Rivers Casino: Public Safety Calls Increase

Police, Fire Departments Responded to 800 Calls at Rivers Casino in 2011
Trespassing citations account for majority of police calls.
By Janet Nester

While the opening of Rivers Casino generated a lot of excitement and buzz in Des Plaines last year, it generated another kind of buzz as well.

In the sixth ward where the casino is located, calls to the Des Plaines Police Department rose almost 11 percent, and calls to the Des Plaines Fire Department increased 29 percent.

The Des Plaines Police Department responded to an annual average of 6,822 calls in the city’s sixth ward from 2009 to 2011. Officers responded to 7,560 calls in the sixth ward in 2011, 681 of those calls to Rivers Casino, said Mike Kozak, acting police chief.

Several aldermen said the number of calls in 2011 concerned them.

“This has had a huge impact beyond what we ever expected,” Jim Brookman, fifth ward alderman, said at a public safety committee meeting on Feb. 8.

Earlier: Emergency radios don't work in Rivers Casino.

Reports show that Des Plaines police officers spent more than 800 hours to incidents at the casino in 2011.

“[Officers at the casino] are not patrolling the streets of my neighborhood and the streets of the city,” said Mark Walsten, sixth ward alderman. “These call numbers are disturbing.”

Deputy Police Chief Angela Burton said the while casino did generate more activity than expected, it did not cause a “significant burden” to the department.

Des Plaines Fire Chief Alan Wax said, after studying call statistics from other cities with casinos, they expected to respond to the casino every other day. Instead, the fire department responded to a call every 1.38 days in 2011.

On average, the Des Plaines Fire Department responded to 334 calls in the city’s sixth ward in 2009, 2010, and 2011. In 2011, the fire department responded to a total of 432 calls — 119 of them to the casino.

“[Rivers Casino] certainly has had an impact, but has been within our ability to respond,” said Alan Wax, Des Plaines fire chief.

Most are trespassing calls

About 90 percent of the police calls to Rivers Casino were for patrons on the Illinois Gaming Board self-exclusion list. As those patrons try to enter the casino, security guards detain them, and they are cited for criminal trespassing, Kozak said.

Fines for trespassing increased from $250 to $500 this year. Offenders received 148 trespassing citations in 2011 for incidents at the casino, which generated $37,000 for the city.

The self-exclusion list, started in 2002, is a voluntary program people sign up for after recognizing they have a gambling problem, said Gene O’Shea, Director of Self-Exclusion for the Illinois Gaming Board.

Anyone on the list who tries to enter a casino will be charged with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor crime that results in a $500 fine with the possibility of up to 180 days in jail.

Individuals can petition to be removed from the list after five years, O’Shea said, but no one has ever succeeded in this.

Hollywood Casino’s experience

Aurora Police Chief Gregory Thomas said when Hollywood Casino opened in the early 1990’s there was an initial increase in numbers, but then things leveled off.

Thomas described Des Plaines’ increase in police incidents in the sixth ward as “not too outrageous.”

“Anytime you have a new business there will be a change,” Thomas said. He said many of the calls to Hollywood Casino are for underage patrons and people on the self-exclusion list.

Because Hollywood Casino is a boat, it initially had two officers on board at all times. As time went on, the department saw little need to have two officers on site and eventually eliminated that shift.

Wax said he hasn’t received any complaints from the community, adding that he expects the number of calls to the casino to go down once some casino staff members receive medical training so that they can treat minor injuries.

Rivers Casino has its own security system, which will call for criminal situations but works to take care of minor issues, said Mike Kozak, acting police chief.

“They aren’t just calling for nothing,” Kozak said.

“My main concern is citizens of Des Plaines are not getting the same coverage today as they did last year,” Walsten said.



Gaming Tax Revenue Planned for Flood Control, Debt Reduction
Aldermen say that that flood mitigation projects top residents’ lists.

Des Plaines will likely receive between $3 and $5 million dollars from Rivers Casino this year and aldermen say they plan to use it for infrastructure improvements and debt reduction in 2013.

The finance and administration committee met last night to formulate a policy that will help guide current and future city administrators and politicians in how revenue generated from Rivers Casino can best be spent. Many stressed that this policy will help Des Plaines avoid mistakes other casino communities made with their revenue, such as spending it on operating costs.

Des Plaines has the tenth and final casino license in the state and earned that in part because it entered a 30-year Business Development Agreement. The agreement stipulates that the state of Illinois gets $10 million of Rivers’ casino revenues. Ten designated communities will share 40 percent of the remaining amount and Des Plaines keeps the rest.

Rivers Casino pays a gaming tax, which is five percent of its gross receipts, and an admissions tax, which is $1 per person.

Previous estimates show that tens of thousands of visitors frequent Rivers Casino every month and that the casino brought in more than $37 million in profits last month.

While $3 million is a “conservative” estimate, the city will know the exact amount it will receive in August or September, said Acting City Manager Jason Slowinski. Money will be kept in a separate fund and allocated in the 2013 budget.

Many aldermen emphasized the importance of using this money for extracurricular projects and not on operational costs, partly because the amount the city will receive will vary greatly year to year.

Ideas for those projects included improvements to the city’s water system that the current budget cannot cover. All in attendance agreed that the money should not be spent on personnel salaries.

Aldermen say that that flood mitigation projects top residents’ lists.

This policy will be passed as a resolution, which means it is not a law and can be changed or not followed at will.

Most aldermen emphasized that the policy is a means of government transparency and a way to show residents how the casino money will be spent.

Other communities with casinos did not have a policy in place when their casinos first opened. In the economic downturn and with tighter budgets, some cities started dipping into casino money to fill gaps and cover essential services, Slowinski said. When casino revenues dried up, those towns were in trouble.

Similarly, many of those same towns spent casino money to hire additional police officers and fire fighters. When they saw their casino revenues drop, they were stuck making tough decisions, said 7th Ward Alderman Dan Wilson.

Aldermen supporting the policy said it adds certainty and predictability to the budgeting process.

“This money will not be spent like a 16-year-old with her first checkbook,” said Second Ward Alderman John Robinson.

Fifth Ward Alderman Jim Brookman said he didn’t like the policy because it puts constraints on how the casino money can be spent and Fourth Ward Alderman Dick Sayad said wanted to wait to see how much money the city would receive until any policy was put into place.

“This is a chain around our neck,” Sayad said.

Brookman added that the nature of the policy is “insulting” because it assumes politicians will misspend the money.

The policy as is advocates spending money on new infrastructure, such as flood mitigation projects, but would not allow for the purchase of new equipment, like a fire truck, for example. Brookman said that casino money should be able to be used for one-time expenses.

Aldermen at the meeting said they wanted feedback from residents and agreed to have the policy presented as a resolution at the first city council meeting in June. Two aldermen weren’t present -- Mike Charewicz, eighth ward alderman, and Patricia Haugeberg, first ward alderman. Mayor Martin Moylan was not in attendance.