CHICAGO | For a city strapped for cash, the possibility of generating as much as $1 billion and creating 60,000 new jobs holds strong allure. What is the winning ticket? The nation's first city-owned casino, said state Rep. Lou Lang, House Gaming Committee chairman.
"It would be a win-win," Lang, D-Skokie, said. "It would put people to work, fill up hotels and restaurants. It has a ripple effect that will only be beneficial."
Lang has worked to bring a casino to Chicago since the early 1990s. Now, faced with the challenge of closing a $520 million budget gap, Chicago aldermen are renewing talks of a Windy City casino.
"I don't know why we are not looking at serious thoughts of putting a casino in Chicago," Alderman Richard Mell, D-33rd, said in a City Council budget hearing last week. "People are getting on buses in my neighborhood and being driven to Indiana to lose their money. If they are going to do it, they might as well do it here."
However, opponents say the government should not be in the business of encouraging people to lose their money.
"This isn't an issue of raising revenue for the city," said Doug Dobmeyer, spokesman for the Task Force to Oppose Gambling in Chicago. "It's an issue of decreasing the revenue for people who live in the city."
Dobmeyer also shot down estimates of a $1 billion revenue stream.
Cory Aronovitz, founder of the Casino Law Group, agreed that $1 billion is an aggressive number. He said $500 million dollars is a more realistic estimate, with half of that revenue going to the city and the rest to the state.
In comparison, Indiana's 13 casinos brought in nearly $876 million dollars in tax revenue between June 2008 and 2009. Illinois' nine riverboat casinos brought in nearly $567 million dollars in 2008.
While Lang said there is no way of knowing what numbers to expect, he said the assertion that a land-based casino would help the economy is undeniable. Lang came up with estimates of 60,000 new jobs from discussions with economists, labor unions and city officials two year ago.
"Some of these jobs would be only during the building phase," Lang said. "But the vast majority would be permanent jobs, not only in the casino, but also in restaurants and hotels in the surrounding area to where this thing would be sited."
Legislation authorizing a Chicago casino, which the state Senate approved in May, was amended out of existence Oct. 29 by an Illinois House committee. The House stripped provisions creating four new, potentially land-based casinos in Chicago, Park City, Rockford and Danville. Lang hopes to renew talks of the casino in the spring session.
According to Mayor Richard M. Daley, city revenues from income, sales and real estate taxes have dropped 31 percent since 2007. In order to close the budget gap, Daley proposed using $370 million from the 75-year $1 billion lease of the city's parking meters.
The mayor's controversial decision to dip into the city's rainy day fund has left several aldermen proposing different solutions.
For Mell, a Chicago casino is the most obvious solution. In last week's City Council meeting, he recounted a recent trip to an Indiana casino where he found that 86 percent of the license plates in the parking lot were from Illinois.
Aronovitz said a Chicago casino is a much more reliable revenue source than borrowing money from a one-time fund.
"Having a casino that creates continuous revenue and incremental growth is a tremendous option that the city has available for its disposal," Aronovitz said.
However, Dobmeyer said these rainy day funds are a much better option than a casino.
"That won't cause Joe Blow in Little Village to go out and spend $100 he doesn't have on slot machines," he said.
Quick facts about Illinois gambling:
- In 2008, Illinois riverboat casinos brought in $566.74 million in tax revenue.
- In 2008, there were 14.64 million visits to Illinois riverboat casinos. Each person spent an average of $107 gambling.
- In 2008, casinos provided more than $284 million in annual payroll and benefits to nearly 7,500 employees.
- Since 1990, Illinois riverboat casinos have generated more than $8.25 billion in tax revenues.
- As of July 2008, 4,090 people in Illinois have enrolled in the Statewide Self-Exclusion Program for Problem Gamblers.
- The city of Chicago had the most residents enroll with 279 people.
Source: Illinois Gaming Board and Illinois Gaming Commission
