As the city of Waukegan and the Waukegan Potawatomi Casino tangle at the Illinois Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, work on the permanent American Place casino remains on hold.
After the Waukegan City Council approved Full House’s site plan and variance request for the permanent facility — the Temporary at American Place opened in February of 2023 — last August, work on the American Place Resort and Casino came to a halt.
With the Potawatomi challenging the city and the Illinois Gaming Board on the issuance of the Waukegan casino license, Alex Stolyar, Full House’s senior vice president and chief development officer, said Friday the company is forced to wait.
“As long as the litigation is ongoing, there is too much uncertainty around the development,” he said. “Unfortunately, this litigation has delayed our plans, but we appreciate the effort of the city and state working as quickly as they can to get this restarted.”
Full House awaits the outcome of the challenge of the issuance of its license by the gaming board in state Supreme Court, and a civil rights challenge against the city in federal court, before it can continue its plans for the permanent facility.
Stewart Weiss, an attorney with corporation counsel Elrod Friedman, said all necessary paperwork is filed with the Illinois Supreme Court, which is in recess until September. He anticipates an oral argument in the fall and a decision by the end of the year.
Weiss said he is less certain about the timing of the appeal in federal court, but believes it will come after the state court ruling. The issues in the two cases are different.
Once the court decisions are made, Stolyar said it will take 2½ to three years to build and open the permanent facility.
Shortly after the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation in 2019 giving Waukegan the right to have a casino, the city approved applications from Full House, North Point and Rivers, and sent them to the gaming board to issue a license to one of them. The city rejected the Potawatomi bid, according to the city’s Supreme Court filing.
More than two years later — with the gaming board about to issue the right to a license for the Waukegan casino — the Potawatomi filed suit in Cook County Court asking the judge to put a halt to the preceding. The court refused and later dismissed the case without a hearing, according to the court documents.
After the Illinois First District Appellate Court said just under a year ago the Potawatomi was entitled to a hearing on its complaint, the city and gaming board appealed to the state Supreme Court. The temporary casino was already in operation for six months at the time, according to the court documents.
“By Potawatomi Casino’s own estimates, a casino in the City of Waukegan is expected to pull tens of millions of dollars a year from the Potawatomi Tribe’s flagship casino in Milwaukee,” the city wrote in court documents.
Claiming it was deprived of the opportunity to receive the Waukegan license from the gaming board, the Potawatomi want the state Supreme Court to let the Cook County Court hold a trial before making a decision.
“Because the (gaming board) acted without authority, the license is void and may be challenged in court,” the Potawatomi said in its brief
Though not a party to the lawsuit, Full House joined Rockford, Park City and North Chicago, arguing to the Illinois Supreme Court the Potawatomi is, “holding the $500 million Waukegan casino hostage,” according to the pleading it filed with the court.
“The Gambling Act was meant to benefit the people of Illinois assisting economic development, promoting Illinois tourism and increasing government revenues to, among other things, assist and support education, capital projects and other beneficial programs,” Full House said in its court filing.
While the case challenging the license was already before the Illinois Supreme Court, U.S. District Judge John F. Kness threw out a 5-year-old case between the Potawatomi and Waukegan in late March claiming the tribe was a “sovereign entity with openly sovereign interests,” and it cannot claim its civil rights were violated.
On appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the Potawatomi has filed paperwork. Weiss said Waukegan will submit its brief in August. He does not know when an oral argument will be scheduled.