Thanks to a court battle involving the city of Waukegan and the Waukegan Potawatomi Casino in two arenas — the Illinois Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit — plans for a permanent site for Waukegan’s American Place casino remain on hold.
Full House Resorts opened an interim casino, appropriately named The Temporary, in February 2023, with more than 40,000 guests visiting in its first 12 days of operation.
Litigation brings ‘too much uncertainty’ for casino project
The Chicago Tribune‘s coverage included an update from Alex Stolyar, senior vice president and chief development officer for Full House. Stolyar’s company is one of four operators that applied for a casino management license from the Illinois Gaming Board. This came in 2019 after the General Assembly cleared the path for Waukegan to host an Illinois casino.
Stolyar said in a story that ran Friday,
“As long as the litigation is ongoing, there is too much uncertainty around the development. Unfortunately, this litigation has delayed our plans, but we appreciate the effort of the city and state working as quickly as they can to get this restarted.”
Because the Potawatomi Indian Tribe is challenging the casino on two fronts, developers must wait before planning the permanent site.
One of the cases, a challenge to the Illinois Gaming Board’s license issuance, sits before the Illinois Supreme Court, which remains in recess until September. The other case is a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Waukegan in federal court.
Potawatomi cry foul after casino license bid gets rejected
Full House contends that the Potawatomi’s legal challenges are “holding the $500 million Waukegan casino hostage.” Stolyar said the permanent casino will take two to three years to build once the company can resume the project.
A Tribune story that ran in March noted that “the permanent American Place will have a five-star, 20-suite hotel, 1,640 slot machines, 100 table games, a 1,500-seat entertainment venue, and a heliport with easy access to Waukegan National Airport.”
Stolyar said, “We plan to draw customers from around Lake County and the entire (Chicago) area. This is not just for the high rollers. We’re developing it for everybody. There’s room for everybody.” His comments appeared to refer to the current work on a permanent Bally’s Chicago casino.
According to an August 2023 Chicago Sun-Times story, “Potawatomi attorneys have argued the suburb’s ‘casino certification process was a sham,’ with former Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham telling city council members which bids to approve.”
The Potawatomi filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city of Waukegan. This came after the city rejected their bid for a license under the Waukegan Potawatomi Casino, LLC, brand.
District Judge John F. Kness of the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago threw out that case in April.
Waukegan casino seen as a financial threat to tribe
The city of Waukegan believes one motivation for the Potawatomi to challenge Full House is that “by Potawatomi Casino’s own estimates, a casino in the city of Waukegan is expected to pull tens of millions of dollars a year from the Potawatomi Tribe’s flagship casino in Milwaukee.”
In May, American Place contributed over $9.1 million of the more than $143.8 million in revenue generated by all 15 Illinois casinos.
