CHICAGO-The game of riverboat roulette is on, now that the Illinois Gaming Board has revoked the state's 10th and final casino license from Emerald Casino, Inc., ostensibly opening the door for venues other than an ill-fated venture proposed for northwest suburban Rosemont. While skeptics argue the location is a done deal, south suburban Calumet City is the latest to jump into the game, joining would-be hosts in far north suburban Waukegan and Rockford, more than an hour west of Rosemont.

Attorneys representing the city told members of the gaming board Monday their client is ready to do what it takes to convert vacant industrial land along two rivers into a riverboat casino venue, adding it would help jump-start an economically depressed area, a stated criteria in legislation that brought riverboat gambling to the state. In addition, it would deter gamblers from taking their table stakes across the state line to Indiana casinos, they say.

“We have a willing town that will do what it has to do,” attorney Ferdinand P. Serpe tells GlobeSt.com, adding the city is prepared to use eminent domain as well as negotiated purchases to acquire vacant industrial property for a casino in the suburb on the west side of the state line.

Among the sites the city would like to show the gaming board is a former Swift Co. packing plant, Serpe says. “The whole key is, we have vast acreage along both rivers,” Serpe says.

Like Rosemont, which built a coalition of 71 municipalities that would have shared in the revenue from a casino built on Balmoral Avenue near the Des Plaines River, Calumet City is prepared to revive talks that resulted in 48 south suburbs in a similar arrangement, adds fellow attorney Robert Fioretti.

While misleading statements to gaming board investigators about Emerald's alleged ties to organized crime was a major factor in Monday's action, alleged mob ties to Rosemont Village President Donald Stephens also did not help. However, while Calumet City has eliminated a “sin strip” in recent years and began redevelopment efforts with Empowerment Zones and tax increment financing districts, Mayor Dominick J. Gigliotti's predecessor last month began serving a five-year sentence for mail fraud, racketeering and theft. Former mayor Jerry Genova advanced a $100-million casino-hotel plan on the Little Calumet River before Rosemont paved the way for Emerald.

While the Emerald Casino, Inc. operators will not reap the benefits from $44 million spent on a parking garage at the casino site, it is seen as a plus for Rosemont in the new casino relocation game. “The winner here is Mayor Stephens,” claims anti-gambling advocate Rev. Tom Grey. “This is a sideshow. He's sitting on a parking garage and the best location….All this wailing and gnashing of teeth, and (Rosemont is) still sitting in the catbird seat.”

Indeed, estimates put the value of the 10th license, which will be awarded through a competitive bidding process for the old Emerald operation, as high as $1 billion. After $150 million is used to pay off Emerald investors and claims, the rest would go to a state treasury that is running deep into the red. Rosemont proponents, as well as objective observers, believe the state would not get as much if the operators wanted to set up shop in another location.

Fioretti argues a Calumet City location would stem a tide of Illinois gamblers from flocking to Indiana boats, where he says about 70% of the patrons cross the state line. That would allow Illinois to recapture $45 million a year in lost revenue, he tells GlobeSt.com.

However, money will not be the overriding factor in the gaming board's decision, says chairman Gregory C. Jones. “The best offer doesn't mean the best financial offer,” Jones says. “If the best location doesn't produce the most revenue to the state, that's not a factor to this board.”

Instant Insights /

Cal City Antes Up in Riverboat Casino Bid

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