Isle of Capri picked over Harrah’s to build Illinois casino

Anna Johnson

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.

CHICAGO -- The Illinois Gaming Board on Monday picked a company that intends to build in Rosemont to receive the state's 10th casino license.

Although the gaming board picked Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., the sale of the license still needs to be approved by a bankruptcy court judge and it is not immediately clear when that might happen.

The 10th casino license is now held by the bankrupt Emerald Casino, which also had planned to locate Rosemont.

Isle of Capri, which bid $518 million at an auction that ended March 11, was one of three finalists vying for the license. The other companies were Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which bid $520 million to build in Waukegan, and Midwest Gaming and Entertainment LLC bid, which bid $476 million to build in Des Plaines.

Gaming Board Chairman Elzie Higginbottom said Rosemont was picked because the northwest suburb is close to O'Hare and the area already has an abundance of hotels and restaurants.

"I think we believe the Rosemont location will be a destination location," he said.

Higginbottom said Harrah's higher bid to build in Waukegan wasn't chosen because the Gaming Board didn't think that location was as good. Rosemont is only about 20 miles from downtown Chicago, while Waukegan is closer to the Illinois-Wisconsin line.

"I think there are a lot of questions about what went on today," said state Sen. Terry Link, who wore a button in support of a Waukegan casino.

Harrah's spokesman Gary Thompson said the company plans to move ahead with other opportunities for growth.

"We are disappointed but respect the Illinois Gaming Board's decision," Thompson said after the Monday afternoon action by the five-member panel.

The Gaming Board announced its pick and held a public roll call vote after meeting behind closed doors Monday afternoon. The vote was 4-1 with board member Gary Peterlin voting in opposition.

Higginbottom said the Gaming Board staff had recommended Midwest Gaming's bid.

Tim Hinkley, Isle of Capri's president and chief operating officer, said he was happy with the board's decision.

"We have an awful lot of work to do and we're up to the task," he said about getting approval from the bankruptcy court.

The Gaming Board declined to say how long it thinks that final approval process might take.

Once the approval process is complete, Isle of Capri's bid calls for it to have its casino up and running within eight months or pay a fine of $500,000 a day up to $105 million.

The Gaming Board's pick of Isle of Capri comes a month after seven companies submitted bids to the board to build casinos. The board whittled those bids down to the three finalists who all planned to build in the northern Chicago suburbs.

After bids from two south suburban Chicago casino contenders were rejected last month, legislators said they were drafting legislation to revamp the five-member Gaming Board and create an 11th casino license.

Area lawmakers have said the suburbs south of Chicago desperately need the economic development and the money a casino generates.