 A plan allowing four new downstate casinos, one in Chicago, and
electronic gaming at six racetracks was passed out of an Illinois
Senate committee Tuesday afternoon.But the different factions of
the gaming industry in Illinois have very different opinions about
the legislation.
Tom Swoik, a lobbyist who represents most of the casinos in the
state, said this expansion would flood an already saturated market.
More gaming in the state would only serve to hurt the existing
industry, which would in turn hurt the state's cut, Swoik said.
"It just does not make good business sense to expand an industry
in a shrinking market at a time when revenues are already down
almost a third. We've lost over 30 percent of our business while the
surrounding states have held steady or had minimal losses," Swoik
said.
New gaming will only exacerbate the industry's existing problems,
he said.
Former state Sen. Robert Molaro, representing the Hawthorne Race
Course Inc., said that isn't the case and that the state isn't close
to a saturation point for gaming.
Instead, he said, the expansion would create construction and
service jobs.
"This is just common sense. ... We're going to put hundreds if
not thousands to work," Molaro said.
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Sen. James Clayborn Jr. raised a concern that if a racetrack
started to make more money from electronic gaming, it would make
business sense to shift from a focus on racing to a focus on
electronic gaming. Clayborn, an East St. Louis Democrat, has the
Casino Queen in his district.
Molaro pointed to language in the legislation that requires
tracks to run a minimum number of races per year.
Gaming expansion can be a hard sell, and this particular bill has
yet to be considered by the full Senate (which could happen as early
as Wednesday) and the House of Representatives.
___
Online:
Senate Bill 737
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By ANDREW THOMASON]
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