Pritzker: Forget downtown, put Chicago casino in area that has 'been left out, left behind'

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday he would prefer a newly-allowed Chicago casino be located separately from the downtown business district and away from McCormick Place.

While stressing the decision on locating the casino belongs to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the City Council, the governor said his preference is for the casino to be put in an area that hasn't benefited from downtown's building boom.

"I will say that we don't want to, let's say, compete with what I think is important about downtown, which is, you know, this is a business town, right? And McCormick Place is a business showplace, and it's different than other places, right?" Pritzker told the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board.

"You go to Las Vegas for your convention and you know that the people who are coming are not really spending all their time in the show, but love to go because of all the entertainment and everything else. I think in Chicago people come here to do business, and so you want to make sure that they're separated, let's say," he added.

Pritzker did not name potential sites outside downtown, although in the past there has been discussion of possibly building a casino at the old Michael Reese Hospital site, the former U.S. Steel South Works location and more recently the port authority land just off the Bishop Ford Freeway.

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