Madigan says no to gambling

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has ruled out gambling expansion as a possible fix for the state's nearly $12 billion budget deficit.

"We're not going to spend any time on it this year," Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.

Every year at the Capitol there are gambling proposals that would add casinos and make existing ones bigger. But with a huge budget hole and talk of tax hikes, gambling was seen by many as a way to reduce the deficit.

But Brown said Madigan determined last year in fighting then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich on this issue that gambling is not wholesome and not worth spending time on. Madigan blocked a massive gambling expansion that Blagojevich wanted in order to finance billions worth of construction, much of which Blagojevich, now ousted and awaiting trial, would have controlled.

One suburban lawmaker, however, said he expects the Illinois Senate to test Madigan on the topic.

State Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat, said he continues to work on gambling expansion plans and said he has the support of Senate leadership. Link envisions a Waukegan casino spurring economic development. Several past plans have also included a casino in the South suburbs.

"I think the speaker will take another look at it when we get it over there," Link said. "There's been changes of mind in this building for the last hundred and some years."