Springfield’s mayor thinks a casino would be a jackpot for the capital city

Posted on October 27, 2022
Mayor Jim Langfelder’s idea to ask the state to consider Springfield for a casino license is held in committee.(WJBC file photo)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Most Springfield aldermen seem inclined to protect local businesses by sitting out any casino sweepstakes in the near future. But after an ongoing saga of attempts to convert a 30-story hotel downtown to mostly apartments and now this, Ald. Ralph Hanauer is frustrated.

“it just seems like we don’t have an overall plan on this whole downtown or whatever,” he said during a forty-minute debate over whether to ask the state for a casino license. “It’s like we’re throwin’ this up, or we’re throwin’ this up.”

Owners of restaurants and video game parlors were in the council chambers Tuesday to voice their opposition. Springfield has more video gambling terminals than any other city in Illinois.

Ald. Shawn Gregory was one of the few to say, maybe this is a good idea.

“We have busloads – charter buses – that take people from our city to the casinos,” he said. “People who live here and take their money and go to a casino. because we don’t have one here. They go to Peoria. They go to St. Louis. Often. Like it’s a thing.”

The discussion went nowhere. Mayor Jim Langfelder’s idea to ask the state to consider Springfield for a casino license is held in committee. It’s unlikely the legislature will consider casino gambling expansion this year anyway, and writing a bill for one casino in one city is not how the Illinois General Assembly has expanded casino gambling in the past.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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