riverboat casino in peoria illinois

Par-A-Dice Casino

Description.

Docked upon the Illinois River, the Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino couples Las Vegas excitement with the finest central Illinois hospitality. Four decks offer a wide selection of new slot and table games, as well as old favorites. Furthermore, our award-winning hotel and five-star restaurant make the Par-A-Dice an excellent choice for any special occasion.

Peoria officials want Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino to pull up anchor and move to Peoria

P EORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — If the city of Peoria gets its way, the Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino could move across the river to a landlocked site within the city.

The idea was first reported by WMBD-AM 1470 on Monday but it’s not new. The casino’s owners, Boyd Gaming, and City Hall have been discussing this for the past four years, according to the radio station.

If true, the proposal would throw into chaos a profit-sharing deal that has been in place for decades and possibly cause animosity between the two cities, according to the radio station.

The riverboat casino has been docked in East Peoria since 1993. The two cities had reached an agreement in 1991 whereby Peoria would have the gambling for two years until East Peoria had a facility built for the boat. Then, it would move there.

The two cities would split the taxes on the gambling revenue which came out to about $3 million a piece. East Peoria, however, would get all the other taxes and revenues generated by the facility.

At the time, factions in both cities wanted the gambling — and the taxes it generated — but then-Mayor Jim Maloof was adamant in his opposition to the riverboat.

Earlier this year , the state’s gaming board renewed the license for the  Par-A-Dice Casino  after the riverboat facility announced plans to develop what is described as “a new, modern, and fresh gaming facility.”

But where that would go is now up in the air. Under the deal reached years ago and a 2019 state law, land-based gaming must be on the Peoria side of the river while waterborne gambling is located in Tazewell County.

The radio station reported Monday that Peoria wants Boyd Gaming to “abandon” the riverboat and build a new land-based facility within its city limits. The radio station said Boyd had met with leaders here at least twice over the past four years.

According to state data, Illinois has 15 casinos, 14 licensed sportsbooks, and a network of over 8,500 licensed video gaming establishments. But there can be only one in the Peoria area.

The radio station reported that City Hall offered up a proposal to Boyd Gaming this summer where they would build a land-based facility here. That would essentially flip the finances for the two cities.

There would still be a split of tax on gambling revenues but under the city’s plan, East Peoria would get none of the additional revenues from real estate, hotels and other things that are taxed at a casino or a hotel, the radio station reported.

Peoria’s City Manager Patrick Urich gave WMBD-TV the following statement.

“We have an agreement with East Peoria that goes back to 1991 and that agreement states that all land-based gaming shall be in the city of Peoria, so from the city’s perspective we feel that the agreement should be honored and if there is going to be land-based gaming it should be here in Peoria,” he said.

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Peoria City Officials push for Boyd Gaming’s Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino to relocate to land-based operation

PEORIA ( WMBD Radio ) - Peoria city officials are trying to convince Boyd Gaming to abandon their Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino in East Peoria and build a land-based operation in Peoria.

That effort, confirmed by WMBD Radio via a Freedom of Information Act request filed with the city of Peoria, has triggered the irritation and concern of East Peoria Mayor John Kahl.

In a July 22 email to Peoria Mayor Rita Ali, Kahl stated, “(I) am most disappointed to learn that you and your (fellow officials) in Peoria are doing your best to force a business organization to relocate from a neighboring community to yours.”

Kahl and Ali declined to comment for this story. Boyd Gaming, based in Las Vegas, did not return WMBD Radio’s requests for comments.

However, sources have told WMBD Radio that Boyd – which has met with Peoria officials twice over the past four years to hear relocation pitches – is reviewing a July proposal from the city of Peoria. That document suggests multiple economic-incentive possibilities, including tax-revenue sharing with Boyd.

The proposal does not include any new revenue sharing with East Peoria. Further, East Peoria has not been included with any conversations – via email or face-to-face – between Peoria and Boyd.

In 1991, Peoria and East Peoria struck an agreement regarding gambling. At the time, Peoria’s then-Mayor Jim Maloof pushed hard against the then-new concept of riverboat gambling while East Peoria invited the opportunity. In the compromise agreement, Peoria would host riverboat gambling for two years until a riverboat landing would be built in East Peoria.

Key to the agreement: the two cities would split 50-50 a tax levied on Par-A-Dice gambling – or, about $3 million each a year. However, East Peoria gets 100 percent of other associated taxes, such as real-estate and sales taxes.

Another vital element of the agreement: “All land-based casino operations shall be in Peoria.” The state allows just one casino license for the Peoria area.

In 2019, the General Assembly adopted laws and regulations to allow land-based casinos in Illinois, including a brief proviso sponsored by Republican Ryan Spain and Democrat Jehan Gordon-Booth, representatives whose districts include Peoria but not East Peoria. Their legislation echoed the 1991 agreement, stating that the Peoria area will have one casino license, with either a riverboat in East Peoria or a land-based casino in Peoria.

Neither Spain nor Gordon-Booth returned WMBD Radio’s requests for comment. Sources say their legislation aimed to strengthen the 1991 agreement by adding the weight of state law behind it.

In the wake of that legislation, in 2020 the city of Peoria requested – and was granted – a meeting with Boyd at its Vegas headquarters. According to sources, Peoria officials reminded Boyd of the original agreement and suggested the company consider building a land-based operation in Peoria. Those officials told Boyd that a land-based operation would draw more tourists and visitors and thus be more profitable.

Sources say Boyd simply took in that information with little comment. But thereafter, the notion of a Par-A-Dice relocation languished.

