Illinois passes a gaming bill

A new bill would legalise further casinos and slots operations at racetracks.

US.- Gaming expansion in Illinois is moving towards legalisation as the State’s Senate approved a bill on Tuesday. This week’s vote ended up passing the bill to the Illinois House by 31-26 votes in favour. The gaming project aims at adding new casinos and slots’ operations in racetracks.

The gaming Senate Bill 7 is part of a bigger legislation pack called “Grand Bargain” that is set to improve the Illinois’ budget and economic issues. In further sessions, legislators need to approve all of them in order to come into effect, but the specific gaming bill could be reviewed again by previous stages.

Once the bill arrives to the State House, legislators can vote to take it back for amendments or corrections in the current draft. The Illinois proposal would permit the construction of new casinos in Chicago and Waukegan, as well as the installation of slot machines at Arlington and Maywood racetracks.

Furthermore, under the potential gaming law, host casino communities will receive higher tax payments by operators. The revenues will be destined to boost the economic activities in local area cities.