The efforts of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to make the state lawmakers agree with the proposed more relaxed tax regime on a new casino were unsuccessful. Ms. Lightfoot and her team were unable to get enough support to pass the measure, so the amended bill eventually failed during the veto session.
Instead of giving their approval for the amended version of the Senate Bill 669, local lawmakers passed a separate, watered-down gambling fix bill under which background checks on applications for casino and sports betting licenses are given more strength.
The legislative turmoil represents the latest delay for the planned Chicago casino. In comparison, the five other municipalities that were given the right to build new casinos under the latest gambling expansion in the state of Illinois have already submitted the applications that the developers had made to the Illinois Gaming Board.
The failure of the bill does not necessarily mean that Chicago would not eventually see the beginning of construction works for the desired casino. In any case, the tax structure issue could be brought up again during the next legislative session of the local lawmakers in January.
At the time when the state lawmakers made their decision not to give their approval to the proposed measure, Mayor Lightfoot shared in a statement that the proponents of the amended bill were disappointed that what she called a much-needed fix to the gambling bill would not be made in this veto session.
The Planned Chicago Casino Would Have Help Governor Pritzker Fund a Pension Consolidation Plan
As CasinoGamesPro previously reported, Ms. Lightfoot had the support of Governor Pritzker but this did not turn out to be enough for the legislative proposal to make further progress. The Governor of the state of Illinois had been counting on the supposed revenue from the planned mega-casino in Chicago, as the fresh income would have helped him fund his capital projects plan.
The Governor’s office revealed in a statement that the General Assembly had made some important technical changes that were necessary to make sure that seamless gambling legislation is imposed.
The vote under which the proposed piece of legislation was turned down took place only a day after the pension consolidation plan of Governor Pritzker was passed by the Illinois House. The proponents of the proposed measure that would allow a Chicago casino to be established argued that it was time for local lawmakers to help the city deal with the difficulties associated with the pensions, and an established casino in Chicago would help the city do that.
The revised tax structure would have seen a new graduated tax system introduced for the planned Chicago casino. Under the measure, a higher overall tax rate in comparison to the ones of the already existing casinos would be adopted, but the actual percentage that would have been received by the state would have been lower. An even smaller part of the revenue would have been received by the city of Chicago.
