Chicago Mayor insists on casino
The Mayor of Chicago went to Springfield on Tuesday to meet Illinois lawmakers in hopes to get them to help the city land a casino.
US.- Illinois has recently passed a massive gambling expansion, and Chicago wants to be one of the cities that host a casino. While recent reports have shown that a casino in Chicago may not be as financially feasible, Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants lawmakers to help her land a licence.
Lightfoot headed to Springfield yesterday hoping to strike a deal with local lawmakers. The Mayor wants Chicago to host a casino and believes that lowering the cut that would go to the city and state would make the facility more profitable.
The city starts today its second of the last three scheduled days in 2019, and lawmakers are facing two requests from City Hall. The first one is to fix the casino tax structure and the second one is to give Chicago permission to implement a graduated tax on high-price real estate transfers, Chicago Tribune reported.
Spokeswoman Anel Ruiz said that Lightfoot’s trip to the Capitol is primarily focused on the casino issue. She said the negotiations continued over the weekend and are moving forward.
The Chicago report
Union Gaming Analytics conducted an analysis that says that the high tax and fee structure in the Illinois law would make the Chicago project “generally not financially feasible.”
The results would be the same regardless of where the casino is located.
After the findings, Mayor Lori Lightfoot talked about the implications. “While the study confirms our concerns about the tax structure that the legislature passed, we know this can be addressed. We look forward to working with the governor and legislative leaders to revise the legislation.”
The analysis from Union Gaming says the law features the highest effective gaming tax and fee structure in the country. The legislation, therefore, makes it difficult to finance a Chicago casino and generate profits.
