The campaign also didn’t answer a question about any other gambling ventures of which Pritzker is a part. Pritzker did not raise his hand.Īside from Pritzker himself, the campaign also did not respond to a request to identify all other investors in Illinois RBG, the limited liability corporation that holds a 50-percent cut of the Grand Victoria. Daniel Biss for a show of hands as to who supports a Chicago casino. The most notable reference came during a WTTW candidates’ forum, when moderator Phil Ponce asked Pritzker, Chris Kennedy and state Sen. Gaming was an issue that barely surfaced during the six-way Democratic primary Pritzker won in March.

Neither Pritzker nor his campaign have divulged much about the candidate’s stances on casino expansion.Ī campaign spokeswoman did not answer questions about his positions on an array of gambling policy questions, such as allowing slot machines at Chicago’s airports and Illinois racetracks, the authorization of new casinos, capping video-gaming licenses or tying casino expansion to a capital construction plan or pension relief.īut Pritzker spokeswoman Galia Slayen did say any change in gambling laws would be done with “the direct input of local governments” and that Pritzker would “prevent lobbyists and special interests from taking over the process.” “Anybody who would enter office owning a piece of a casino, it would be really, really wrong, and they would need to divest in my view,” Dunbar said.

“The idea that a governor would have an interest in a gambling establishment is the ultimate conflict of interest, and it’s entirely improper,” said John Dunbar, chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Integrity, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalism non-profit whose past work has delved heavily into government ethics. Nevada, New Jersey, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, for example, outright prohibit public officials, including governors, from holding any interest in state casino licenses.

That situation isn’t even allowed in several other states with casino gambling.

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