{"id":108141,"date":"2019-07-01T12:12:27","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T19:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=108141"},"modified":"2022-07-26T11:38:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T16:38:42","slug":"illinois-governor-signs-massive-gambling-expansion-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illinois-governor-signs-massive-gambling-expansion-package\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois to Become \u2018Gambling Capital of the Midwest\u2019 as Governor Signs Massive Expansion Package"},"content":{"rendered":"

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed a gambling package<\/a> that will establish a huge casino in Chicago, as well as five smaller regional casinos in the southern suburbs. It\u2019s a feat lawmakers and a succession of Chicago mayors have been trying to pull off<\/a> unsuccessfully for years.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago
With the stroke of a pen, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has dramatically increased the number of gambling positions in the state, prompting fears of market saturation. (Image: Soloman Leiberman\/Better Government)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Part of a broader spending package that earmarks billions for investment in infrastructure, the newly enacted legislation will legalize land-based and mobile sports betting<\/a>, while increasing the number of video gambling machines, as well as the maximum bet on the machines.<\/p>\n

In all, the number of gambling \u201cpositions\u201d \u2014 literally, seats where you can gamble inside a casino, bar, or racino \u2014 will grow from almost 44,000 to nearly 80,000, leading local media to declare the state will become \u201cthe gambling capital of the Midwest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Illinois could end up with a gambling sector three times the size of any of its neighbors. The Chicago casino alone will contain up to 4,000 gambling positions \u2014 three times more than any of the state\u2019s ten existing casinos — most of which will see their maximum number of positions jump from 1,200 to 2,000.<\/p>\n

Rebuilding Illinois<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cTogether we passed the largest, most robust capital plan in this state\u2019s history,\u201d Pritzker said of the capital plan, dubbed \u201cRebuild Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

We\u2019re investing $45 billion over six years to fix what\u2019s broken and repair what\u2019s needed,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The state is expected to reap $2 billion in one-off licensing fees, and $400 million per year once the expanded gambling market matures. Supporters say the new casinos will create thousands of temporary construction jobs, while the Chicago property alone will generate an estimated 4,000 permanent jobs.<\/p>\n

Thousands more people will be employed at the regional casinos, which will be located in Waukegan, Rockford, Danville, Downstate Williamson County, and Cook County. Two of these will be new properties to be built from the ground up. The other three are the states\u2019 existing three racetracks, which will be permitted to upgrade to full-scale casino operations.<\/p>\n

Saturation Fears<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Naturally, all this gambling expansion is not everyone\u2019s cup of tea. The legislation was pushed through despite objections from church groups and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the governor and legislators are celebrating the signing of the bill, a large part of the funds for new buildings will come from Illinois residents losing their money in video gambling machines, betting on sports, gambling at stadiums and on cell phones and at more casinos,\u201d Anita Bedell, executive director of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems told The<\/em> Chicago Sun-Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a terrible way to raise money,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Bedell has an unlikely ally in the form of Illinois Casino Gaming Association (ICGA), which has expressed skepticism over projected revenues and has concerns that the sudden drastic increase in gambling positions will lead to saturation in an already crowded market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a bill that will grow the number of gambling positions, but it\u2019s not going to increase the number of gamblers,\u201d ICGA director Tom Swoik told Propublica Illinois<\/em>. \u201cThis state has not been business-friendly to the casinos from the beginning, and this bill doesn\u2019t help that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed a gambling package that will establish a huge casino in Chicago, as well as five smaller regional casinos in the southern suburbs. It\u2019s a feat lawmakers and a succession of Chicago mayors have been trying to pull off unsuccessfully for years. Part of a broader spending package that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":108147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13,18,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIllinois Governor Signs Massive Gambling Expansion Package<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed the state\u2019s gambling expansion package that will pave the way for a Chicago mega-casino, legalize sports betting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illinois-governor-signs-massive-gambling-expansion-package\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois Governor Signs Massive Gambling Expansion Package\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed the state\u2019s gambling expansion package that will pave the way for a Chicago mega-casino, legalize sports betting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illinois-governor-signs-massive-gambling-expansion-package\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-01T19:12:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-26T16:38:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/chicago_casino_BGA.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illinois-governor-signs-massive-gambling-expansion-package\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illinois-governor-signs-massive-gambling-expansion-package\/\",\"name\":\"Illinois Governor Signs Massive Gambling Expansion Package\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illinois-governor-signs-massive-gambling-expansion-package\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illinois-governor-signs-massive-gambling-expansion-package\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/chicago_casino_BGA.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-01T19:12:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-26T16:38:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Illinois Governor J.B. 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