Rosemont is Ready, But is Anyone Else?

The lastest round in a controversy over the location of a casino in Rosemont, IL, not far from O’Hare International Airport, may come to some kind of conclusion when the Illinois Gaming Board meets shortly after Labor Day. The board may decide in favor of the gaming interests that want to develop a casino in Rosemont, but because of litigation, that won’t be the end of the matter.

Rosemont is currently trying to seize this opportunity because of thefailure of a casino in western Illinois in JoDaviess County. That casino,the Silver Eagle, found that it couldn’t compete once Iowa liberalized itsgambling laws in 1994. It eventually closed in 1997. Since then, the ownersof the Silver Eagle, headed by former Waste Management official DonaldFlynn, and his son, Kevin Flynn, have been maneuvering to move the licensefor the casino to Rosemont.

Emerald Casino Inc. (formerly HP Inc.) would need permission from theIllinois Gaming Board to move the casino. The village of Rosemont agreed topay more that $15.6 million in the last couple of years in order to acquirean aging industrial park that makes up most of the site for the proposedcasino.Emerald would then lease about three acres from the village for its casinoin a 35-acre site bounded by Bryn Mawr Ave. on the north, the Tri-StateTollway on the west, Balmoral on the south and a village parking garage onthe east. The gambling facility would be a barge in a moat.