Back To The Drawing Board For Rockford Casino Bill

Ryan Hermes -- Illinois Radio Network

It’s a return to the drawing board for the architect of a long-stalled gambling expansion plan in Illinois.

Claiming the bill wasn’t ready, State Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island) did not call gambling expansion for a vote at the end of the spring legislative session. Instead, he is planning on working through the summer to get agreement prior to the fall session in November and December.

“This will allow us, through the summer, to sit down with the mayor of the city of Chicago, sit down with [officials in the] East St. Louis area and try and work through something we can put on a vote when we return,” said Rita.

Rita says a gambling expansion plan is complicated – always has been – noting that when you move one piece, it moves two others.

The outline of the proposal is to add casinos in Chicago, Danville, Rockford, Park City (near Waukegan) and in an unspecified location in the South Suburbs of Chicago.  Among the moving parts are slot machines at race tracks and slot machines at the Chicago airports.