The Illinois Senate on Sunday afternoon approved a widespread gambling expansion bill that legalizes sports betting across the state and authorizes a Chicago casino.
Working in legislative overtime, the Senate approved the measure on a 46-10 vote. A short time later, the Senate approved on a 48-9 vote a number of tax and fee hikes to finance a $45 billion state construction program.
Both plans now head to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has signaled his support.
Those issues are part of Pritzker’s “think big” agenda. That agenda also included previously approved measures from the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to put a constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot for a graduated-rate income tax to replace the mandated flat-rate income tax as well as a $40 billlion state budget, a $45 billion state construction program, legalized adult recreational use of marijuana and a legal declaration that women have a “fundamental right” to seek an abortion.
Sen. Terry Link, a Vernon Hills Democrat who has pushed for more than a decade to expand casino gambling, presented the bill Sunday on his wedding anniversary. He urged lawmakers to vote yes, “for the sake of my marriage for the sake of the state of Illinois.”
The gambling bill would allow for a Chicago casino and legal sports betting in Illinois and slot machines at both city airports. It also would allow smaller casinos in the south suburbs, Waukegan, Rockford, Danville and Williamson County. Slot machines also would be authorized for horse race tracks, and casinos and tracks could host sports betting.
OK, folks in Carbondale will get to wet their beaks like them corrupt depraved Libruls north of I-80.
The Chicago casino would be privately owned, and the city would get one-third of all tax revenue from it. The casino would have up to 4,000 gambling positions — slot machines or seats at a gaming table — while other new and current casinos could increase their gambling positions from 1,200 to 2,000. It also would allow horse tracks to have 1,200 gambling positions.
For sports betting, licenses would go to all existing and newly authorized casinos as well as horse racetracks and sports venues with license fees ranging from $3.2 million to $10 million.
The massive infrastructure package, including new and reconstructed roads, bridges, schools, university buildings and other public facilities, was approved by the House on Saturday and sent to Pritzker.
The Senate on Sunday joined the House in approving the funding for those projects.
The funding includes a doubling of the current 19-cent-per-gallon state motor fuel tax, last raised in 1990, as well as increases in license plate and drivers’ license fees. It also includes a $1 increase in the $1.98-per-pack cigarette tax, extending the sales tax to goods purchased over the internet, and a state tax on public garage and lot parking — 6% on a daily basis or 9% percent for monthly parkers.
Many years ago a brother-in-law was involved in a fish farm in Lake Ontario. Dinner that night was to be farm trout, and because the trout i caught from a small creek as a little kid was so delicious i was really looking forward to it. It was the worst trout i'd ever tasted. A year or so later the fish farm shut down. The water was too warm because of a nuclear reactor nearby.
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