Joliet Mayor Tom Giarrante

Joliet officials have made their position clear about the pending gaming expansion legislation that awaits Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval, but Mayor Tom Giarrante sent one more letter last week imploring  the governor to veto the plan.

In the letter, Giarrante said a new casino in the south suburbs would “do nothing more than move existing, diminished gaming dollars from one casino to another … The State should not be in the business of cannibalizing existing businesses that operate under a stringent State licensing structure.”

The letter said if Quinn was inclined to amend the proposal, Giarrante encourages him to eliminate a proposal to create a south suburban casino and slots at race tracks, the closest of which would be in Crete.

City officials have said that putting slots at race tracks does not demand a financial investment in the community, unlike what regular casinos have done throughout the state.

The letter continued: “Riverboat gaming operators in Illinois have built mega-complexes complete with luxury hotels, high end gourmet restaurants, opulent banquet halls, Super Bowl-class sports bars, and amenities not found between Springfield and Las Vegas or Atlantic City. The horse tracks will rearrange some furniture and back up the truck with a new shipment of slot machines and create what the horse racing industry will call a ‘casino’ or ‘racino,’ ” the letter said.

Giarrante said the city’s position is not to avoid competition, but  passage of the bill would thwart the original intent of casinos in Illinois, which was to give aging and economically challenged communities such as Aurora, Elgin and Joliet an opportunity to rebound.