CHICAGO, April 29 (UPI) -- As lawmakers in Ohio, Missouri, Kansas and Minnesota debate expansion of casino gambling, the new chairman of Illinois' Gaming Board is calling for gaming regulators to have independence from the politics that often permeates such deals.
Political campaign contributions by casinos and their employees would be banned if retired judge and former Illinois representative Aaron Jaffe has his way. The Gaming Board would get more money to hire independent investigators to keep organized crime from muscling into legal state-licensed gambling.
"We have to be above reproach," said Jaffe, named Gaming Board chairman in March. He proposed the four board members be paid salaries of $35,000 a year -- rather than the current $300 per meeting plus per diem. The Gaming Board chairman would receive $50,000.
Board members would be barred from serving on other governmental bodies -- even city councils -- and engaging in political activity to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
"(Other) boards in this state get much higher than that," he told the Chicago Tribune. "We didn't ask to be the highest paid board and yet I think this is the hardest working board."
Gov. Rod Blagojevich recently named Carbondale City Councilwoman Sheila Simon, daughter of late Sen. Paul Simon, to a Gaming Board seat that opens in July.
Jaffe told a news conference that casino interests and the horseracing industry routinely donated to candidates on both sides of the aisle.
Politics often rears its head in gaming decisions. Earlier this year the board was forced to hire a politically connected lobbyist. Several board members were accused of bias after they awarded the state's dormant 10th riverboat casino license to Rosemont, Ill., despite allegations of links between the Chicago suburb's mayor and organized-crime figures.
The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform said casinos, racetracks and horse interests gave nearly $375,000 to political candidates last year, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Jaffe said the Gaming Board needed more investigators and proposed increasing its budget from $13.5 million to at least $20 million a year.
Jim Wagner, a former FBI expert on organized crime who heads the board's investigative unit, said he was not aware of any involvement of the mob in legal gaming in Illinois.
Possible infiltration by organized crime is a concern of groups opposed to a casino in Chicago.
Blagojevich initially opposed a land-based Chicago casino but has indicated he might support legislation to expand gaming with several new casinos, including one downtown.
Lawmakers in Ohio are considering joining 21 states that have casino gaming. Voters defeated statewide referendums to permit casinos in the Buckeye State in 1990 and 1996 by more than 60 percent each time.
Gov. Bob Taft opposes casinos.
Ohio is surrounded by gambling venues in Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, New York and Ontario, Canada. An Indian band has discussed a tribal casino with officials in the Cleveland area.
Ohio has a state lottery and about 2,000 charitable bingo organizations, ranging from churches to VFW halls. Wagering at horse tracks has declined after peaking in 1999, and track owners and horse breeders have lobbied for video slot machines to boost purses.
A group representing Ohio bar and restaurants owners has proposed eating and drinking establishments get up to five slot machines each.
With 11 riverboats, Missouri is considering legislation to cap the number of casino licenses at 13. A bill introduced by state Rep. Mark Wright, R-Springfield, would lift the state's $500 loss limit and increase casino taxes to about 22 percent of gross revenues.
Kansas lawmakers may consider a proposed Indian gaming compact if a school-funding bailout plan is ruled unconstitutional. The Kickapoo and Sac and Fox tribes want to build a casino-resort near Kansas City. Another proposal would put state-owned slot machines at racetracks and slots-only gambling parlors, The Kansas City Star said.
Efforts by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to create a Las Vegas-style state-tribal casino in the Twin Cities area were down to a single tribe.
Twenty-eight states have Indian gaming, but Minnesota currently receives no tax revenue from the 18 Indian casinos there. Pawlenty, a first-term Republican who ran on a pledge to hold the line on taxes, recently proposed two new casinos. The state would receive a $200 million licensing fee and annual revenues of about $140 million under terms of the proposal.
The Red Lake Chippewa tribal council and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe both rejected the $550 million deal because it would allow non-Indian owners of Canterbury Park racetrack in Shakopee to own a casino.
"A privately owned casino, supported by the state, will do more harm to Indian gaming than a state-tribal casino will do good," the Leech Lake band said.
Pawlenty is still in negotiations with the state's largest tribe, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, on a two-casino deal before the Minnesota House.
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