Anytime soon the Decatur City Council is set to revise a casino proposal which includes the establishment of a small casino floor at the Decatur Conference Centre & Hotel. If the project is approved by the Council, it is expected to create around 200 jobs for residents and up to $3 million in taxes to the city.

This casino project was designed by Jeff Roberts and Joseph Uram; both of them used to be executives at Argosy Gaming Company, a well established casino operator of the 90s. According to their plan, the Decatur property should get 14,000 square feet gaming floor located at the conference centre; gaming equipment should feature up to 600 slot machines.

The hotel’s owner, Steve Horve, commented that in case the project gets green light it would have a positive effect on his business as well as on the city’s economy as a whole. He further explained that having a casino would make his plans to renovate the rest of the 185 rooms possible, plus the hotel would be able to add more food and beverage amenities too.

It’s expected for the Decatur City Council to hear the casino proposal very soon and make a final decision whether to approve it or not. Their approval is needed in order for developers to be able to ask Illinois legislators to add Decatur to the list of gambling licence eligible locations.

Reportedly, the city was likely to become such a location and that was one of the main reasons why the Decatur casino project was created in the first place. The first time this idea was mentioned dates back in 2015 after a proposed legislation named Decatur as one of the cities that could welcome a gambling facility. Currently, Illinois has ten licensed casinos with up to 1,200 gaming machines each.