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Illinois Casino Questions Continue to Grow

ILLINOIS – As reported by the Chicago Tribune: "The Rosemont casino proposal picked by the Illinois Gaming Board last month to receive the state's last riverboat license did not even make a short list of suitable buyers recommended by the board's staff a few weeks earlier, according to internal documents of the regulatory agency.

"In fact, the list of three finalist selected by the board also differed significantly from recommendations made by agency attorneys and investigators, the documents show.

"The staff, which expressed strong misgivings about putting a casino in Rosemont, told the board the best proposals were for casinos in northwest suburban Des Plaines and south suburban Country Club Hills, according to the documents.

"…Of the board's three finalists, the staff recommended giving the license to Des Plaines and expressed the most reservations about the $518 million Rosemont bid by Mississippi-based Isle of Capri Casinos, documents show.

"But on March 15, the board ignored the staff and picked Isle of Capri anyway.

"…The internal documents not only show the board repeatedly bypassed the advice of its own internal experts, they also appear to contradict one key reason the board said it picked Rosemont.

"The board said the Isle of Capri bid was superior because it would produce the most tax revenue for the state. A staff analysis of the potential financial benefits of the three final proposals concluded that Isle of Capri would produce the most cash for the state in the first year of operation, but Des Plaines would prove more lucrative over a five-year period…"

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