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The Arlington Heights village board - not state lawmakers - should decide if Arlington Park gets slot machines, trustees said Tuesday.
If the board gets that vote, there's a good chance Arlington Park would get their 1,100 slot machines. Five trustees and Village President Arlene Mulder expressed some support for the idea at Tuesday's board meeting. No official vote on the slots was taken.
- Arlington Heights residents and business leaders are invited to a community forum to discuss the impact that slots at Arlington Park would have on the community and its downtown district.
- The owners' and trainers' representatives viewed it as the ultimate betrayal when Churchill Downs announced in August it wouldn't install table games and slot machines at Arlington.
More than 100 people crowded an Arlington Heights village board meeting on Tuesday. Those in favor of slots were given red carnations to wear, courtesy of Arlington Park. Those against slots wore 'casi-no' buttons.
About 15 addressed the board and about two-thirds of those supported slots.
'This was a very strong show for the track,' Mulder said after the meeting.
Trustees Helen Jensen and Virginia Kucera spoke out in strong support of the track getting slots. Trustees Bert Rosenberg, John Scaletta and Joe Farwell said it's an idea the board and Arlington Heights residents should at least consider.
'It's time for the track to get slots,' Jensen said. 'I think if there was a referendum today the track would have no problem getting their support for slots.'
Rosenberg said completely shunning the gaming expansion plan state lawmakers are considering puts Arlington Heights in a bad position.
'I understand revenues at the track are going down every year and needing a level playing field,' Rosenberg said. 'If slots do come here, I'd like to negotiate with the state and get the best deal possible for Arlington Heights.'
Trustees Tom Hayes and Tom Stengren said they wouldn't support slots. Trustee Norm Breyer was very careful not to state his opinion.
While Arlington Heights trustees want to make the slots decision, it's unlikely they will.
Arlington Heights does have home-rule powers, but the legislation state lawmakers are considering would usurp that power.
Lawmakers spent most of 2007 proposing gambling expansion as a way to address the state's fiscal crisis, and including slots at Arlington Park appeared to be gaining political momentum.
But now there's no consensus on whether to expand gambling, and no vote is expected anytime soon. Lawmakers have finished their business for January and aren't due back at the Capitol until mid-February.
Arlington Heights resident Peter Connolly said America has long accepted that gambling was a viable way to make money to pay for governmental services. He said the time to debate the morality of gambling had long past.
'That riverboat sailed a long, long time ago,' Connolly said.
Arlington Heights resident Ken Nielsen disagreed. Casino world home page.
'Gambling is not the answer to sustaining the quality of our life and paying our bills,' he said.
Arlington Park President Roy Arnold sat alongside Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce members on Tuesday. The chamber released a statement in favor of slots this week. Soon racetracks in Indiana and Pennsylvania will have slot machines, which will hurt Arlington Park.
'You can't isolate Arlington Heights,' Arnold told board members '(Slots) are absolutely essential and it's important we address this. We want to work with the community.'
In 1994, about $206 million was wagered by people visiting the track and Trackside, an off-track betting restaurant adjacent to the track. In 2007, that figure was $67 million.
While the slots decision currently rests with state lawmakers and not Arlington Heights, Arnold wants local officials to support the plan.
'We work with the village every day,' Arnold said after the meeting. 'When we want to expand, we need permits to do that.'
Arlington Heights officials are on record as opposing slots at the track, via a 1997 non-binding board resolution.
But it's not clear if that resolution would stand today.
'This is a different board,' said Arlington Heights resident Nancy Duel, a local activist who has spoken out against the slots at the track. 'Virginia (Kucera) has been on record as being opposed to slots and she's totally flip-flopped. It's time for more community education.'
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Arlington Heights officials say the track brings in $680,000 annually in tax receipts.
Arlington Park's general manager says the track would 'welcome' adding table games in addition to the slot machines it has sought for years.
Previous proposals called for the addition of 1,200 slot machines at the Arlington Heights horse racing track. Now, as lawmakers try to craft a new plan in the light of the state's budget troubles, track General Manager Tony Petrillo said table games like blackjack or craps would boost the amount of money gambling sends to the state in taxes.
'That is something that we would welcome,' Petrillo said.
'Overall the state would do much better,' he said. 'We have a company that's willing to invest over $100 million in an operation. And being able to be a contributor back to the state is probably one of the most important things a company can do right now.'
State Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican, confirmed adding table games is being discussed.
'It's on the table,' Murphy said.
As video gambling machines in bars and restaurants become more common, the track might need table games to keep up with the competition, he said.
Rentenkasse deutschland. How hard the idea will get pushed is in question. It's likely to raise serious concerns because the further lawmakers stray from the previous gambling proposals they've approved but failed to get signed into law, the harder it might become to get something done.
'It's not a small change,' state Rep. Bob Rita, a Blue Island Democrat and expansion supporter, said.
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Nearby casinos like Rivers Casino in Des Plaines and the Grand Victoria in Elgin have worried about Arlington getting slot machines because the competition could hit their revenues. Table games at racetracks could make them look like a 'full-blown casinos,' Illinois Casino Gaming Association director Tom Swoik said.
State Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat who favors expanding gambling in Illinois, wouldn't say what might end up in a proposal.
Gambling bills can become massive as proponents try to balance geographic and political interests against people who think expanding gambling adds to societal problems like addiction.
'It's a house of cards. If you pull one card out everything goes tumbling,' Link said. 'And that's what I'm trying to prevent.'
Lawmakers who want more gambling will have to decide whether proposing table games at Arlington would blow that house down.
An Illinois casino is limited to a certain number of gambling positions. Each slot machine or chair at a table game like blackjack or craps counts toward that limit.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is said to be pushing behind the scenes for a downtown Chicago casino, but Link has said legislation that provides for only a Chicago casino wouldn't succeed. However, Rita suggested that's still being considered. Slots of vegas mobile app download.
Gambling expansion could become a bargaining chip as Gov. Bruce Rauner tries to find some leverage for his Turnaround Agenda. Lawmakers consider expanding gambling most years, but the complicated politics of making a deal means those attempts have almost always fizzled.
But more money coming in from gambling can tend to look attractive to lawmakers who need to fill a budget hole and don't want to raise taxes.
'There's a need for finding revenue right now,' Petrillo said. 'This is the only revenue bill out there.'
Rauner has remained open to gambling expansion but hasn't endorsed any specific plans. Previously, though, he's suggested there should be some amount of local control over how expansion plays out.
Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said he had not heard of the proposal until Friday afternoon, but would be strongly against it.
Hayes has been against the idea of slots at Arlington Park from the beginning, but his colleagues on the village board have shifted positions over the years as Arlington Park has made its case that it needs gambling to survive. Hayes' opposition is based in a belief that Arlington Heights is not the place for a casino, which he said the racetrack would become if it had table games.
'To my mind a separate building that has any form of gambling that's open 365 days a year is a casino, whether it's just slot machines or table games,' Hayes said. 'But, when you're starting to talk about table games plus slot machines, I don't see how anybody wouldn't define it as a casino. In my mind, not fitting for Arlington Heights.'
Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association Executive Director Glen Berman said his members want to make sure that if the track get table games enough money would get put back into purses for winners on the track.
Daily Herald Staff Writer Melissa Silverberg contributed to this story.
