In his quest to fill the state’s coffers, A state lawmaker who has been pushing for more gambling said that the will need to be a lot of give-and-take from those within the industry.
It seems that the previously taken failed effort to expand gambling before the end of spring session hasn’t affected State Rep. Bob Rita, of D-Blue Island, as he is set to make another ambitious effort towards getting his gambling expansion bill passed by the legislature.
Ahead of the veto session, Rita has hearings scheduled on Aug. 22 and Oct. 3 in Chicago and Springfield respectively.
Given the decision passed by the U.S Supreme Court earlier in the year to allow all U.S. states to legalize sports betting, Rita has revealed that he also wants to study additional gambling options.
Among his various ideas, Rita has said that he aims to build more gambling spots with higher jackpots, new casinos in places like Danville and Rockford among many other locations, he also plans on building gambling terminals at horse racing tracks.
In a statement, Rita stated, “Sports betting, internet gaming and, Fantasy sports, are new components, and forms of gaming that have come to the limelight.”
Rita claims that the whole package could bring in nearly $700 million to state coffers annually.
However, Mary Murphy of Pew Charitable Trust says that policymakers should not believe that such increased revenue can be a steady stream of income.
According to Murphy, “Especially due to huge competition, States should consider that these gains might be for shorter periods in large parts, I would also advice the States to be cautious of directing this revenue toward ongoing expenditures.”
Significantly it didn’t seem to affect Rita one bit as he went on to say that it is quite an uphill task to balance all the interests.
Rita’s statement reads as follows “Once you begin steering through this, you’ll realize that when one component is moved it moves three others and you have to navigate through this very carefully in order to put a bill together and we have been working very diligently towards that.”
Cannibalization and over-saturation are amongst the few concerns that are expected to be raised among existing gambling operations.
Rita also revealed that he has high hopes that the scheduled hearings would help to build quite a concrete consensus on the issue for a possible vote during the fall veto session, which would be held in November after the midterm election.
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