A new riverboat rush is on-and it’s aiming at Lake Michigan.
From Waukegan to Gary, with Chicago in between, proposals were being bandied about Wednesday for as many as seven new riverboat casinos, a sort of consolation prize after the refusal of Illinois and Indiana state legislatures to approve multibillion-dollar land-based gambling complexes.
All the proposals face substantial political difficulties, such as an Illinois ban on riverboats on the lake and in Cook County. But they’re indicative of how financially-strapped municipal governments perceive the floating casinos as gold mines for taxes.
“It’s a long shot, but maybe it’s time to place our bets on a long shot,” said Waukegan Ald. Ray Vukovich (4th).
Vukovich’s comments came Wednesday when he gave his backing to a private firm’s proposal for a riverboat on Waukegan’s lakefront as a means of bringing in as much as $9 million in new local taxes. The boat, he said, could result in as many as 1,000 new jobs for Waukegan’s distressed economy.
In Chicago, maverick Ald. James Laski (23rd) wants the City Council to ask the General Assembly for at least three riverboats on the lakefront or along the Chicago River. And Ald. Edward Burke (14th) promised Wednesday that his Finance Committee will hold hearings on the idea within the next two weeks.
And, after plans for a huge land-based casino complex in Gary were shot down Tuesday night by an Indiana Senate committee, backers were trying to drum up support for three riverboats on the lake: two at Gary and one at Hammond.
“Sometimes you have to walk before you can run,” said Thomas McDermott, former Hammond mayor and now executive director of the Northwest Indiana Forum, an economic development group that was a major supporter of the Gary casino plan.
McDermott said he recently visited the Empress riverboat near Joliet, which over the last eight months earned nearly $104 million, of which $36 million went to the state in new taxes and $14 million to local governments.
“It’s hard to measure all the excitement and the thousands of new jobs from that little putt-putt,” McDermott said.
Much of the rush to lake-based riverboats is due to a seeming change of heart of Mayor Richard Daley, who once used the “putt-putt” description himself to deride boat wagering.
The mayor, who invested a great deal of his political capital last year in an unsuccessful effort to win state approval for a $2 billion land-based casino complex near the Loop, initially refused to consider riverboats as an alternative.
But then on Monday and for the first time, he said he would at least look at a proposal for Chicago riverboats if Gov. Jim Edgar offered one.
Although Daley aides have argued that the mayor is still adamantly against floating casinos, his comment has been taken as an indication that he could be persuaded to soften his stand.
Illinois already has six riverboats in operation. Three others have been licensed but haven’t yet opened. The final license is being sought by five municipalities.
A second factor fueling the heightened interest in riverboats was the announcement last week by Arlington International Racecourse owner Richard Duchossois that he was joining with Mirage Resorts Inc. as a partner in a potential riverboat in far northwest suburban West Dundee.
The move represented a sharp about-face for Duchossois, who last year had led the charge against the Chicago casino complex, contending it would kill horse racing in Illinois.
It also put Edgar into an awkward position, since the governor’s strong opposition to the complex-which resulted in its defeat-was based in large part on the development’s threat to the horse-racing industry.
Tuesday night’s vote in Indiana was the second time in three years that the Gary casino complex had failed to get past the Senate committee, and McDermott said, “I don’t believe this complex will ever be built in Gary-as long as the Republican leadership is the same in the Senate.”
As a result, McDermott said, he would support an effort to locate the gambling complex elsewhere in northwest Indiana, but only if major tax benefits were earmarked for Gary.
Gary Mayor Thomas Barnes was non-committal on the riverboat proposal Wednesday. And although he didn’t reject outright the idea of moving the casino complex outside of Gary, he said, “We always react negatively to anything that stereotypes Gary.”
In Chicago, Laski was heartened Wednesday when Burke promised to hold a hearing on his riverboat proposal.
“I think it’s time that the Chicago City Council sends a message to Springfield about how we feel about this important issue,” Laski said.
But Burke warned Laski that a council vote stating the body’s support or opposition for riverboat gambling in Chicago might damage Daley’s negotiating position with Edgar.
“I don’t have any objection if the members want to express their thoughts, but I would caution against a rush to judgment without all of the information,” Burke said.
Laski said he plans to call government officials from Joliet and Aurora, two cities with riverboat gambling operations, to find out the role of municipal government in those enterprises.
“It seems every other city around Chicago is getting involved in riverboat gambling and getting the benefits of the revenues, while here in Chicago we keep getting proposals for property-tax increases,” Laski said.
The fact that Laski is acting as the champion of Chicago riverboats complicates the already complex issue for Daley, since Laski is a former Daley ally who assumed the role of public tax rebel earlier this year when he led a successful fight against a Daley-proposed $11.6 million property-tax increase.
“As aldermen, we keep getting asked to increase property taxes,” Laski said Wednesday, “and I think we should get more actively involved in finding alternative tax revenues to take the burden off the homeowner.”