In March of this year, though, the move-to-Peoria camp felt emboldened.

That month marked a regular meeting of the Illinois Gaming Board, which regulates casino licenses. At the meeting, Boyd and Par-A-Dice officials made a matter-of-course appearance to make a typical request for a four-year license extension. They made presentations that highlighted the casino’s operations and community involvement. The board, with little discussion, granted the four-year license extension.

However, that approval was predicated on Boyd returning within two years with “a new casino facility development plan.” Boyd agreed. No details of the scope of that plan were discussed at that meeting.

But one brief meeting comment apparently caught the ear of Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich. Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter offhandedly stated that after changes per the development plan due in 2026, the casino would no longer have to consider any Coast Guard regulations.

“The implication,” Urich wrote in a letter to Boyd soon thereafter, “is that Par-A-Dice will be shifting to land-based operations.”

In that letter, Urich requested that Boyd officials come to Peoria to “revisit land-based opportunities for Par-A-Dice operations in Peoria.” In May, Boyd officials did come to Peoria, where officials again reminded Boyd of the 1991 agreement and offered several ideas regarding incentives for relocation.

Sources say Boyd requested Peoria put any proposals in writing. In a letter dated July 9, Urich suggested and detailed economic incentives that could help with construction and other costs of casino relocation, including tax increment financing, an urban enterprise zone and a business development district. It also suggested sharing tax revenue – “a portion of the hotel tax, restaurant tax and amusement tax” – with Boyd.

Even under a relocation to Peoria, East Peoria still would split gaming-tax revenue 50-50 with Peoria. But East Peoria would not get a penny from the other, associated taxes, all of which would go to Peoria.

In addition to that added tax revenue, Peoria could also benefit by the expectation that a land-based casino and hotel would drive development around it. None of the FOIA-obtained emails mentions a possible location for a land-based casino in Peoria.

In that the East Peoria operation encompasses about 25 acres, Peoria would have a hard time finding needed space in or around Downtown. Thus, sources say, the new site likely would be someplace with more available space.

Boyd has not replied to Peoria about those written suggestions, sources say. City Hall believes Boyd is continuing to evaluate those ideas.

Meantime in East Peoria, Mayor Kahl fired off July emails to Peoria Mayor Ali expressing his “disappointment” in Peoria’s attempt to sway Boyd into relocating – especially with no input from East Peoria. He also suggested Peoria’s overtures could rattle Boyd and hurt the “harmonious relations” therefore enjoyed between Peoria, East Peoria and Boyd.

In reply, Ali defended Peoria’s maneuvers, saying, “We are not trying to force relocation.” Still, she added, “As we (in Peoria) came to believe that Boyd gaming may be interested in expanding to include a land-based casino, we wanted to make sure they understood that our signed agreement (between Peoria and East Peoria) is honored.”

Further, she stated, “We do object to an expansion to include a land-based casino in East Peoria. … It violates a trust.”

Reached Friday, Urich declined to comment at length. But he did say, “From Peoria’s perspective, we think that the 1991 agreement should be honored. … We think land-based gaming should be in Peoria.”

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Peoria, East Peoria mayors tight-lipped on potential casino move

The mayors of Peoria and East Peoria aren’t saying much about the possibility of Boyd Gaming abandoning the region’s current riverboat casino in favor of a land-based operation on the other side of the Illinois River.

The Par-A-Dice Hotel and Casino opened in East Peoria in 1993, and the Nevada-based gaming and hospitality company purchased the venue from local investors three years later.

A four-year casino license extension granted by the Illinois Gaming Board in March included a provision for Boyd to develop a plan for a new casino gaming facility over the next two years.

Speaking at the unveiling of a new downtown mural Tuesday, Peoria Mayor Rita Ali declined to speak at length about the city attempting to persuade Boyd to relocate the casino.

“There’s an agreement that was signed many years ago that if land-based casinos were to come to this area, that they would be in Peoria. That's basically all I have to say about that,” Ali said.

That 1991 intergovernmental agreement called for the two cities to evenly split tax revenue levied on gambling on the riverboat. Meanwhile, East Peoria gets all of the sales and real estate taxes generated from the casino.

In an interview with WCBU, East Peoria Mayor John Kahl said Boyd has been a fixture in his city for nearly three decades and the entire region has benefitted.

“Boyd is a private business, and I think I've been pretty clear as the mayor of East Peoria on where I stand with private business and their rights and their ability to make the best decisions for themselves,” he said.

Kahl said he’s aware Boyd has expressed a desire to expand its operations in the region, and he confirmed he emailed Ali to express disappointment over Peoria discussing a possible land-based new location.

“I can't speak for the folks on the Peoria side of the river; I don't know what they know or don't know. But Boyd doesn't answer to us; they don't answer to Peoria, they don't answer to East Peoria," he said. "They answer to the Illinois Gaming Board.”

Kahl said much has changed since the cities entered the intergovernmental agreement, most notably with Illinois having since legalized slot machines and video gaming terminals outside of casinos.

“At the end of the day, should Boyd come to me and say, ‘Hey, we're going to relocate the Peoria,’ I'd support them in their decision,” Kahl said. “That's their decision to make, and I'll respect it one way or the other.”

Hampton Inn Peoria-East At The River Boat Crossing

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Find us off Highway 150, next to the Par-A-Dice Riverboat Casino and less than a mile from dining options. Peoria Civic Center, Northwoods Mall, and Forest Park Nature Center are within 15 minutes. Work out in our fitness center or take a dip in the pool. Every stay with us includes free WiFi and daily free hot breakfast.

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