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Originally Posted by the urban politician
^ I think that’s the mix up.
A casino isn’t going to save a struggling neighborhood.
But well located, it can contribute to a thriving tourism/nightlife district.
Las Vegas’ strip being the obvious example. Even if you hate Vegas, the casinos work there. You’ve got a whole ecosystem of entertainment down there.
Chicago doesn’t need to build a new “strip”, but having one grand, high-quality casino in a district with a lot of tourism and other draws that feed off of each other could very well succeed.
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Spot on. Chicago had 57+ million visitors last year. This should be located/marketed in a way to attract tourist dollars. Not a lot of people visiting the city of Chicago are going to Joliet or Aurora to gamble.
This is where a casino in the city could be wildly successful as opposed to just cannibalizing other markets in state which already have had riverboat casinos for decades. The Rivers casino is the only one that potentially had a chance to get tourist dollars because of it's proximity to O'Hare.
If you're looking at this casino as a way to save a dying neighborhood then yes, it will ultimately fail. We've seen that play out in far too many cities/regions throughout the country.