Quinn's "Las Vegas of the Midwest" Talk May Not Be Hyperbole

I think the question of whether we're talking 22 casinos or 14 doesn't really matter, as the metro area currently only supports the Indiana boats, or whetever they are. And while I've only been to Horseshoe that one time to try out for Wheel of Fortune, it didn't really look that busy to me. There weren't a shortage of slot machine or game tables. Will adding 22, or even just 14 casinos suddenly create a market that doesn't currently exist? I have trouble believing it would.

The problem is that politicians are still looking at gambling as if their only competition is Las Vegas or Atlantic City, despite the fact that this hasn't been true for 20 years. Casinos in themselves are no longer unique destinations unless they happen to be connected to some other pre-existing tourist draw. They bring in fewer and fewer resort type people. These days, they really only draw local poor folks.

I think the downtown casino and the north suburban casino are both good ideas. The rest of the plan should be scrapped. Can Danville, IL support a casino? Do enough people make a point of spending their tourist dollars in Danville? Or Rockford, for that matter?

The downtown casino will draw tourists, conventioneers, and locals that don't want to drive into Indiana. The north suburban location (near Waukegan) will be the only one within a 27 mile radius.

the thing nobody says is, if the state is being overambitious, the casino developers would (or should) recognize it and not bid on the available locations. The companies that run casinos are for the most part well-run and know how to be profitable and how not to be. If they deem a certain location won't be profitable, they just don't have to build there (even if the state legislature wants them to)

Considering the number of casinos that have gone bankrupt nationwide the last few years, I don't think I can agree with your assessment of the intelligence of casino operators. As with any industry, some businesses are well-run, some aren't. If you flood the market with equal numbers of both, all will suffer.

I agree that a downtown Chicago casino could be successful, because Chicago is already a tourist draw. (Whether it's a good idea or not is another issue.) I have my doubts about a north suburban casino, or any of the other options.

More important than possible Chicago casino? The Cubs! Good read here, promise: http://stelnicki.tumblr.com/po...

Steve Edwards' count is a bit exaggerated. Saying you can get from downtown Chicago to Rockford or New Buffalo, MI in just 90 minutes is wishful thinking. Saying you can get to Danville in 90 minutes is lunacy.

Still, subtract those from his 22 and you get 19 facilities within 90 minutes of downtown. Sure, that seems excessive. But you have to subtract the three Indiana boats, because this legislation is an attempt to undermine them and siphon off their profits. Whether or not that happens can be debated. So, we have 16 Illinois facilities within a 90 minute drive of Chicago. Still excessive.

The airports are an outlier. No one is actually going to make the airport a "destination point" for their gambling. So that's 14 "real" gambling facilities (including the race tracks) serving a local population of 9,000,000 people, plus tourists.  

The downtown casino is going to be profitable--no doubt about it. But I worry about the rest of these new ones--and the already existing ones. There's only so much gambling money to be spread around. and if the Legislature was serious about giving the casinos the chance to succeed, they should give them the option to set their own rules on Smoking.

I noticed after posting this that he had counted potawatomi casino in Milwaukee in his 22. Honestly, the idea that someone in downtown Chicago (where there will be a brand new casino), will leave that area, drive past 3-4 other casinos to go gamble on an Indian reservation in Milwaukee is laughable.

So...there's 13 "real" gambling facilities in the Chicago area. Not 22.

I have no real horse in this race, since I don't really care about the casinos either way. However, it is probably cooking the books to count the entire metro region for population, but then only judge where someone would go based on a location downtown. Someone in the northern suburbs may go to Milwaukee, or they may go to Chicago. Or somewhere else.

Fair enough. However, that north suburban person would be driving past the new casino in Park City to get to Milwaukee.

I just don't see the outlying casinos that are being counted (along with the airport gaming terminals) as legitimate options for anyone in the Chicagoland options. Unless they are of those type that do Casino tourism (make the casino a destination point for a vacation or a weekend away)

Didn't I read that the airport stuff would be inside of security? If that is right the admission fee will be a ticket on the cheapest flight you can find, I guess. No cover, but a roundtrip minimum.

That is the idiot/boredom tax on layovers.  You put in some one armed bandits and set them to pay out 10%.  Free money.  Definately not for locals.  Locals gamble at the corner Old Style on the video poker.

This "Las Vegas of the Midwest" thing just doesn't sit well with me for some reason...