As part of the campaign to bring a large casino to downtown Chicago and a trio of companies have reportedly submitted five proposals that are to now be considered by the office of mayor Lori Lightfoot (pictured).
According to a Thursday report from local television broadcaster WGN-TV, the competing propositions have been officially presented by operator hopefuls Hard Rock International, Bally’s Corporation and Rush Street Gaming with officials eager to have picked a winner before the end of March. The source detailed that the Chicago City Council will also have to sign off on any plan to build a casino in the center of the metropolis before the selected scheme is sent to the five-member Illinois Gaming Board for further approvals.
Aboriginal anticipation:
Regarding the proposal from Hard Rock International, which is an enterprise of the federally-recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the broadcaster reported that the operator envisions spending in the region of $1.7 billion so as to bring a casino to the One Central development that is taking shape just a stone’s throw from the 61,000-seat Soldier Field gridiron football stadium. The firm purportedly envisions its Illinois venue offering in the region of 3,000 gaming positions in addition to a music venue and a 500-room high-rise hotel that could create up to $70 million in annual revenues for the city of Chicago.
Prestigious petitioner:
For her part and Lightfoot reportedly asserted that the new downtown Chicago casino could be open by the end of 2025 generating as much as $200 million in annual revenues. The Democratic politician purportedly furthermore noted that such a venue could employ up to 3,000 people with any resultant tax revenues to be earmarked for the city’s underfunded police and fire pension programs.
Reportedly read a statement from Lightfoot…
“The devil is in the details and my team is going to do a deep scrub with them to make sure we understand; are these projects really viable? We want partnership but we don’t want to foot the bill for somebody else’s casino. So, they’ve got to be financially viable.”