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Illinois lawmakers adjourned for the summer without advancing Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposal to merge the Illinois Gaming Board and the state Racing Board, delaying a regulatory overhaul that would have shifted key gambling industry decisions away from public meetings.
The proposal, included in Pritzker’s budget plan, would have replaced the two appointed boards with a Department of Gaming Regulation and Enforcement. His office said the change would “improve efficiency, strengthen accountability and ultimately better serve the public.”
The existing boards publicly deliberate gambling licenses and disciplinary matters involving an industry with historical links to organized crime. Under the proposed structure, the combined agency would not have been subject to open meetings accessible to the public and media.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, said lawmakers were not prepared to support the plan without more explanation from the administration. “There was no appetite for it,” Welch said. “I’m not saying it’ll never get done. I just think that some of these things really take time.”
Welch said members of his caucus questioned the origin and rationale of the proposal and viewed it as new and rushed. He said the House Democratic caucus wanted more time to review the issue before acting, adding that he and Senate President Don Harmon made clear to the governor that lawmakers needed to examine the proposal’s advantages and drawbacks more closely.
State Sen. Bill Cunningham
State Sen. Bill Cunningham, the South Side Democrat who handles gambling legislation in his chamber, said consolidation could reduce administrative duplication but raised concerns about eliminating the oversight now provided by appointed members of the gaming and racing boards.
“The administration agreed that it is important for some oversight to be in place,” he added, “but an agreement was not reached on what exactly that should look like.”
Cunningham said the issue could return during the fall veto session or next year.
The merger idea has circulated for years as Illinois’ horse racing sector has declined to two struggling tracks while the Gaming Board’s responsibilities have expanded with new casinos, video gambling terminals and sports betting.
The Gaming Board has faced transparency and regulatory questions under Pritzker and gaming administrator Marcus Fruchter, according to Chicago Sun-Times reporting. Those issues include Bally’s Chicago casino using D & P Construction Co. Inc. for waste hauling at its River West site despite the FBI saying the company was tied to the mob.
Fruchter has also not explained why a politically connected banker with alleged unsavory associations received a video gaming license after staff initially raised serious concerns.
Pritzker has had casino investments, though he and his aides have declined to detail their extent. He previously owned part of the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin and later sold it. Public records and published accounts also show that one or more trusts benefiting him once held interests in casinos in Indiana and the Niagara Falls area.