Under Gov. JB Pritzker, casinos and video and sports gambling have exploded across the state — and video poker could expand even more if and when it's introduced in the city of Chicago.Tasked with regulating all this is the Illinois Gaming Board, which reports to Pritzker and has struggled in rece nt years with a central task: ensuring the integrity of the billion-dollar industry and keeping people with ties to reputed organized crime figures out of it.Now Pritzker plans to revamp the agency in a dramatic reorganization — but in a manner that would likely eliminate key aspects of public transparency that have existed for decades.Under the plan, gaming board members who are appointed by the governor and deliberate and vote in public sessions about important matters such as gaming licenses, qualifications and disciplinary matters would be gone, as would the regular meetings that anyone from the public can attend.Rather, those functions would be melded with those of the Illinois Racing Board — which regulates the state’s struggling horse racing industry and whose board also is appointed by the governor.Likewise, there would be no more racing board members and public meetings under the plan.All functions would be folded into a new or existing arm of state government, operating along the lines of a department of the executive branch.It’s unclear whether the changes would accompany reforms loosening some of the existing privacy provisions that have long limited public access to certain gaming board records involving gambling businesses, applicants and internal investigations.In 2021, for instance, gaming board Administrator Marcus Fruchter recommended denying banker and lawyer James J. Banks a video gambling license, citing concerns about his alleged unsavory associations.The agency later reversed course — but officials said they couldn’t get into details about why. Illinois Gaming Board administrator Marcus Fruchter.Victor Hilitski / Sun-Times A Democrat running for a third term this year and toying with a 2028 presidential run, Pritzker wouldn’t discuss the plan, which would require legislation that’s apparently still being discussed behind closed doors.Even if they’re short on details, his aides say the changes make sense given the decline of the horse racing industry, and will increase efficiency in the regulatory process.“The proposal to merge the Illinois Racing Board and the Illinois Gaming Board in the Governor’s proposed budget is designed to streamline oversight and improve how the state regulates a rapidly expanding gaming landscape,” a Pritzker spokesman said.“Today, responsibility for closely related gaming activities is split between two separate boards, which can lead to less accountability and transparency. Bringing these boards under one unified structure will improve efficiency, strengthen accountability and ultimately better serve the public.”“While the proposed budget outlines a potential framework for this consolidation, the structure of any new agency — including roles, governance and oversight mechanisms — can only be determined through legislation.” Related Video gambling establishments see alarming spike in burglaries, $2.7 million stolen in 2025 “The administration will continue working with lawmakers and stakeholders to ensure any final structure delivers effective regulation, strong public accountability, and efficient use of taxpayer resources while continuing to protect the integrity and safety of Illinois gaming.”A statement from Pritzker’s office also said: “All information currently available through Illinois Gaming Board processes will continue to be publicly accessible, including licensing actions, disciplinary matters, disclosure statements, enforcement activity.” Gov. JB Pritzker.Sun-Times photo “Disciplinary complaints used to not be publicly posted until the Pritzker Administration changed that. Additionally, the Illinois Racing Board had not been adopting all of these standards, so consolidation would expand these public disclosures further across both sectors.”State Sen. Bill Cuningham, a South Side legislator who shepherds gambling legislation in his chamber, said he supports the idea of consolidation but called it important “to have some sort of oversight that would allow for transparency.”“One of the criticisms of both the racing board and gaming board over the years has been that they move very slowly,” Cunningham said. “The counter is that it allows for a full vetting process. There’s probably a happy medium between having a board that unnecessarily slows down decisions and having no board, which doesn’t allow for transparency.”No legislation has been filed yet, but that oversight could come from the Illinois General Assembly. “I anticipate we’ll have something in place,” Cunningham said.The Chicago Sun-Times has highlighted a series of embarrassments with the gaming board during Pritzker’s tenure, including the construction site of the Bally’s Chicago casino using D P Construction Co., Inc., for waste hauling even though the FBI has said the company was tied to the mob. Dumpsters from DP Construction Co., Inc., when they were at the River West construction site of Bally’s Chicago casino’s permanent gambling complex along the Chicago River.Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere / Sun-Times In fact, D P’s presence on the construction site of a proposed Rosemont casino decades ago helped unravel the project, leading the gaming board to tank the Rosemont project and give the coveted license to what’s now Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.Fruchter wouldn’t answer previous questions about another video gambling figure — former GOP governor candidate Rick Heidner — accepting a campaign contribution from a D P executive and acknowledging he’s used the garbage company over the years for his business interests.A billionaire, Pritzker himself has had casino investments, but he and his aides have refused to provide details on how vast those holdings have been.It’s well known that, until the time he was first running for governor, Pritzker owned a piece of the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, which he has since sold off. Years earlier, the casino faced a hefty gaming board fine for hiring a reputed mobbed-up contractor — as the agency is tasked with protecting the integrity of an industry that’s long been seen by mobsters as their domain.One or more trusts benefiting Pritzker also once held interests in casinos in Indiana and the Niagara Falls area — the latter while partnering with the Bluhm family who have since been involved in Rivers, according to public records and published accounts. Related He used to do business with reputed mob figures. Now, he’s licensed by the Illinois Gaming Board. During the Rosemont licensing process, the gaming board was known for vigorous debate and vetting, and independent voices.Critics say it’s devolved into a rubber stamp for governors’ administrations, even before Pritzker championed a massive statewide gambling expansion after taking office in 2019. That expansion legalized sports betting, added six new casinos and ballooned the number of slot machines in bars, restaurants and truck stops.Gaming board meetings serve as a public venue for casino companies to make their cases for coveted licenses and renewals by outlining the benefits they say they bring to communities, often outlining diversity programs that have been prioritized by the state for years.Higher-level hires have to appear for board approval, too, and the open public meetings offer opportunity for public comment from spurned business operators, gambling opponents and any other citizen. The Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, which Gov. JB Pritzker once held an interest in.AP file State law requires the five-person panel, appointed by the governor, includes no more than three members from the same political party. One member each is supposed to have a background in law enforcement, business, corporate auditing and law.Under Pritzker, the board has regularly had lengthy vacancies, including a spot that’s been open since last July. The current iteration includes three Democrats and an independent. They aren’t salaried but they do get $300 per diems and expenses covered by the state.That’s also the case for the 11-person racing board, whose gubernatorial appointees “shall have a reasonable knowledge of harness or thoroughbred racing,” according to state law.The racing board only has two racetracks to oversee in the state, while the perennially understaffed gaming board is responsible for policing 16 standalone casinos, the world’s largest network of 49,000-plus slot machines outside casinos and one of the nation’s top sports betting markets.IGB meeting schedules already have been slightly trimmed from the calendar under Pritzker and Fruchter.The panel held 10 open meetings in 2019, eight in 2020 and 13 in 2021, when the state was busy handing out new casino licenses. Eight meetings were held each year from 2022-24, down to seven last year, though state law only requires the board to meet quarterly.They've met twice this year with five more on the calendar as the governor tries to get the Illinois General Assembly to approve the consolidation of regulators.The board’s chairwoman, Dionne Hayden, referred comment to Fruchter’s office. Fruchter would not comment.Gambling is a critical tax revenue source for the state, which got an $871 million cut last year from video gambling terminals, $186 million from casinos, $380 million from sports betting and just $7 million from the racetracks.Pritzker’s aides argue that transparency would be solid under his plan, in part because “legislators will have the ability to conduct oversight through required reporting to the Illinois General Assembly, budget and subject-matter hearings, and Senate confirmation of the Director and Assistant Directors.”Legislators, however, are big recipients of campaign money from the gambling industry.The top two legislative leaders — state Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) and Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside) — collectively have gotten more than $500,000 in campaign contributions since 2019 from a single video gambling company, Accel Entertainment, records show.One of Accel’s lobbying firms is led by attorney Michael Kasper, a long-time fixture in the Illinois House under Welch’s predecessor, Michael J. Madigan, and the Illinois Democratic Party. ...read more read less