THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2008
Vegas Co. May Join DP Casino Proposal
By TODD WESSELL
Journal & Topics Editor
Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., the Las Vegas-based operator of casinos in four states, has emerged as the possible manager of a casino in Des Plaines should the Illinois Gaming Board choose a proposal spearheaded by a local property owner who wants to build a multi-million dollar entertainment complex on the city's far south side.
Three Des Plaines officials met with a group of gaming operators and developers Monday to discuss their proposal to own and run a casino on property owned by Robert Kozonis. The O'Hare Lakes office property is located on 50 acres north of Devon Avenue and west of the Tri-State Tollway. At the meeting were representatives from Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., which owns gaming operations in Nevada, Louisiana, Indiana and Missouri.
According to City Manager Jason Bajor, he, City Attorney Dave Wiltse, and Assistant City Manager Jason Slowinski represented the city. According to Bajor no substantive descriptions of Kozonis' proposal were provided at the meeting, which lasted only about 30 minutes. He said the gaming representatives were mainly interested in what action the city might take on the matter.
Kozonis has said that he and his group of partners will submit an application to the Illinois Gaming Board for the state's 10th casino by the Oct. 14 deadline. The Gaming Board is expected to name a winner of that license by the end of the year. Besides Des Plaines, potential locations for that casino include Rosemont, Waukegan, Country Club Hills and Summit.
What appears to be a bone of contention is the city's agreement with Midwest Gaming and Entertainment, LLC, which gives the company exclusive rights to work with Des Plaines to bring a casino here. The Kozonis group maintains that such an agreement is unfair and as former alderman Tom Becker said last week, "useless." Becker is working with Kozonis on the casino issue.
A meeting was scheduled to be held in City Hall last (Tuesday) night where City Council members were expected to discuss the casino issue and whether to move forward with supporting Midwest. The Kozonis group has asked the city to repeal three resolutions it approved in 2002, 2003 and 2004 which outlines its exclusive partnership with Midwest and its Chicago billionaire owner Neil Bluhm. The city has said up until now that it will not rescind those agreements especially in light of the fact that it knows very little about Kozonis' plan.
Douglas R. Brown, an attorney representing the Kozonis group, was expected to read a prepared statement at last night's City Council meeting in which he was going to ask aldermen to wait until after Oct. 14 to decide who it will team up with.
"I respectfully suggest that it is fair to assume that the Illinois Gaming Board will conclude that the city's endorsement, purportedly made some six years prior to the state's filing deadline, and without consideration of competitive bids after the state's filing deadline, is entitled to little or no weight," said Brown in his statement. He added that if the city proceeds with the Midwest agreement or enters into a new agreement with Bluhm "without a full and well reasoned evaluation of all competing applications after the state's filing deadline, the city could do irreparable damage to the credibility of the city and its endorsement; be scaring away other potential more qualified bidders; or assure that the 10th Illinois riverboat gaming license will be granted to an operator in a different municipality."
Brown ended by saying, "Because we do not wish to in any way participate in or encourage a legally flawed process, we must respectfully delay any further presentation to you about our project until after the application date."
While it was believed that Brown would answer legal questions posed by the city last night, he would not answer questions about the proposal and was expected to leave City Hall soon after he read his statement.
The awarding of the 10th casino license has been much anticipated for years. It's expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the state of Illinois and tens of millions of dollars for the host community not to mention huge profits for the owners and operator.