Well, big changes are coming for Illinois and Rockford alike.  On Friday, they passed legislation for recreational Marijuana, raised our gas tax, passed sports betting legislation and paved the way for a casino in Chicago as well as Rockford. I feel a few of these things will help our economy but honestly, I don't think anyone is happy about the raised gas tax.

The City of Rockford has been trying to get a casino for 10 years but it kept getting passed over. Not this time, it's official, its finally going to happen. They say it will bring in much needed revenue for our city as well as a ton of new jobs. They also said that last year, Illinois lost 1.5 billion in gambling revenue due to casinos in five neighboring states. The added revenue will help to control property taxes in our area. Before, they had planned on building a casino in the old Clock tower location but the building has since been demolished. Hopefully in the coming months we'll find out where our new casino is going to be built. If you would like to learn more, check out the whole story from Rockrivertimes.com.

 

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