Yesterday at a Senate Executive Committee hearing, state gaming officials said they would need to hire 300 additional people to successfully implement a massive gaming expansion bill pending in the Illinois Senate.  

The legislation, SB 1739, sponsored by State Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan), faced scrutiny from Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe and Administrator Mark Ostrowski.

Calling for five new casinos and slot machines at horse racing tracks and airports, Illinois’ gaming units would jump from 12,000 to 27,000. But, according to Jaffe, there are 100 vacant positions that still need to be filled.

Jaffe said he filled a “whole notebook” with questions and concerns about the bill, noting that if the Gaming Board doesn't "have the staff" they "can’t do the regulating."

“I’m interested in regulation. If they are really interested in regulation, we ought to sit down and talk,” Jaffe told the State Journal-Register. “Whether it was a dog-and-pony show, I don’t know.”

Officials also expressed concern over deadlines that call for the gaming expansion to happen simultaneously.

“When you couple the size of the expansion with the deadlines in the bill, it will be challenging,” Ostrowski told the newspaper.