By Ray Long and Alissa Groeninger
SPRINGFIELD — Ignoring Gov.Pat Quinn's opposition, the Illinois House on Wednesday passed a major gambling expansion that would put casinos in Chicago and four other cities, add more positions for riverboat casinos and allow slot machines at horse tracks.
That scenario played out last year, when lawmakers approved a similar gambling measure at the urging of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Quinn eventually said he'd veto it.
What's different this time is that pro-gambling forces are much closer to amassing enough support to make Quinn irrelevant. The House voted 69-47 in favor of gambling expansion. That's just two votes shy of the 71 needed to override a governor's veto.
Two lawmakers voted present, and several more legislators could have lame-duck status after the November election, making it easier to vote for more gambling. The measure heads to the Senate, where sponsoring Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, plans to call a vote next week as the Legislature nears a May 31 adjournment date.
Through a spokeswoman, Quinn said he would not sign the bill. In a harshly worded statement, the Democratic governor said it is "ironic" that lawmakers passed a gambling package short on ethical standards on the same day word broke of the resignation of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who led the office that put the two prior governors in prison for corruption.
Saying the bill "still needs significant improvement," Quinn noted it fails to ban campaign contributions from the gambling industry and argued it lacks adequate oversight of a Chicago casino.
The governor called on lawmakers to keep their eyes on passing reforms to rein in the rising costs of health care for the poor and public employee pensions, two unresolved issues that Quinn has insisted need to be addressed now.
But neither Quinn nor spokeswoman Brooke Anderson would address what the governor would do if a bill contained slot machines at horse racing tracks, which the governor previously had listed as a major objection.
Sponsoring Rep. Lou Lang said a bill can't pass without slot machines at the tracks. Lang, D-Skokie, said he and Link met with Quinn several days ago and asked for an alternative proposal from the governor's office. Lang got tired of waiting.
"I'm not looking to have an argument with the governor over this issue," he said. "If he does veto it, even if we override it, we'll be delayed till November, December, January, months down the line before we can put people to work and reap the revenue benefits from this legislation."
The estimates of how much the state could generate from the expansion range from $300 million to more than $1 billion, Lang said.
The four other casinos would go to Rockford, Danville, Park City in Lake County, and the south suburbs. The Chicago casino would be city-owned and could be land-based or docked on Lake Michigan with 4,000 gambling positions. The bill seeks to make clear the Illinois Gaming Board would be the "supreme authority," Lang said, adding that the bill was clarified to make sure the state's gambling regulators get final say.
Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, urged lawmakers to reject the legislation "out of hand," saying it would cause people to lose money who can least afford to lose it. "I think we send the wrong message," Kay said.
In the Senate, Democrats advanced their version of a new budget that would keep open the super-maximum prison in southern Illinois and provide six months more funding for Tinley Park Mental Health Center — two major facilities Quinn wants closed.
Senate Republicans said Democrats want to spent too much and argued House Speaker Michael Madigan will bury the Senate version anyway.
SPRINGFIELD — Ignoring Gov.Pat Quinn's opposition, the Illinois House on Wednesday passed a major gambling expansion that would put casinos in Chicago and four other cities, add more positions for riverboat casinos and allow slot machines at horse tracks.
That scenario played out last year, when lawmakers approved a similar gambling measure at the urging of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Quinn eventually said he'd veto it.
What's different this time is that pro-gambling forces are much closer to amassing enough support to make Quinn irrelevant. The House voted 69-47 in favor of gambling expansion. That's just two votes shy of the 71 needed to override a governor's veto.
Two lawmakers voted present, and several more legislators could have lame-duck status after the November election, making it easier to vote for more gambling. The measure heads to the Senate, where sponsoring Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, plans to call a vote next week as the Legislature nears a May 31 adjournment date.
Through a spokeswoman, Quinn said he would not sign the bill. In a harshly worded statement, the Democratic governor said it is "ironic" that lawmakers passed a gambling package short on ethical standards on the same day word broke of the resignation of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who led the office that put the two prior governors in prison for corruption.
Saying the bill "still needs significant improvement," Quinn noted it fails to ban campaign contributions from the gambling industry and argued it lacks adequate oversight of a Chicago casino.
The governor called on lawmakers to keep their eyes on passing reforms to rein in the rising costs of health care for the poor and public employee pensions, two unresolved issues that Quinn has insisted need to be addressed now.
But neither Quinn nor spokeswoman Brooke Anderson would address what the governor would do if a bill contained slot machines at horse racing tracks, which the governor previously had listed as a major objection.
Sponsoring Rep. Lou Lang said a bill can't pass without slot machines at the tracks. Lang, D-Skokie, said he and Link met with Quinn several days ago and asked for an alternative proposal from the governor's office. Lang got tired of waiting.
"I'm not looking to have an argument with the governor over this issue," he said. "If he does veto it, even if we override it, we'll be delayed till November, December, January, months down the line before we can put people to work and reap the revenue benefits from this legislation."
The estimates of how much the state could generate from the expansion range from $300 million to more than $1 billion, Lang said.
The four other casinos would go to Rockford, Danville, Park City in Lake County, and the south suburbs. The Chicago casino would be city-owned and could be land-based or docked on Lake Michigan with 4,000 gambling positions. The bill seeks to make clear the Illinois Gaming Board would be the "supreme authority," Lang said, adding that the bill was clarified to make sure the state's gambling regulators get final say.
Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, urged lawmakers to reject the legislation "out of hand," saying it would cause people to lose money who can least afford to lose it. "I think we send the wrong message," Kay said.
In the Senate, Democrats advanced their version of a new budget that would keep open the super-maximum prison in southern Illinois and provide six months more funding for Tinley Park Mental Health Center — two major facilities Quinn wants closed.
Senate Republicans said Democrats want to spent too much and argued House Speaker Michael Madigan will bury the Senate version anyway.