Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm expands reach into politics and gaming

Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm made his fortune buying and selling hotels, resorts and malls.

His name graces the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University’s Law School, as well as the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. And he is a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago, and of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art.

Now, at age 70, Bluhm has been expanding his influence into politics and gambling. He gave the maximum individual donation to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and also raised an estimated $200,000 as a fund-raiser.

Just before Christmas, his company, Midwest Gaming and Entertainment LLC, beat out two competitors to build a casino in suburban Des Plaines, near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The company was the lowest of three bidders for the state’s only unused casino license which had been mired in legal and administrative disputes for a decade.

“We’re obviously thrilled that we are selected,” Blum told the Associated Press last week.

The five-member Illinois Gaming Board approved Bluhm’s company over two other competitors in a 3-1 vote.

Chairman Aaron Jaffe said Midwest Gaming got his support because it was the most reputable of the three companies and had agreed to share revenue with the economically depressed communities around the casino. Bluhm’s company had offered a $125 million fee upfront and an additional $300 million to be paid out over 30 years.

For much of the last decade, Bluhm has been steadily building his gambling holdings, from management of two Niagara Falls casinos, which involved collaboration with Chicago’s billionaire Pritzker family, to development of the Riverwalk casino and hotel in Vicksburg, Miss.

And a proposed deal with Don Barden was just approved by the Pennsylvania gaming control board to give him a stake in casinos in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

But gaming board member, the Rev. Eugene Winkler, said he refused to cast a vote because he said he was not convinced that any of the finalists deserved permission to operate slot machines and betting tables.

“The arrogance of Midwest Gaming is palpable,” he told the Associated Press. “Mr. Bluhm is a smart businessman, but he also wants everything done his way.”

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