Frank Tate's blog : No More "Riverboat": Rivers Casino Plans to Add Slots and Table Games to Illinois' First Land-based Casino

Rivers Casino in Des Plaines on October 8, 2019. Built on a shallow puddle near the Tri-State Tollway to comply with Illinois law, it is now the state's first land-based casino licensee.

Rivers Casino, Illinois' most thriving riverboat casino, is headed for dry land.

The Illinois Gaming Commission granted Rivers the state's first land-based casino license at Thursday's board meeting, allowing the Des Plaines facility to operate its gambling operations beyond the shallow pool it built to qualify as a riverboat.You can check out their website for more information.

In the coming weeks, Rivers plans to add 120 gaming positions, from slot machines to table games, to its non-water facilities. This represents a 10% increase over the casino's current 1,200 gaming positions.

The move to land-based casinos is part of the state gambling expansion bill signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in June. Under the bill, the state's 10 existing riverboat casinos would be allowed to operate onshore, subject to board approval and payment of a $250,000 fee.

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Rush Street Gaming, the company that built and operates Rivers, plans to invest $150 million to expand the casino, increasing its gaming positions to 2,000, the maximum number allowed under the expansion bill.

Casino spokesman Patrick Skaar said, "We are adding these games incrementally." By making it land-based, we can reconfigure a portion of the existing footprint that is not on the water, add these games and positions within it, and then proceed with a major expansion program."

When the Illinois Riverboat Gambling Act was enacted in 1990, not only did casinos have to be on the river, they had to actually sail while gambling was taking place. more than a decade ago, when Rivers received Illinois' 10th and final license, the sailing conditions were dramatically relaxed.

When Rivers Casino opened in 2011, it was built on shallow water near the Tri-State Toll Road to comply with state law.gambleverdict.com quickly became the top-grossing riverboat casino in the state, generating more than $400 million in gaming revenue annually.

The gambling expansion bill would open the door to everything from sports betting to so-called racino at racetracks. It will provide six new casino licenses and allow existing casinos to increase the number of gaming positions, a measure aimed at reversing the statewide decline in casino revenues.

The state received 10 applications for five of the six new casino licenses by the October 28 deadline, excluding the Chicago casino. The casino project in Chicago had been stalled due to concerns that the 33.3% gambling tax was prohibitive for developers.

Rush Street Gaming sold a 61% stake in Rivers Casino to Louisville-based Churchill Downs in March; the Rivers partnership is one of three applicants for the new casino in Waukegan.

The Gaming Board accepted four applications for casino plans in the southern suburbs, to be located in Calumet City, Homewood/East Hazel Crest, Lynnwood, or Matteson.

One application each was also received for Rockford, Danville, and Williamson counties in southern Illinois.

At Thursday's meeting, the Gaming Commission said it will begin the application process next month for the state's first legalized sports betting facility. Under the bill, the state's 10 casinos, three racetracks, and seven large sports facilities would each receive a sports gaming license for an initial fee of $10 million or less. Three online-only licenses will be available, each for $20 million.

Rivers has already begun construction on a sports bar in Des Plaines, which will be the sports book pending approval from the state, Skaar said.

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