Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, acknowledging his past year’s attempt to get new casinos and racetrack slots past state House Speaker Michael J. Madigan was a failure, now wants to lease out the Illinois Lottery to help fund the governor’s latest capital improvement program.

Blagojevich has downsized the planned budget for improving roads, schools and other infrastructure to $25 billion. When three or four taxable casinos and 4,000 racino slot machines were in the mix, he eyed $34 billion. Illinois has had no capital-improvements budget for a decade, partly because lawmakers worry about raising taxes to fund one.

The Daily Herald of Arlington Heights noted that Blagojevich abandoned the casino quest—which he pursued for taxes, not because he favors more gambling. In an extensive series, the paper reported that casinos are tightening slot payouts to maintain profits as play slacks off in the current economy and that Illinois ranks low in the Midwest for gambling addiction programs.

By Roger Gros

Roger Gros is publisher of Casino Connection and editor and publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine, the industry’s leading gaming trade publication. Prior to joining Global Gaming Business, Gros was president of Inlet Communications, an independent consulting firm. He was vice president of Casino Journal Publishing Group from 1984-2000, and held virtually every editorial title during his tenure. Gros was editor of Casino Journal, the National Gaming Summary and the Atlantic City Insider, and was the founding editor of Casino Player magazine. He was a co-founder of the American Gaming Summit and the Southern Gaming Summit conferences and trade shows. He is the author of the best-selling book, How to Win at Casino Gambling (Carlton Books, 1995), now in its third edition. Gros was named “Businessman of the Year” for 1998 by the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.

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