Ill. lawmaker holds forum on expanding gambling

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- A state lawmaker believes his latest bid to expand Illinois gambling may finally bear fruit now that the state's thorny pension crisis has been resolved to the satisfaction of the governor who twice spiked measures that would have added casinos.

State Rep. Robert Rita, a Democrat from the Chicago suburb of Blue Island, effectively was to launch his quest Tuesday with a meeting at East St. Louis' Casino Queen, where he was to seek input from the region's casinos, a horse track and local officials.

Rita said Monday his measure likely would call for five new casinos as well as slot machines at Chicago's two international airports, resembling key tenets of a bill that fizzled late in last spring's legislative session after questions about oversight.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who twice has vetoed gambling-expansion bills, has said he would support a plan with proper ethical protections and money for schools, provided lawmakers sent him a pension overhaul first.

Rita figures Springfield's political climate may be more favorable now to getting a gambling deal into law, given that Quinn late last year signed a measure aimed at eliminating the state's worst-in-the-nation pension shortfall he had demanded the Democrat-controlled Legislature address. A coalition of labor unions on Tuesday joined various retirees in suing to have the law thrown out as unconstitutional.

"We believe we're in a good position now to pass the (gambling) bill and get it to governor to sign it," Rita said, noting that the latest measure would use the same framework as one that died last May when he opted not to call it for an Illinois House vote in the session's waning hours.

That proposal already had been stalled for weeks over negotiations on oversight of a Chicago casino, and it began losing steam as the longtime sponsor dropped his name from the bill, leaving Rita just days to navigate a more than 500-page bill with the clock ticking.

Under the measure, the other four proposed casinos -- in Rockford, Danville, Chicago's south suburbs and Lake County -- would report to the state regulatory board. But most of the Chicago casino's oversight would fall to a board of mayoral appointees -- which, according to Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe, would leave the door open to corruption. Jaffe also argued his agency should have oversight on bidding and contracts.

The proposal also called for numerous slot machines, including at both Chicago airports, and set aside revenue for certain groups, like economically depressed communities.

But in the end, "this bill was not ready; it wasn't right," Rita said then.

Quinn's office did not respond to interview requests for this story.