In a strong letter to the editor on central Illinois’ Pantagraph.com earlier this week, reader Jann Logue of Washington writes of supporting the gambling expansion bill that has been left in limbo for months. The letter calls it a “jobs bill” for the state while urging fellow Illinoisans to call on Gov. Pat Quinn to sign it into law.

Ironically, that letter was published the same day that a damning analysis by the Chicago Crime Commission set off warning bells about the pending legislation. The bill “is critically flawed due to a lack of regulatory safeguards and should be reconsidered,” the analysis said.

At the heart of the problem are lax licensing provisions that would undermine the Illinois Gaming Board. The provisions indicate that the board would have only 60 days to investigate license applications for video poker machines in bars and truck stops. And should the board not have an answer within that deadline, the applicant automatically gets a provisional license until the gaming board can catch up with their investigation and background checks. The deadline for the board to investigate applications for actual casinos would be one year.

This, according to the crime commission’s spokesman John Pastuovic, could be potentially catastrophic. Calling the deadlines “artifical” and “not realistic,” Pastuovic said the bill sets it up to be virtually impossible for the board or any regulators to properly investigate. And the Chicago area’s latest casino is proof positive. The gaming board spent four years from start to finish investigating with “due diligence” the new casino in Des Plaines, which was originally planned for Rosemont. The reason the Rosemont plan was rejected, Pastuovic said, had to do with “organized crime elements.”

As for the argument that the bill would create jobs, Pastuovic said the crime commission is not opposed to gaming in general.

“The increase in gaming will create jobs, but we’re not opposed to gaming. We’re opposed to this particular bill specifically. We believe this particular bill is ill-conceived and not well thought out,” Pastuovic said. In fact, so much so that former Chicago Police Superintendent and current Crime Commission Deputy Director Jody Weis has offered to help form another gaming expansion plan. As it stands, Pastuovic said “If this bill were signed, it would cause a serious increase in crime for lack of regulatory safeguards.”

The bill has had its share of controversy. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he would support a new casino in Chicago, while Quinn previously said he would veto it. The governor now says he is considering all aspects of it.

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