When it comes to US states that are close to legalizing online gaming, Illinois is always one that’s mentioned. And while it sounds like they’re still on the path towards regulated internet gaming, it may take longer than expected.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton explained this during a recent interview about the state’s budget. “It’s something that’s going to be here,” Cullterton said when asked about internet gaming. “There’s three states that have it. I think, though, that we cannot take that issue up until we resolve whether or not we’re going to have new casinos in Illinois and again, that is very difficult to predict.”
Cullterton admitted that he’s “not a fan of gambling,” but he also doesn’t like losing tax dollars to the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana, located within the Chicago metropolitan area. “So we probably should pass something,” he said. “But the problem is that there’s so many different interests. There’s folks who don’t believe in casino gaming, there’s casino interests, there’s horse racing interests. It’s very hard to thread the needle on that bill.”
As you can tell from Cullterton’s comments, Illinois have no definite timetable in place for land-based casino legislation. Therefore, it could take significant time before the Land of Lincoln is ready to offer online poker and casino games.
At the moment, Illinois have 10 riverboat casinos. A bill was introduced last year that would’ve saw an additional 5 land-based casinos built, slot machines at Chicago-area airports and two horse tracks added in the state. However, that bill failed to gain any traction. There are two new proposals being discussed, with one featuring five casinos throughout Illinois and the other calling for just one casino in Chicago.
With the state worried about its giant public pension deficit and Chicago needing money for their crumbling schools, gaming legislation is bound to be passed soon. Unfortunately, internet gaming is being put on the back burner until Illinois lawmakers can come to a consensus on brick-and-mortar casino legislation.