It will be tough for the Illinois Gaming Board. “Each and every one of the presenters were phenomenal, they did a wonderful job. “I feel very honored to be in round two,” Dillard said.

20.Īs a result, both the South Suburban Development proposal in Matteson and a $275 million plan from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ Wind Creek Hospitality brand to open a casino resort spanning the East Hazel Crest and Homewood communities will move forward in the competitive process, as Tribal Business News previously reported. Other proposals, also reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars, included a plan from Ho-Chunk Nation to partner on a casino resort with the city of Lynwood, and a concept from Southland Casino Live - with pro sports legend Bo Jackson as one of the equity partners - to open a casino in Calumet City.īoth of those proposals were eliminated during a special meeting of the Illinois Gaming Board on Oct. “We’ve built every one of our operations from the ground up, but we had to think about it, talk about it and talk about analytics to see if this was the direction we wanted to go.”Ĭhoctaw Nation was among three other applicants to apply for the casino license for the south suburbs of Chicago, which was enabled by the passage of a 2019 bill. “We’ve helped a lot of tribes, but not to the degree of full-blown management, nor an opportunity of this size,” Dillard said. It’s the largest private opportunity yet for the Nation, which runs eight casinos in Oklahoma and 22 gaming operations overall, Dillard said. A major draw: The exclusivity of the state gaming license means the facility will likely be the only casino location in that part of the state.

Miller reached out to ask the tribe if they would be interested in managing the proposed $300 million casino, hotel and entertainment venue in Matteson, just south of Chicago, said the tribe’s Senior Executive Officer of Commerce Janie Dillard. Choctaw Nation’s long-term relationship with gaming financier and consultant Rob Miller brought the Oklahoma-based tribe to the table for a bid at a highly competitive commercial casino license in Cook County, Ill.

Choctaw nation casino inside