The City Council’s Committee on Zoning and License advanced the stalled sports betting ordinance to the City Council. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times file
The City Council’s Committee on Zoning and License advanced the stalled sports betting ordinance to the City Council floor after the addition of a clause without real teeth aimed at appeasing the Black Caucus.
After furious lobbying behind the scenes and a clash of the titans in public, a joint City Council committee agreed Monday to lift the Chicago ban on sports betting to allow sportsbooks in and around five stadiums.
The City Council’s Committee on Zoning and License advanced the stalled sports betting ordinance to the City Council floor after the addition of a clause without real teeth aimed at appeasing the Black Caucus.
The language articulates the city’s promise to “actively seek to achieve racial ethnic and geographic diversity when issuing primary sports licenses” and “encourage” minority- and women-owned businesses to apply.
With those changes, the joint committee approved the mayor’s ordinance by a vote of 19 to 7.
Prior to the final vote, White Sox and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf essentially accused casino magnate Neil Bluhm of talking out of both sides of his mouth.
“I am struggling to understand how we’ve gotten to this point. What is perplexing is that Neil Bluhm, who does not want our buildings to have sportsbooks, met with us on several occasions seeking to operate sportsbooks in our buildings. And that was long after the casino was approved for Chicago,” Reinsdorf said.
“At that time, he had no assurance he would be chosen to operate a casino in Chicago and was not concerned that these books would, in any way, cannibalize whoever was chosen to operate the casino. It makes me wonder, if he had gotten his way back then, would we be having this meeting today?”
Bluhm reiterated his longstanding claim that, what he called the “five mini-casinos” at five stadiums — Wrigley Field, Guaranteed Rate Field, Soldier Field, the United Center and Wintrust Arena — would “take visitors and money away” from a Chicago casino to the tune of as much as $12 million in annual tax revenue.
The is a developing story. Check back for updates.
