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Chicago Mayor Openly Supports Casino9 October 2002CHICAGO – As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times: "Calling gambling `part and parcel of American life,' Mayor Daley sounded Tuesday as if he had already made up his mind to pursue a government-owned Chicago casino because of the windfall profits it could reap for the city and state. "Two days after the Chicago Sun-Times reported the mayor was seriously reconsidering his opposition to casino gambling, Daley dropped all pretenses and publicly salivated about the pile of cash it would bring. "`The city would own a license. The taxpayers would get full benefit. ... If you're going to have gambling in Illinois, the government should own those licenses and have a management contract with every one of them. Then you'll get a huge amount of revenue for the state and local government,' the mayor said. "…`It's almost legal in every state. Now you're saying you're not supposed to take the money? You're supposed to give the money to a private concern and let them take the money? I think that's a great mistake.' "…Daley stressed the casino he envisions would be land-based and an entirely new license--not the license held by Emerald Casino that is to be put out to bid early next year with Waukegan, Des Plaines, Summit and Calumet City viewed as front-runners. "…The mayor said he continues to favor a city-state ownership arrangement modeled after Ontario, Canada, with a professional gaming operator hired to run the casino in exchange for `5 or 10 percent' of the profits…" |