Slimmed-down gambling bill fails in Ill. House

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gambling legislation designed to pick up new support so it could survive a veto instead suffered a surprising defeat Wednesday in the Illinois House, amid opposition from Gov. Pat Quinn and blistering criticism from the stat

Looking stunned, the measure’s sponsor said he was at a loss to explain the outcome.

"We’ll get to the bottom of it and figure out if we can find the necessary votes to pass it by tomorrow," said Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie.

The surprise results added to the uncertainty and unfinished business heading into what was supposed to be the final day of the fall legislative session. Also still left on the table for Thursday were tax breaks for businesses, efforts to keep Quinn from closing prisons and mental institutions, changes to government pensions and restoring salaries for regional school superintendents.

The long "to do" list prompted House leaders to announce an extra day of work, on Nov. 21, primarily to deal with the business incentives.

House Speaker Rep. Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said opposition from Quinn and the head of the Illinois Gaming Board probably hurt the gambling bill.

"That could dissuade people from voting yes," Madigan said.

The Democratic governor has spent weeks criticizing the gambling legislation, largely because it would allow slot machines at horse-racing tracks. On Wednesday, Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe stepped up his criticism of the bill, saying it would weaken regulatory oversight of gambling in Illinois.

Jaffe said the bill is being pushed through so quickly that many lawmakers, perhaps even its sponsors, don’t understand what it would do.

"If they do understand what they’re voting on, they should be ashamed of themselves," Jaffe said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "They’re undermining regulation, and they’re undermining it terribly."

Six months ago, a major gambling expansion passed the House but not with enough votes to survive a potential veto by Quinn.

The new version was meant to pick up additional support. It scaled back the size of the increase — for instance, by dropping slot machines at Chicago airports and the state fairgrounds — and addressed complaints about lax regulation.

The measure still allowed five new casinos and permitted racetracks to operate slot machines.

The final vote in the House was 58-53, two votes short of passing and 13 short of a veto-proof majority.

The vote was a victory for Quinn and a defeat for new Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is eager to land a Chicago casino, along with the jobs and taxes it would generate.

"The mayor of the city of Chicago is a big boy. He’s an adult," Lang said. "He knows that in the legislative process you win some, you lose some."

"But I know he’s not happy about losing, as I am not," Lang added.

Also Wednesday, the House approved a temporary plan to pay regional school superintendents, whose salaries were eliminated by Quinn, and voted to take pensions away from two lobbyists who qualified for teacher retirement benefits by spending a single day as substitute teachers. Lawmakers also sent the governor a bill that would allow Chicago to blanket the city with cameras to watch for drivers speeding near schools and parks.

But most of the day’s debate centered on the gambling legislation.

Lang said support for the gambling expansion may have been hurt because lawmakers are skittish ahead of primary elections, which are only a few months away. Renewed opposition from Jaffe, the Gaming Board chairman, may have hurt, too.

Jaffe, a former legislator, accused supporters of trying to rush the gambling bill through the Legislature with little review. Jaffe said he hasn’t been able to study the bill thoroughly, but it appears to require quick approval of licenses for racetracks that want to operate slot machines and of internal procedures at casinos. That doesn’t leave time for proper review, he said.

He also criticized the bill for failing to bar campaign contributions by gambling interests.

Proponents said Jaffe’s concerns about weakening oversight are groundless. They said the Gaming Board would be given an additional $50 million to conduct investigations and would retain ultimate authority over all casinos, including one in Chicago that would have a special governing board of its own.

Supporters also said the Gaming Board would get more time to review license applications, and that the Chicago license would have to go through a renewal process every four years, just like any other casino.

Lawmakers offered their own reasons for opposing the expansion. Many predicted it would hurt existing casinos by splitting the limited pool of people who like to gamble.

"Creating more casinos doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to get more people in the state of Illinois to go to those casinos," said Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora.

Associated Press writers Deanna Bellandi and John O’Connor contributed to this report.