Governor vetoes plans for expanding gambling in Illinois

Citing reputation of Chicago to be a place with a lot of corruption and mobsters, Gov. Pat Quinn, governor of Illinois, has vetoed the plan for bringing casinos to the Windy City as well as to four other areas. This has left lawmakers irked and now, they are looking to overrule him for getting the decision back in their favor.

Quinn’s decision to veto the move squashed the proposal, which had many supporters that included the mayor of Chicago. They believed that the introduction of the bill could help in creating thousands of jobs alongside helping the state earn a lot of money. And considering the cash-strapped condition of the state, this would have actually worked well for all parties. However, Quinn said that the plan had lacked ethical standards and regulatory oversight.

He even specified that since the proposed Chicago Casino might have been permitted to operate with different rules, there were possibilities of it becoming susceptible to unsavory influence.

Queen, who is himself a Chicago democrat and has two of its predecessors locked up in prison for corruption, said, “We are not going to provide mobsters in Illinois with loopholes, which they can use to their advantage. I feel that the bill, which I was provided with, was quite deficient, especially if you consider the protection of integrity in the state. Again, it might not have regulated gambling properly in our state.”

Immediately, the supporters of the bill vowed for fighting back. They claimed that they had enough support for moving forward with this plan. Earlier in the year, this bill, which also proposed having slots at horse racing tracks, was approved with majorities by legislature. It was only a few votes shy of what was needed for overriding the veto. It is believed that during the fall, lawmakers have scheduled for reconvening for a veto session.

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