A leading proponent of last year’s gambling expansion bill in Illinois says he is frustrated with delays in its implementation. Scott Bertram has more……
State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said officials from Rockford submitted that city’s proposal, with a casino to be operated by Hard Rock International, to the Illinois Gaming Board nine months ago.
“The gaming board is telling us they hope to have the (Rockford) license approved by October, which is 12 months from the time it was submitted,” Syverson said. “It is just ridiculous that it’s taking this long for a group just to review a simple application.”
Recent COVID-19 restrictions have left casinos and video gaming facilities shuttered across the state. But Syverson said the COVID-19 pandemic shouldn’t be used as an excuse for the delay.
Scott Sypolt, an attorney representing Haven Gaming, says they are eager to get moving on the new Danville casino. First, though, the Illinois Gaming Board must approve plans that were submitted last October seeking a license for it. The Illinois Gaming Board has up to one year to act on the license request, so it must do so within four months. Haven Gaming has said it will likely take 9 to 18 months for phase one of construction work to be completed for Danville’s new resort casino once the Gaming Board approves the license. But Senator Syverson is frustrated the Gaming Board is taking so long to approve the paperwork allowing for six new casinos across the state — including Danville’s.
“With the casinos closed and the video gaming closed, you have 250 employees that are sitting around doing nothing,” Syverson said. “The staff that’s working on the application, they’re still there, they’re still being paid. In addition, you have all this other staff with nothing to do who could have been assisting them in getting it done. COVID should not have slowed it down, it should have helped them to expedite their work.”
Adding to the frustration is what Syverson says is a restriction on any preparatory work being done on the site of the proposed casino or even at the site of the temporary casino, which would operate while the new facility is being built.
“We’ve asked [the Gaming Board] if the location can, at their own expense, start doing some development,” Syverson said. “Can they do the land work? Can they work on getting the sewer laid? Can they do that stuff now, while the weather is good, so they can get a jump on it? And the gaming board said, ‘No, you can’t. You can’t lift a shovel on that property, or we’re going to cancel that contract.’ So it’s really ridiculous.”
The bill, signed into law one year ago by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, allows for up to six new casinos across the state. Syverson argues says the applications for Rockford and for downstate Williamson County should be the simplest for the board to consider, both having already determined which casino operator will be selected.
“They’re both desperately waiting,” Syverson said. “The other applications are more complicated. Why not just take the easy ones that are clean, get those two done and approved and get them up and operating, and then work on the other applications?”
Complicating matters for the Rockford site specifically is another proposal for a mega-casino just north of the Wisconsin border in Beloit. That plan now has been approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and is waiting for a final sign-off by Gov. Tony Evers.
“If Beloit opens up first, you’re going to get people that are going to go there and they may be comfortable going there and they may continue to go there even after Rockford opens up,” Syverson said. “We could have easily beat them to the punch. But, obviously, the gaming board doesn’t seem to care.”
The law requires the Gaming Board to provide a decision on an application within twelve months of submission. For Rockford, that means an October deadline, but Syverson said he worries that late date could push the start of construction into 2021 and the opening of the casino to 2022.
“It’s just sad that this is something we could have had opened and generating revenue for local governments, generating revenue for the state, creating jobs,” he said. “It’s like they just don’t care about doing things that are going to help us kick-start our economy to get it back going well.”
Haven Gaming is proposing a 53,500 square foot pre-engineered casino gaming floor that would form the core of the permanent casino and resort at the site south of Interstate 74 at Lynch Road in Danville. Also included in Phase One is a 200 seat buffet and trendy Chicago style deli and 1100 surface parking spaces.
Haven Gaming says the casino should be built first since it is the primary revenue driver. Then other parts of the Danville resort casino development would include a 150 room luxury boutique hotel which would include 15 suites, a 5,300 square foot sports betting arena, and a 15,000 square foot convention center, along with a corridor of celebrity restaurants and 1500 seat entertainment venue, according to plans announced earlier by Haven Gaming (see the above photos).
In May, new gaming legislation was approved by Illinois lawmakers. It includes what was called ”sort of an insurance policy” for a new Danville casino. It would allow the City of Danville to submit a second application to the Illinois Gaming Board if it rejects the initial proposal from Haven Gaming. State Representative Mike Marron of Fithian said at the time that ”what the language would simply do — if for some reason the applicant that’s before the Gaming Board would not have their application approved, it would reset the clock and give Danville a second shot – which is so critically important to my district.” The bill was designed to pave the say for a new Chicago casino.
The Illinois Gaming Board’s next meeting is late next month and Scott Sypolt – the attorney representing Haven Gaming — says they plan to show up with a hard hat and shovel. ”We’re ready to start digging. We’re very excited to become part of the community,” said Sypolt last week.
