that’s going to generate revenue,” McCarthy said.
He added, “How many people come through O’Hare and have layovers, and have to sit around for hours and hours and hours? If they’re sitting at a blackjack table, there’s going to be revenue generated.”
McCarthy is running against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who fired him in 2015. Emanuel has pushed for a downtown Chicago casino, and supported slots at O’Hare International, where aldermen recently approved part of his large, proposed expansion project. McCarthy said locating a casino there would be a logical extension of that project.
