Illinois official pleased with interest in casino license

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.

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CHICAGO -- The Illinois Gaming Board's chairwoman on Tuesday said she was pleased the state received bids from seven companies vying for the state's unused 10th casino license, now held by the bankrupt Emerald Casino.

"I'm very pleased with the number, that we have seven. I think it's good for the people of the state of Illinois. This has been a very competitive and open process, and now let's see what the numbers say," said Elzie Higginbottom, chairman of the Gaming Board.

The amount of each bid is expected to be announced Jan. 29, said Gene O'Shea, spokesman for the Gaming Board.

Three of the companies that submitted bids said they would put their casino in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, where Emerald had planned to locate. Those companies are Caesars Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas; Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. of Biloxi, Miss.; and Penn National Gaming of Wyomissing, Pa., which owns Hollywood Casino in Aurora.

Other companies that submitted bids include Harrah's Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas, which would locate its casino in Waukegan; Mandalay Hyatt LLC, which would locate its casino in Summit; Southland Development Group, which would locate its casino in Country Club Hills; and Wynn Midwest, which would locate its casino in Des Plaines.

Mandalay Resort Group of Las Vegas and Chicago's Pritzker family, owner of the Hyatt hotel chain, already are partners in the big Grand Victoria casino in Elgin, Ill. Wynn Midwest is a partnership between Steve Wynn's Wynn Resorts Ltd. of Las Vegas and Midwest Gaming & Entertainment LLC.

Southland Development Group is a collaboration between Gatling Community Development Inc. and Merit Management Group LLC. Merit is led by Joseph Canfora, the former head of Midwest operations for Station Casinos Inc. of Las Vegas.

MGM MIRAGE -- like Caesars, Harrah's, Mandalay and Wynn a Las Vegas casino-resort giant -- earlier said it would not bid.

Donald Trump's Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. announced that it would not bid for the gaming license because it would require establishing the operation in the economically depressed South Suburbs.

"A riverboat located in the South Suburbs ... cannot generate as much revenue as a casino located in the more affluent suburbs," a Trump statement said, indicating that they would pursue an alternative means of obtaining a gaming license in that state.

Fred Keeton, regional vice president for Harrah's, said that company's proposed project would attract customers from Wisconsin and Illinois who are notcurrently served by any existing casinos.

The Gaming Board has been trying to strip the license from Emerald since January 2001 because it said top Emerald officials lied to regulators and some investors had alleged ties to organized crime. Emerald denies the allegations.

Emerald is selling its license under the terms of a deal it reached with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in November. The deal allows investors who are not accused of wrongdoing by the Gaming Board to get their money back from Emerald while the company's top officials forfeit $20.6 million.

A bankruptcy judge still must decide if Rosemont should be reimbursed $45 million for building a parking garage for the Emerald Casino.

The sale of the Emerald license is expected to bring in about $350 million, money that Gov. Rod Blagojevich hoped would help with the state's roughly $5 billion deficit. After the license is sold and proceeds are divided among investors and creditors, the state receives the remaining funds.

Rothschild Inc., a financial adviser to Emerald that is helping with the license sale, will analyze the proposals, Higginbottom said.

The Gaming Board will pick three finalists Feb. 23. Those three will make presentations to the board during a public meeting March 1.

The board will identify a leading bidder March 5, an auction will be held March 10 and a winner will be announced March 15.

"The Gaming Board has always taken the position that it would receive any and all bids from all communities in the state of Illinois, so all communities have an opportunity to bid and we expect that all communities will be looked at equally as we move through this process," Higginbottom said.

Joseph Schorer, a lawyer for Emerald, said the company thinks it's a "good step that this process is moving forward."