East Peoria mayor firm in stance on future of Par-A-Dice Casino, blasts Peoria
East Peoria Mayor John Kahl is steadfast in his stance that the city of Peoria is potentially straining the relationship between the two cities by its continued pursuit to lure the Par-A-Dice Casino to its side of the Illinois River.
Kahl said as much to an audience at the Par-A-Dice Casino Hotel on Friday during his State of the City address in which he said he knew the emails he sent to Peoria Mayor Rita Ali about the casino would go public. In those emails he said Peoria was threatening to "forever strain" the relationship between the two cities, and on Friday he told the East Peoria audience at the casino that he stuck by those words.
Kahl said during his speech that East Peoria would "protect" the rights of private businesses to make their own decisions and the city would not tell businesses "what to do" or "where you have to be," appearing to take a veiled shot at Peoria for its efforts to bring Boyd Gaming to its city.
Kahl told reporters after his speech that he would support whatever decision Boyd Gaming makes on the location of its planned new casino.
"Boyd, whatever their decision is they take in front of the gaming board, and they approve it," Kahl said. "That's their decision to make. I've made myself clear to Boyd a couple years back when all of this kicked up if you will, what East Peoria's position is. We've had a great partnership with them, and I like to think that speaks volumes."
Kahl, too, voiced his displeasure with Peoria's efforts, which have included showing Boyd Gaming at least three possible locations it could build a new land-based casino.
"Let Peoria keep running their mouth on whatever they hope to do, hope to see, can't speak for them," Kahl said.
More: 'David vs Goliath': How East Peoria won the riverboat casino battle three decades ago
A rift between leadership in Peoria and East Peoria has been growing for months after Boyd Gaming signaled last year that it was planning to build a new casino facility somewhere in the Peoria area.
Boyd Gaming has operated the Par-A-Dice Riverboat Casino in East Peoria since 1993.
However, where the battle seen between East Peoria and Peoria today stems from is a 1991 agreement signed between the two municipalities that dictated that if a land-based casino were to ever be built in the region, it would have to be on Peoria's side of the river.
Last year when Boyd signaled it would be building a new casino — one that would likely be land-based — Peoria began an effort to entice the company to its side of the river and remind it of the terms of the 1991 agreement.
Kahl, however, believes that Peoria is overstepping and is ignoring the benefit the casino brings to the region as a whole. Currently the gaming tax revenues generated by the casino are split equally between the two cities.
"I think a lot of people have this misconception about the Par-A-Dice," Kahl said Friday. "The revenues are split 50% on each side. I don't know why they can't wrap their arms around that. Boyd has really done a tremendous job of supporting this entire region, and I hope people understand that."
However, all the other taxes — such as those generated by property taxes, sales taxes and hotel taxes — stay in the host city.
Kahl called Peoria's comments on the matter "nonsense."
"There's a benefit to this region and for some reason, they don't see the benefit apparently based on some of their comments, which are nonsense," Kahl said. "Boyd's done a good job of supporting this entire region, and I can't say enough good things about the entire company."
Boyd Gaming's CEO Keith Smith told shareholders in January that Boyd hoped to build a casino with an estimated price tag of $100 million to replace the Par-A-Dice Riverboat Casino in East Peoria. He said they hoped construction could begin in early 2026.
More: Peoria, Boyd Gaming have discussed potential locations for a land-based casino
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: East Peoria mayor says Peoria's casino comments are 'nonsense'
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