Could a Chicago casino be in the works?; High-flown idea for Vegas

Taking a page from Kansas, lawmakers in Illinois are exploring the idea of a state-owned casino. A bill before the House Executive Committee would authorized a super-sized casino (up to 10,000 slots) in Chicago, with the proceeds dedicated to “public pensions, capital expenditures and education.” As in previous legislatures, Rep. Robert Rita (D, left) is the point man for the expansion of gambling. It may sound like a big idea but it’s nothing compared to a parallel bill in the state Senate that would authorize five additional casinos and add racinos (600 gaming positions if in Cook County, 450 elsewhere) to the state. Its chances in the House are deemed slim. One potentially affected property, Rivers Casino, isn’t taking this lying down — or at least its representatives in the state capital aren’t. State Rep. Marty Moylan (D) said he had “grave concerns” and any gaming expansion should be accompanied by a reduction in the amount of revenue-sharing that Rivers must do with poverty-stricken suburbs of Chicago. His concerns are echoed by civic leaders who say they were sold a bill of goods by the state, told that theirs would be the last casino license issued.

If there’s any consolation for Des Plaines, it comes from gaming lobbyist Malcolm Chester, who says “It’s tough to get a gaming bill passed.” Part of that difficulty comes from the state’s playing favorites in terms of who gets a casino and who doesn’t. Cities and counties that get left out will want something in return. For sake of Illinois’ casinos, which have never fully shaken off the effects of the Great Recession, the good news is that the Lege doesn’t seem to be at the point of further diluting the market and may even be farther from it than in past sessions.

* Phil Ivey made news again when he applied for a marijuana dispensary in Nevada. Now High Times magazine has taken the idea a step further and is proposing a cannabis-themed boutique casino. Daffy casino themes are a dime a dozen right now and they usually founder on two rocks: land and money. High Times would seem to have the latter, however, and says it has the former “150 feet off the Strip,” though no further details would be disclosed. It even says it has a gaming license. But unless the voters of Nevada approve recreational marijuana, this idea seems unlikely to fly.

* A performing arts center is the selling point for a proposed tribal casino in Rochester, New York. The Seneca Nation of Indians would plump for the entertainment/gaming combination, one of whose selling points would be that it would give Rochester a 3,000-seat concert hall at no cost to the city. The project would be stacked in an interesting fashion: an underground parking garage, with two floors of gambling directly above and the concert hall on two or three stories above that. (Presumably the Seneca have devised a way for arts patrons to get upstairs without having to traipse through the casino floor.) The facility would eschew hotel rooms and restaurants, to stimulate economic activity in the surrounding area.

The timing is propitious, as that part of Rochester is being redeveloped for housing. But Mayor Lovely Warren wasn’t tipping her hand, saying, “It’s something I am going to do a lot of research on.” She did observe that Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino had expanded without Buffalo seeing any pernicious social effects. A previous effort to establish a casino foundered in 2004. A 2011 poll found Rochester residents almost evenly balanced for or against gambling in the city. Three years later, another poll found slight movement in gaming’s favor. One area resident said, “If it’s good enough for Finger Lakes and Buffalo, we should profit from the same thing. If you’re going to drink or gamble, it’s always going to be there — you might as well bring it to your own city.”

That’s easier said than done. Federal approval will be needed and, because the Seneca have three casinos already, they’ve exhausted their allotment of table games, and will be restricted to slots. “It’s a nice parcel of land on your Main Street. You want to build the right thing there,” said Warren. Hopefully she thinks this is indeed “the right thing.”