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Illinois Casino Industry With a Comeback
The state of Illinois has its fair share of casinos and is looking to expand by building new ones. Riverboats are rather popular in the state, but they will soon be replaced by land-based casinos.
Big brand names are looking to expand in the state which is a win-win for everyone. Casino fans will have new places to visit and so will tourists. The casinos will need staffing so the community will get some new job positions and the state and government will get money via revenue taxes.
New Casinos to Open All Over Illinois
Illinois is undergoing a massive expansion that will benefit the casino industry as a whole. There will be new casinos built starting with the ones in Aurora and Joliet. Some riverboat casinos will also be transformed into land-based casinos.
Waukegan Homewood and East Hazel Crest as well as Aurora, Joliet, and Elgin will get new casino establishments. The government in Chicago approved the building of 6 casinos in the region which is why this expansion is happening.
Some are worried that the market is oversaturated, but new casino projects are slowly taking shape despite those opinions. The American Place Casino will have an additional hotel with luxury suites that will attract more attention to the casino. Hard Rock Rockford is already on the site and is looking to start construction.
Another big name, Bally’s is also looking to have a foothold in Illinois by building a new casino, although a temporary one, in 2023. PENN Entertainment is looking to take charge in Aurora and Joliet. The company will replace the riverboat casinos and turn them into land-based establishments. The Aurora project will have a new hotel with 200 rooms, an event center, a spa, a sportsbook, and naturally, a casino of the future.
In short, Illinois is going to have a lot of new casinos in the future. As mentioned before, certain officials at the Illinois Gaming Association think that there are too many casinos already and the market will be oversaturated. In other words, there will be too many casinos in one place, but not enough visitors.
Thomas Thanas, a member of the association, stated that casinos need customers and locations play a big part in that. As an example of his statement, he mentioned the Gary Hard Rock Casino that moved to get a larger influx of customers.
All in all, the casino projects are underway. Each venue will need to be built and the companies behind the projects will require a workforce that can count on the community to help them. Once the buildings stand, then the companies will turn to the community again for staff and customers. The state will get its share in taxes.
Conclusion
New projects are filled with risk, especially in Illinois because there are already several casinos available there. Still, the state will get some new ones that will bring a level of freshness to the casino industry in Illinois.
