Gaming board chair inclined to oppose backdoor casinos

Video gambling malls proposed for Hometown and Crestwood are “backdoor casinos,” according to the chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board, who said he’s “inclined to oppose them.”

Chairman Don Tracy made those statements at an August hearing of the board after the mayor of Hometown and a developer behind the concept of the casino mall in the suburb urged the board to approve license applications for three casino cafes in a strip mall that could eventually host as many as nine such businesses.

In an audio recording of that meeting obtained by the Daily Southtown, David Israel, owner of Learsi and Co., in Northbrook, says he owns the 75,000-square-foot Hometown Plaza mall at 87th Street and Southwest Highway, which he called the largest commercial center in Hometown…Please click here to read Phil Kadner’s column in the Tribune/Southtown Star.