Governor Pat Quinn vetoes Illinois online gambling bill

Last Monday, Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois, vetoed the legislation, which could have bought casinos to the City of Chicago alongside Downstate and the southern suburbs. He said that the bill, which was sent to him in the early part of January, was bad for the people of the state.

This veto has killed all the chances of the Windy City getting a casino in its area. Again, it means that the lawmakers in the state would need to start from the scratch with another bill for gambling expansion.

The measure, on which Quinn vetoed on Monday, would have allowed the casinos to wager at the State Fairgrounds. It was sent to the governor at the conclusion of the lame-duck legislative session in January. Initially, there was a parliamentary hold placed on the measure in May 2011 by the Senate Democrats.

During his veto message to the Illinois lawmakers, Quinn said, “This bill is going to make way for an excessive expansion of gambling in the state, which is too much. Again, having casinos at the State Fairgrounds, where families would come with children, was not acceptable.”

The governor believes that the Senate Bill 744 had not much of regulatory safeguards for the people in the state nor were there any ethical standards. Again, it was not offering money to the education system as well.

He said, “I believe that it is a bad bill for the people of our State. It was something, which I cleared when I vetoed a similar bill (Senate Bill 1849) during last summer. I am not going to give my approval to any form of gambling expansion, if it will not have acceptable ethical standards alongside comprehensive oversight. The bill should also give scope to education as well.”

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