Filed Thursday, December 6. 2007
Major cities that have held the Olympics also have casinos. If Chicago is serious about having the Olympics in 2016, should it also get serious about having a world-class casino? While there are many positive and negative opinions about casinos, let’s start looking at the facts. Is there any correlation between having a casino and having the Olympics? Does it give the city more of an international appeal and flair? The latest city selection ( Glasgow for 2014) has several casinos. Is having a casino part of the criteria for Olympic selection? No. Still, there seems to be some correlation when you start looking into the history of cities selected. Do many other cities that have held the Olympics have casinos? You might be surprised at the answer. Here is a partial list of host cities that also have casinos: Antwerp, Belgium Athens, Greece Barcelona, Spain Berlin, Germany Brussels, Belgium Montreal, Canada Munich, Germany Paris, France Seoul, Korea St. Petersberg, Russia Wiesbaden, Germany We are not talking about riverboats. Casinos in Europe are very classy. London, which was been chosen for the 2012 Olympics, has several casinos. Prague, which is one of the competitors for the 2016 Olympics, has several casinos including one in an 18th century building. Tokyo, which is another 2016 contender, is thinking about casinos with a new perspective from government officials. Just Part of the Ambiance There are a lot of proponents and opponents on the issue of having a casino in Chicago. There are also many who think the city should have a casino but with some reservations. A recent article focused on Detroit’s new casino and raised the question about Chicago’s future. If you want the city to appeal to an international audience, you have to wake up and take on an international, multi-cultural perspective. Some who talk about being so sophisticated in Chicago have to wake up and understand that gambling is not a vice in different cultures. It’s sometimes a part of the culture. There was an idea years ago to have Navy Pier as the ideal place for a casino because of its capability of having a lot of access from other cities on Lake Michigan. This made a lot of sense because a whole new marina could have been built to accommodate boaters coming in from other ports like Port Washington, Sheboygan, Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha in Wisconsin as well as St. Joseph and Saugatuck in Michigan. It’d be a perfect boating getaway from another Lake Michigan city to come Chicago and gamble at a lakefront casino. Forget having the casino somewhere inside the city. Having the ability to appeal to those coming in from all those cities as well as local and in-city tourist traffic would have made a casino on the lake a new Chicago icon as well as a real boon to the local and regional economy. Think of another jewel of architecture with the Chicago skyline in the background. Would it be a modern design like the Milwaukee Art Museum on the lake or a classic architectural design mimicking a European palace? No matter what the architectural design, it would quickly become a Chicago centerpiece for international tourism. If building one in the downtown area of Chicago today, the Meigs Field location would be a good place to locate one. It would then become part of the downtown, Navy Pier, museum campus and McCormick Place tourist area with access to the lake. This location would definitely mean building a harbor or extending Burnham Harbor to accommodate boats from surrounding ports. Another 1,000-slip facility would not be out of line. Casinos Need Sophisticated Networks Any casino that is built has to have a mission-critical approach to its network infrastructure. It needs to have communications between all the gaming areas as well as surveillance. This means a lot of cameras, channels and digital storage. Looking at casinos in Las Vegas would be a good starting point for the level of sophistication needed to be a real competitor within the gaming industry. As more automation comes into play in various casino operations, more network capabilities are needed. Tying into the state’s horseracing would also be a must and having all races televised would be a given. Getting various casino corporations to bid on building one in Chicago would be a necessary step on the road to enticing the Olympics to be in the city. Does this mean Chicago would become a bad town if a casino was built? While some people think this, many people would save a lot on airfare, gasoline and time to spend their money in their state instead of going to other states to gamble. Those who look at the Olympics as adding international flair or panache to the city should also embrace a casino. A casino would be a more permanent addition and a lot more profitable when you compare paybacks on each endeavor. Carlinism: Make no small plans. Make no small bets. Not modified
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