{"id":15984,"date":"2015-05-04T13:18:59","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T21:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=15984"},"modified":"2024-02-05T06:16:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T14:16:39","slug":"chicago-casino-push-gathers-steam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/chicago-casino-push-gathers-steam\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago casino push gathers steam"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a while since we’ve heard about a casino in Chicago<\/strong> but that doesn’t mean Mayor Rahm Emanuel<\/strong> (D, below<\/em>) has given up. Far from it. He’s looking at a $839 million pension<\/p>\n

\"Emanuel\"<\/a>obligation and<\/em> a $300 million budget shortfall. Put that together and it spells “casino,” and Mayor Emanuel is launching a full-court press. Gov. Bruce Rauner<\/strong> (R) is a gambling opponent but he’s also a realist, expected to be willing to deal. Emanuel’s real problem is conflicting agendas in the statehouse, where gambling money is seen as the answer to the state’s own budgetary woes.<\/p>\n

State Senate President John Cullerton<\/strong> (D) has put his support behind state Sen. Terry Link<\/strong>‘s bill to incept a city-owned in Chicago. But, in order to get what he wants, Emanuel would also have to accept additional new casinos in Lake County<\/strong>, Rockford<\/strong> and Danville<\/strong>, plus five racinos. A more circumspect — but anathema to Emanuel — pair of bills would create a state-owned casino in the Windy City. Link characterizes the negotiations as precarious:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve just received another proposal from the city. We\u2019re reviewing that now.\u00a0We\u2019re trying to see how it looks compared to what we had. It\u2019s a pyramid. If you pull one brick out, the whole thing could fall apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rahm is asking for a lot, including three times as many gaming positions as Illinois<\/strong> casinos are currently allowed. Assuming that, a legislative\u00a0Commission on Government Forecasting &\u00a0Accountability<\/strong> ran the numbers on Link’s bill and came up with a revenue forecast of $457 million from the new capacity. Detractors say that the proliferation of slot routes around Chicago dilutes much of that projected market. Another deal-breaker \"Rita\"<\/a>could be Emanuel’s demand for a lower tax rate than imposed on other casinos, lest $200 million go right to the state. This argument rests on the fact that Chicago’s isn’t a for-profit concern. Says a pro-Emanuel source,\u00a0\u201cThere are no shareholders. All the profits would be reinvested in Illinois citizens. It\u2019s very important that the legislators and the governor get that message.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Sen. Robert Rita<\/strong>‘s bills assume management fees of $150 million a year, leaving $230 million in profits to split between state and city. Although every dilution of the Illinois market pushes its casinos into a lower tax bracket, the Illinois Casino Gaming Association<\/strong> argues that Rita is underestimating the management fees and overstating the profits. No matter how you crunch the numbers, however, there’s no prospect that Emanuel’s long-sought casino will be a one-shot fix to Chicago’s budgetary woes.<\/p>\n

* Electric Daisy Carnival<\/strong> went from being the black sheep of Las Vegas<\/strong> festivals to one of the year’s tallest tentpoles. Now Mayor Carolyn Goodman<\/strong> says, \u201cThey\u2019ve been a boon to the economy, no question.\u201d\u00a0MGM Resorts International<\/strong> and partners that include Cirque du Soleil<\/strong> hope to replicate the magic with Rock in Rio<\/strong>. Its first year will probably be a ‘loss-leader’: ticket sales for the $75 million event are running behind pace and prices have had to be slashed. But it’s getting noticed<\/a> and MGM will have two more chances over the next four years to make Rock in Rio a Strip institution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a while since we’ve heard about a casino in Chicago but that doesn’t mean Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D, below) has given up. Far from it. He’s looking at a $839 million pension obligation and a $300 million budget … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,14,4,58,11,33,111,92,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15984"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15984"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33026,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15984\/revisions\/33026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}