Illinois rushes to approve new casino
The city of Rockford is pushing to land a new casino and is trying to get it approved before the current session ends.
US.- A new casino may come to Illinois should a gambling expansion plan get approved by the Legislature. However, the authorities are trying to get it done in the next 30 days, before it’s too late.
“I have met with the mayor we’re all orchestrated on the same plan,” State Sen. Dave Syverson said. “We have a short window we have to get this done in the next 30 days or it may be too late for Rockford and for the state budget.”
“We’re not competing for casinos,” said Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara. “We should be working together. There are five communities that I believe deserve a casino. Chicago is one of them and Rockford is another. I believe we have a stronger chance to move this forward and finally get the state legislature to act if we work collaboratively.”
“How quickly they are moving in the past 12 months has certainly put a renewed sense of urgency behind the citizens of Rockford and the business community,” McNamara said. “As we struggle as a state to find new revenue, I do not know why we’d want to let this opportunity to go forward for Beloit to beat us, so they can continue to syphon more money away from us.”
“Rockford would be 65 miles away from the closest casino,” McNamara added. “We’re not pulling other people’s funds, we’re not cannibalizing other land-based casinos in Illinois. I think we’d be doing a really good job of playing some defence against Wisconsin.”
“In all my conversations with the Governor, I believe he’s supportive of a Rockford casino,” McNamara assured. “Everything is lining up. If the legislature decides that it finally wants to act, we’ll have a signature, I’m hopeful.”
