SLOTS AT TRACKS BILL PASSES
Late Thursday night the Illinois Senate passed the slots-at-tracks gaming bill, SB1849 by a vote
of 30 yes, 26 no and 3 voting "present". Following earlier passage in the House, the Bill is now
set to be sent to Governor Quinn within the next 30 days. The Governor then has 60 days to
either sign the Bill, veto the Bill or do nothing. If he signs the Bill or does nothing, the Bill becomes
law. If he vetos the Bill, the legislature can try to override the veto by votes during the Fall 2012
veto session.
Earlier in the afternoon, SB1849 passed out of the Senate Executive Committee. During that
Committee hearing, a representative of the Governor testified about the Governor's concerns
with the Bill. Those stated concerns mostly centered on ethics and integrity issues and,
significantly, did not include mention of slots at racetracks.
Later on Thursday, SB1849 co-sponsor Senator Terry Link introduced another bill, SB3925,
which was not voted on but is designed to address most of Governor Quinn's remaining objections.
SB3925 bolsters the ethics and integrity provisions of SB1849 including a prohibition against
tracks and casinos from making political contributions once SB1849 becomes law. SB3925 also
provides $75 million per year from tax revenues generated by SB1849 to go into the Fund for
Advancement of Education for the purpose of providing resources to the Monetary Award
Program (MAP grants).
ITHA has worked hard alongside its fellow horsemen, the HBPA and the IHHA, and with the tracks,
to get both last year's SB744, and now this year's SB1849 passed by the House and Senate and
will continue to work with the Governor to make slots at the tracks a reality. Your ITHA legislative
team of President/Trainer Mike Campbell, Director/Trainer Chris Block and Executive Director
Glen Berman, was proud to be in the Senate Chamber along with the rest of the leaders of the
horsemen/track alliance when SB1849 passed.
We know Governor Quinn cares about the horsemen of Illinois and with the help of ITHA membership,
we are hopeful that he will sign SB1849 into law this year.
