Columbus, OH – Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association Executive Director Tony Somone is in Springfield, IL with lobbyists attempting to convince members of the Illinois House of Representatives to pass a bill by the end of their current session to allow for a racino in Decatur, IL, according to a story by Neil Milbert in Harness Racing Update.
“We’ve got our [lobbying] team down here,” said Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association executive director Tony Somone, speaking from the state capital in Springfield. “We’re trying to get a House bill across the finish-line before the end of the session on May 31.”
Milbert reports that “A bill calling for the Decatur racino and also for an end to the provision in state law that allows Hawthorne to veto any racetrack/casino project within 30 miles of its property passed the Illinois Senate 49-8 last fall.
“While no one has made a concerted effort to build in suburban Chicago if the boundary is eliminated Conor Lucas and his father, Larry, (son-in-law of the late Illinois Racing Board chairman Gene Lamb) are the prime-movers in the Decatur project.
“Decatur is a city of approximately 70,000 located midway between Champaign-Urbana, where the University of Illinois is located, and Springfield. It’s about a 45-minute drive to each of those two thriving communities.”
To read the complete story in Harness Racing Update, click here.