Study: Taxes too high for Chicago casino to be profitable

Former US Steel plant, one of the

proposed casino sites

Here is more proof that Chicago, which has one Republican alderman and hasn't had a GOP mayor since 1931, can't do anything right.

From PBS Chicago:

An onerous tax structure would virtually kill any chance that a Chicago casino operator could make a profit – and therefore kill off the prospect of a casino in the city, period – despite an ability to make massive amounts of money. That’s the conclusion of the Chicago Casino Feasibility Study, commissioned by the city and the Illinois Gaming Board to determine how a casino would fare at each of five potential city locations.

In early June, the Illinois General Assembly passed a massive expansion of gaming in the state, including authorizing a license for six new casinos, in Chicago, the south suburbs, Waukegan, Danville, Rockford and Walker’s Bluff in southern Illinois. Alone among them, the law put an extra “privilege” tax on adjusted gross receipts (AGR) of the Chicago location.

“The current regulatory construct, namely the highest effective gaming tax and fee structure in the US, makes any casino project – regardless of location – generally not financially feasible,” the report reads.

With a more forgiving tax and financial structure, the report concludes that a Chicago casino could potentially generate almost twice the profit of Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, which is currently the state’s best performing casino, generating $441.8 million in 2018.

The study ripped the city's proposed sites for the gambling hall, most of them are in remote and dangerous neighborhoods.