Apparently catching wind of a proposed $2 billion gambling complex for Chicago, ”numerous” other U.S. cities have contacted a consortium of companies about getting their own casino, an executive of one of the firms said Friday.
John Giovenco, president of the Hilton Hotels Corp. gambling division, said in Las Vegas that when he returned from this week`s round of talks with Mayor Richard Daley and Gov. Jim Edgar about the group`s proposal to build a casino-family entertainment complex in Chicago, he found the messages from other places suggesting that the group approach them too.
But Giovenco said that his group, which also includes Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. and Caesars World Inc., has no plans to explore those feelers.
Giovenco also said that if other major urban gambling proposals were to get under way first, the Chicago project could get smaller.
”If you have some other property somewhere with, say, a $500 million project, then it might not be the best move to go with a $2 billion one (in Chicago),” Giovenco said.
Glenn Schaeffer, chief executive officer at Circus Circus, emphasized that the Chicago plan ”is the only one our consortium has in mind. We have no fallback. . . . We`re only looking at Chicago.”
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Meanwhile in Chicago, the chairman of the authority that oversees Navy Pier said that even if a land casino is built, there might still be a place for boat gambling in Chicago.
John Schmidt, one of Daley`s closest allies and political advisers who also chairs the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, said Friday that large cruise ships equipped with gaming devices could link up with a newly rehabbed Navy Pier.
Plans now call for a family-oriented entertainment center on the long-dormant pier.
Schmidt said casino gambling should not be located on Navy Pier itself.