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Feature: Chicago
Second City no longer It looks like all systems go for a Chicago casino. By David McKee
W
hat if they gave a casino and nobody came? That’s what happened to the city of Chicago when the state Legislature authorized a downtown casino – at a 72 percent tax rate. Number of expressions of interest? Zero, zip, nada. Earlier this year lawmakers were persuaded by Windy City Mayor Lori Lightfoot to ratchet the usurious tax level down to 40 percent. As a result, Chicago has, like Spinal Tap’s amplifiers, gone from zero to 11. That’s the number of companies that responded to the city’s formal request for preliminary proposals. The answers to a civic questionnaire will form the basis for a Chicago request for proposals, which is when prospective casino owners will really talk turkey. First, a bit of history. In the summer of 2019, the Illinois Legislature and Gov. J.B. Pritzker authorized six new casinos and racinos in the state. One was earmarked for Chicago but for it and it alone a confiscatory tax rate was attached. That’s in 20
addition to a $250,000 application fee, a $15 million “reconciliation fee,” as well as $120 million in gambling-position fees, predicated on the assumption of 4,000 slots and table-game positions (some of the slots could be farmed out to slot parlors at Midway Airport and O’Hare International Airport). On top of all this was a $500 million impost, payable over two years. To say enthusiasm for this was tepid would be an understatement. Not one would-be casino developer bit at the hook and area politicians gave the back of their hands to Lightfoot’s choice of casino sites— mostly in various and sundry ghettos. “Put another way, tourists generally will not patronize a casino in an area that is inconvenient relative to where they are staying or perceived as unsafe, nor will tourists be eager to book a room at a casino’s hotel if there are no other easily accessed attractions nearby,” opined Union Gaming Group, in a study of the project. Union Gaming ran the numbers on the enabling legislation and deemed them “very onerous.” It www.casinolifemagazine.com
