The announcement that the coming construction of a permanent casino in Waukegan is now a sure bet was a dream come true for civic boosters and gamblers. It also comes at a time of increased competition for the Illinois gaming industry.
Officials from Full House Resorts based in Las Vegas said the other day they plan to break ground this fall for the American Place resort and casino on a 38-acre parcel in the Fountain Square entertainment zone on the city’s far West Side.
The long-awaited brick-and-mortar gaming haven will be built alongside The Temporary, the marshmallow-colored giant tent-like interim facility which has been used temporarily — hence the name — for more than two years.
While Full House originally promised a permanent casino when it won the tense bidding for a Lake County gaming license, it has been a long, strange trip to get to the point where the company can see a date certain — late summer or early fall 2027 — to take area gamblers to the next level. It’s a positive financial trend for the long-term health and popularity of gaming in the county.
Not that the 75,000-square-foot The Temporary, with 1,000 slot machines and 50 table games, has been a bust. It has been the opposite, according to August figures from the Illinois Gaming Board. It ranks fifth in the state out of 17 in adjusted gross revenue for table games and in the top 10 for slots.
Overall in August, it was eighth in total adjusted gross receipts at $10.9 million, while hosting 77,894 visitors. The casino had record net revenue and operating profit in the second quarter, Full House reported last month.
With the growth in casino receipts has come tax receipts for state and local governments. In 2024, the state’s total gambling tax revenue reached just over $2 billion, nearly a 5% increase from 2023 figures.
According to Gaming Board data, tax allocations in August from The Temporary totaled more than $2.3 million. The local share was $624,501.
Casino revenue in Illinois has shown significant growth over the years, especially since the state moved from the old riverboats to land-based gaming locations under the 2019 gambling bill which expanded the state’s number of casinos. That bill was championed by now-retired state Sen. Terry Link, D-Indian Creek, who worked for years to get a casino sited in Lake County.
The Waukegan Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans for the 300,000-square-foot permanent casino more than two years ago, while a couple of lawsuits questioning the issuance of a gaming license to Full House held up the process. With those now settled, the Waukegan City Council quietly and unanimously approved American Place’s revised site plan on Sept. 2, according to a front-page account by Steven Sadin in The News-Sun of Sept. 9.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this, and now we can start building to transition to a permanent casino,” Alex Stolyar, senior vice president and chief development officer of Full House Resorts, told Sadin. The cost of the project will be close to $400 million.
When the first phase is complete, the 200,000-square-foot casino will have some 1,200 slot machines, more than 60 table games, restaurants and bars, a food hall, a sports book and a poker room. Most of those amenities have already lured gamers to The Temporary, including the six-table Harbor Poker Room which was opened last month.
Under current plans, casino officials have said The Temporary, which opened in February 2023, will not be razed and instead kept as an exhibition hall. A multi-purpose entertainment venue and convention center with 1,500 seats is planned in Phase 2 of construction.
As part of the project, a 20-room all-suite Italianate-style boutique hotel, The Mansion, will be built. New casinos built in the state and in Wisconsin have included hotels in their projects.
Ones that didn’t include hotels initially now plan to add them, like the year-old permanent Hard Rock Casino in Rockford, due to increased competition not only in Illinois, but just over the border with Wisconsin. The Ho-Chunk Nation, which has a casino in Baraboo, near the Wisconsin Dells, and another in Madison, is building another in Beloit, Wisconsin, just north of Rockford.
Another Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has been proposed for Kenosha, Wisconsin, on acreage west of Interstate 94 in Kenosha County. The state’s Menominee Tribe has worked on the project for a number of years, with federal and state approval remaining in limbo.
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The Temporary has welcomed Wisconsin gamblers since its opening. Until a Hard Rock is building just over the Illinois border, American Place will be doing the same.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
X: @sellenews