Illinois Business Journal Illinois Business Journal
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An estimated $54 million in new taxes on Illinois casinos will be used to bolster the flagging horseracing industry under recently passed legislation.		 . Casino association may file suit to block horseracing subsidy
By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   The Illinois Casino Gaming Association is considering mounting a legal challenge to legislation recently passed by the Illinois General Assembly to tax riverboat gambling and give the proceeds to the horseracing industry, according to Tom Swoik, executive director of the ICGA.
   While the bill has yet to be delivered to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Swoik says he fully expects the governor to sign it as Blagojevich lobbied the [continue]
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Rising healthcare costs tops the list of small business problems
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By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   Rising healthcare costs, excessive tax burden and the rising cost of materials are the top concerns of small business, according to a report released last year by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Statistics and Research Center. Surprising to some, the availability of credit ranked a distant sixth. The results were based on a nationwide survey of 1,080 business owners.
   Rita Perlman, director of research and market planning for the U.S. Chamber, says she thinks [continue]

 Rising healthcare costs, taxes and cost of materials are the most frequently cited concerns of small business owners according to a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce poll.
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Wal-Mart waits, FDIC debates granting bank charter to retailer
By KERRY L. SMITH

   Always Low Prices. Always. If retail kingpin Wal-Mart gets a "yes" from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that it can have an industrial loan company charter and mix commerce with banking, could its low-price offerings also include financial products sometime in the near future?
   Banking lobbyists think so.
   Industrial loan companies are state-chartered institutions insured by the FDIC. A total of seven states - California, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada and Utah - have active ILC charters. According to Charlotte Birch, spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association, since 1987 aggregate growth in ILC assets has increased more than [continue]

 From left, Terry Jorde, Independent Community Bankers of America, Robert McKew, American Financial Services Association, Arthur Johnson, American Bankers Association and Kenneth Redding, America's Community Bankers, appear at the public hearings regarding the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. application of Wal-Mart Bank at the second of two FDIC hearings on the matter on April 10.