This vote took came from out of the blue, but I doubt it will pass the Senate.
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Illinois House votes to shut down casinos
In a pointed reminder to Illinois' gambling industry about who really holds the cards, the Illinois House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a measure calling for a complete shutdown of all casino riverboats in the state.
The threatened ban - dismissed as "ludicrous" by one gaming industry official - is unlikely to win final legislative approval because of the state tax dollars at stake. The 67-42 vote was engineered by powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who virtually no one believes actually wants to see the boats outlawed.
Speculation swirled around the Capitol Thursday about Madigan's true intentions, with theories ranging from throwing an election-year bone to conservative Southern Illinois Democrats to firing a warning shot toward casino owners over future negotiations on tax rates and regulatory issues.
"We're going to assume the speaker does not want to blow a $700 million hole in the state budget," said Kent Redfield, political scientist at the University of Illinois at Springfield and an expert on legislative politics. "It has to be something involving a message" to the casino industry.
Among the more cynical theories is that lawmakers wanted to boost the level of the casinos' campaign contributions.
"This could just be their 'Christmas shakedown,'" speculated the Rev. Tom Grey, a northern Illinois-based national anti-gambling activist. Grey said he is nonetheless putting out national statements about "the first legislative body in the nation to ban gambling" after it had been legalized.
Illinois legalized casino gambling in 1990. The state's nine current casinos last year paid $700 million in taxes to the state, an additional $100 million to local host communities including East St. Louis and Alton, and employed 9,000 people, in addition to spinoff businesses and jobs. In House floor debate, pro-gaming legislators predicted economic disaster if the casinos are banned.
"Whether you like it or not, this is a legitimate industry," said state Rep. Dan Beiser, D-East Alton. He noted that Alton has used casino revenue to build two new fire stations and a police station, in addition to other public works.
The sponsor the bill, Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, opened floor debate by insisting, "This is not a stunt ... this is not a gimmick." He argued that the economic benefits of the boats are more than offset by their social costs. "The state of Illinois doesn't get a nickel from a riverboat unless someone goes on that riverboat and loses that nickel."
Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, called the measure "irresponsible," and he isn't expected to call the bill for a vote. But gambling proponents say it already has done damage. Stock prices in casino companies that do business in Illinois have dropped in the past two days, reportedly on speculation that the vote might be taken.
Tom Swoik, spokesman for the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, said the whole debate has fostered uncertainty about the future of gaming here that will make it hard to attract investors. He said it could have a direct effect on Penn National Gaming Inc., which owns the Argosy Casino at Alton but must sell it and a casino in Joliet by the end of 2006 as a condition of acquiring Argosy Gaming Inc.
"Who's going to bid on those casinos?" asked Swoik, in light of the bill passed Thursday.
Madigan said in a written statement after the vote that he backed the ban because "the current system is broke."
"A small group of people became millionaires ... but the people of Illinois have never received a fair return in exchange for these monopolies," Madigan wrote. The statement suggested that "we should go back to the drawing board and start over."
The bill is HB1920.
