Concessions Could Be Made 

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has said that he is now open to making some changes in order to get a casino measure passed in the state. Cullerton says that he would be willing to reduce the number of gaming positions in the bill “without eliminating any of the locations that are authorized” so that it would be a win-win for everyone. He says that getting rid of slot machines at other horse tracks would be a bad idea, and that he wants to see the give new casinos approved, especially the one that would be located in or very near Chicago. He said that he would be willing to get rid of the idea of year round slot machine gaming at the fairgrounds, and that these concessions should help to get the bill passed. 

This is an attempt to appease Governor Pat Quinn as Quinn feels that the amount of gambling that they are looking to approve is entirely too much for their state. Quinn says that he would veto the way that the bill stands now because it is too much of an expansion. Cullerton says that they have not decided what the reduced number of positions would be yet, but that they are still working on coming up with a final answer for them. He says that it is tough to know how many to reduce them by as they do not want to make the casinos where they are not cost effective to bring them in.  

Cullerton says that they have to ensure that they keep the slot machine bidders happy as well, as otherwise they will find that they will not have the number of people interested, which will drive down the price that they can ask for them.