Helipads and posh villas. Italianate fountains and dine-in movie theaters. Saltwater pools and cavernous concert halls. And lots of slots.
They're all included in a slate of packages being offered by a handful of developers vying for the opportunity to run a newly authorized casino in Waukegan, according to documents released by the city last week.
The North suburb received six formal proposals, though two of those bids are tied together. That means city officials are mulling five competing development plans for a gambling den, all at the site of the shuttered Fountain Square shopping center at Lakehurst Road and Northpoint Boulevard.
Breaking News from Melbourne and Victoria Herald Sun. A junket is an arrangement between a casino and a tour operator to bring gamblers in — often organised as holiday entertainment for. Browse Colusa Sun-Herald obituaries, conduct other obituary searches, offer condolences/tributes, send flowers or create an online memorial.
Among the players who have shown their cards are the operators of the state's most lucrative casino, a former state senator whose company poured cash into recent local elections, and a group that was booted from the race for Illinois' last casino license a decade ago because state regulators were wary of its ties to an indicted Springfield power broker.Waukegan officials have said they'll present two or three to the Illinois Gaming Board by the end of October. That state agency has the final say on issuing a license.
Get a quick rundown of the proposals at chicago.suntimes.com.
A $1.1 billion casino resort is proposed at the former Broadwater Beach Resort site in Biloxi.
The Biloxi City Council will be asked to approve a Mississippi tourism rebate incentive for the project Tuesday.
The developers intend to redevelop the 266-acre property with a casino, golf course, hotel, spa and other amenities, according to the city resolution.
It can participate in the Mississippi Tourism Project Incentive Program with a hotel, an indoor or outdoor entertainment center, marina, golf course and the private investment of at least the $10 million required for the tourism incentive the resolution says. A portion of the sales tax generated by the project on what now is empty land would be diverted as an incentive to help cover some of the costs of construction.
The developer, Broadwater Development LLP, expects the resort to create 2,557 full-time and part-time jobs.
The resort would be the most expensive ever built in South Mississippi. The estimated cost of the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino was $750 million to $800 million when Steve Wynn opened it in Biloxi in 1999.
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The proposed Tivoli casino was estimated to cost $1 billion but was never built in Biloxi.
The large Broadwater casino site in west Biloxi was purchased by Roy Anderson III and Cotton Fore shortly before Hurricane Katrina.
Anderson is listed as a partner with Broadwater Development, which was registered with the Mississippi Secretary of State in January 2005.
He told the Sun Herald that more details about the project will be released soon.
A website for the Broadwater Development provides the history of the Broadwater Beach Hotel and says, “For decades, the Broadwater Beach Resort was the epitome of luxuriousness, trendiness and relaxation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. From famous actors, actresses, politicians, and personalities to middle-class families, thousands flocked from across the country to put the Broadwater’s excellent reputation to the test.”
The resort was built in 1939, when gambling and alcohol sales were illegal in Mississippi, the website says, and had a 600-foot pier on the beach side with an illicit casino.
President Casino opened at the site on the site in August 1992, two weeks after the Isle of Capri became the first legal casino in Mississippi. The $17 million, football-field size floating casino was owned by John Connelly, a colorful promoter who worked as a boxer, the Sun Herald noted.
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