In Illinois, Rep. Dwight Kay has introduced a bill that calls for instant-racing terminals to be added to state raceways.

An article by the Belleville News-Democrat cites a release from Kay in which he is quoted as saying “Making the horse-racing industry more competitive is crucial to its longevity. For the last 15 years the legislature has been unable to reach an agreement to allow slot machines at Illinois horse racetracks. My bill offers an alternative if no agreement is made to provide slot machines at Fairmount Park Racetrack. I am not going to sit back and let an estimated 1,600 jobs be legislatively cut out of my district which is why I offered an alternative.”

The report also points out that the four racetracks in the state have banded together to support a bill that calls for the introduction of slot-machine gaming at the facilities. The Belleville News-Democrat article has quoted Fairmount Park President Brian Zander as saying that the latter bill is preferred.

“Our view is the larger gaming bill is really much more comprehensive in that it addresses more things with horse racing and provides different opportunities in terms of actually slots that would be involved in electronic games like blackjack and things like that. That would certainly be our preference,” said Zander

(With files from the Belleville News-Democrat)