Race for suburban Chicago casino license gets a third runner

In Illinois and a third community has reportedly partnered with a federally-recognized tribe in hopes of being given permission to build and operate the casino due to be licensed for the southern suburbs of Chicago.

According to a Monday report from the Chicago Tribune newspaper, the Cook County village of Matteson has agreed a deal with the Choctaw Nation that could see the tribe receive a license to run a new development due to encompass a casino with some 2,000 gaming positions alongside a 36,000 sq ft convention center and a 200-room hotel.

Extensive experience:

The newspaper reported that the Choctaw Nation already operates seven casinos in southeastern Oklahoma including the Choctaw Casino Resort Durant and the smaller Choctaw Casino Resort Pocola and it is also set to partner with a pair of minority-owned businesses so as to bring an indoor golf facility to its envisioned Illinois development.

Supreme site:

Matteson Mayor Sheila Chalmers-Currin reportedly told the Chicago Tribune that her community is ‘the absolute best’ place for the suburban Chicago casino and that its plan is superior to that earlier proposed by the nearby village of Lynwood. The latter is hoping to be given the license in order to build and run a $380 million gambling facility in partnership with the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin.

However, both of these schemes are purportedly due to face stiff competition from a rival plan that would see Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians spend upwards of $275 million so as to bring a casino to a 24-acre site within the Cook County villages of East Hazel Crest and Homewood.

“I believe this project will be an asset not just to Matteson but to the entire southland region. After interviewing multiple casino operators, we felt the team led by the Choctaw Nation provided the best combination of experience, vision, community engagement and a financially feasible plan.”

Expected expansion:

Illinois is already home to ten casinos but legislation signed into law by the Midwestern state’s Governor, Jay Robert Pritzker, in June is due to see this complement grow by as many as six via the licensing of gambling venues for the cities of Chicago, Waukegan, Danville and Rockford as well as for locations in the more rural jurisdictions of Williamson County and Cook County.

The newspaper reported that the host community for the planned suburban Chicago casino is set to receive 2% of this facility’s adjusted annual gross revenues while the remaining 42 villages, towns and cities in the region are to split a further 3% of these takings.

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