CHICAGO, Ill. – Boyd Gaming has received the go-ahead with plans to build a new Par-A-Dice casino in East Peoria.
In a special session Thursday morning, the Illinois Gaming Board unanimously approved the Feb. 5th plans to build a new casino on a permanently moored barge in the Illinois River.
The vote completes a two-year long process, in which the IGB requested Boyd present plans for a new facility for the Par-A-Dice.
The original plans submitted by Boyd in December featured a facility that would be built on land in East Peoria, near where the current casino hotel is located. The plans featured a water-basin running under the facility, to avoid classifying it as a land-based casino.
The city of Peoria objected to those plans, and filed litigation against them moving forward. The city cited the 1991 intergovernmental agreement between Peoria and East Peoria, that stated a land-based facility would be placed in Peoria.
John Kennedy of the Taft Law Firm, who represented the city of Peoria at Thursday’s meeting, urged the board to consider enforcing that part of the agreement before the vote.
“The city of Peoria firmly believes that the region can support, and the board should require, Boyd to build a land-based casino in Peoria, at this time,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy also argued in front of the board that Boyd never had any intention to move their facility across the river to Peoria, and that the proposal was only good for Boyd’s bottom line, and not the region’s.
In a statement after the vote, East Peoria Mayor John Kahl says the city shares its excitement to see the project moving forward.
“East Peoria has never wavered in its support of Boyd Gaming, and as a private business, its rightful desire and decision to locate where it chooses and to spend its capital how it chooses,” Kahl said.
The project is expected to cost around $160 million. A timeline for construction has not been established yet.
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali released a statement after the vote, saying the city “missed out opportunity” to settle with Boyd and “must live with this new reality.” But Ali says it’s a positive that the region will have a new Par-A-Dice with better amenities and increased revenues.