PEORIA — Boyd Gaming will attempt to build a new $160 million casino in East Peoria to replace the Par-A-Dice Riverboat Casino, settling months of speculation while raising new questions.
Boyd Gaming officials unveiled their plans for a new casino in East Peoria to the Illinois Gaming Commission Thursday morning. The gaming board won’t make any decisions on Boyd Gaming’s plans until February.
Boyd Gaming will exploit a definitional loophole of the term “water-based” to build its new casino, confirming long-standing concerns in the city of Peoria that it intends to do so.
Rules require that only riverboat casinos can operate in East Peoria and that any land-based casinos must be built in Peoria. Boyd Gaming is planning to build a land-based casino on the waters of the Illinois River, according to renderings shown Thursday. They’re calling the new land-based casino a “modern riverboat.”
Boyd Gaming said the casino floor will sit on a 1,000-gallon basin of the Illinois River, which it said means the new casino will meet regulatory directives. Boyd said Thursday that water from the Illinois River will be “pumped directly under the casino floor.”
Boyd Gaming also said Thursday that soil boreholes collected from the parking lot showed the soil beneath the parking lot was consistent with soil at the bottom of the river, which is one and the same.
The renderings Boyd Gaming showed Thursday don’t show a new ship but a new building, which they’re calling “riverboat modernization.”
An attorney for the city of Peoria spoke briefly to the Illinois Gaming Board on Thursday, saying it was the first time the city had seen Boyd’s speech and called it “interesting.” He added that the city is still negotiating with Boyd to find possible solutions to Peoria’s problems.
Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich told the Star-Telegram on Thursday that the city will evaluate its options moving forward and “will take some time to digest” Boyd Game’s demo, which he confirmed was the first the city has seen.
Asked if the speech and Boyd’s plans were surprising, Urich said “no.”
On Thursday morning, East Peoria Mayor John Carr appeared in a video prepared by Boyd in which he asked the gaming board to support Boyd Gaming’s plan to build a new casino in East Peoria.
Boyd’s proposed casino would have 29,000 square feet of casino space, 20,500 square feet of ballroom space, a steakhouse and gastropub, according to Boyd’s presentation.
Boyd Gaming said Thursday that the new casino will be completed by the end of 2028 after 16 months of construction.
Boyd Gaming expects to spend $160 million on the new casino, which will have an economic impact of $890 million on the region over the next 10 years.
(This story will be updated.)
Renderings of Boyd Gaming’s proposed new casino in East Peoria show a building built atop a water basin. Boyd Gaming will use the pool beneath the building to prove the building is not a land-based operation.
Boyd Gaming to exploit loophole to build new casino in East Peoria
While plans for the new casino were clearer Thursday, new questions will now be raised about whether Boyd Gaming violated a 1991 intergovernmental agreement between Peoria and East Peoria that stipulates that any “land-based” casino built in the area must be on the Peoria side of the Illinois River.
Officials in Peoria and East Peoria have been at loggerheads over the issue for months, with Peoria officials long concerned that Boyd would exploit a loophole centered on “water-based” versus “land-based” semantics to build a new casino in East Peoria.
In a practical sense, Boyd Gaming’s new casino will be a land-based operation, replacing a decades-old riverboat docked in East Peoria. However, Boyd Gaming took advantage of a legal loophole by pumping water beneath the casino floor and then claiming the casino was on water and therefore a “water-based” operation.
More: Peoria spends more than $100,000 seeking brick-and-mortar casino
Peoria has long suspected and worried that Boyd Gaming and East Peoria were colluding to build a new casino in East Peoria.
In February, attorneys hired by the city of Peoria sent a letter to East Peoria leaders informing them of their intention to “enforce” Peoria’s rights under the 1991 intergovernmental agreement.
“Please note that the City of Peoria intends to enforce its rights under the intergovernmental agreement to the fullest extent permitted by law,” Peoria’s attorneys wrote in February. “In this regard, the City of Peoria requests that the City of East Peoria cease all efforts to assist Boyd Gaming Corporation in relocating the Par-A-Dice Casino currently operating from its moored riverboat to a land-based location (in whole or in part) in the City of East Peoria.”
Peoria-hired attorneys from Elias, Meginnes and Seghetti also wrote in the letter that the city of Peoria has been informed that Boyd Gaming has pumped soil boreholes from the parking lot of the current Par-A-Dice Casino, another sign that the company intends to exploit the water-based vulnerability.
In February, Peoria Mayor Rita Ali sent a letter to the Illinois Gaming Commission saying Boyd Gaming needed to build a brick-and-mortar casino in Peoria or sell its gaming license. She called using “water-based” to define vulnerability “boring.”
“Finally, it is important to note that it would be imprudent for Boyd or the City of East Peoria to attempt to manipulate the definitions of ‘riverboat’ and/or ‘onshore’ for purposes of the above provisions of the Intergovernmental Agreement and the bill at issue,” Ali said in the February letter. “The letter, history, and context of the Intergovernmental Agreement and the bill are crystal clear. The intent of all parties involved was always that if Par-A-Dice For gaming operations to be moved from existing anchored vessels in East Peoria to land-based facilities, those land-based operations must be located in Peoria.”
What will the new casino mean for Peoria and East Peoria’s relationship?
Last year, East Peoria Mayor John Carr and Peoria Mayor Rita Ali exchanged emails in which Carr told Ali that if Peoria continued its efforts to attract land-based casinos to the river, relations between the two cities would be “forever tense.”
At the time, East Peoria accused Peoria of playing casino-related games. Months later, Peoria attorneys said in a letter sent to Carr in February 2025 that the roles would be reversed.
More: Peoria, Boyd Gaming discuss potential site for land-based casino
In an email from Kahl to Ali in July 2024:
“Personally, I am extremely grateful for the partnership we have developed over the past few years, but am most disappointed that you and your counterparts in Peoria are doing your best to force commercial organizations to relocate from neighboring communities to your community,” Carr wrote in an email to Ali. “Since both communities benefit equally from Par-A-Dice gaming revenue, the City of Peoria and the City of East Peoria should work together to support Boyd Gaming and their legitimate desire and decision to renovate and expand their casino operations in East Peoria.”
Ali doesn’t want to see “tension” between the two cities, but she and other Peoria city leaders are adamant that the 1991 intergovernmental agreement needs to be upheld and that if Boyd Gaming is going to build a brick-and-mortar casino, it must be in Peoria.
“John, I must trust that if the tables were turned, you would take the same position as I do and seek to enforce compliance with our agreement,” Ali wrote to Carr in 2024.
History of Par-A-Dice Casino
Par-A-Dice Casino opened in 1991 and was initially docked on the Peoria, Illinois side while a permanent home in East Peoria was under construction. In 1993, the ship officially moved to its current location in East Peoria.
The current vessel was commissioned in 1994, replacing a paddle steamer originally used as a casino.
When Peoria Mayor Jim Maloof first bristled at the idea of gambling in Peoria, he decided the ship would dock in East Peoria and the two cities signed a revenue-sharing agreement. The agreement, which still calls for the two cities to share revenue to this day, stipulates that casino gambling revenue is divided equally between Peoria and East Peoria.
However, property taxes, hotel taxes, restaurant taxes, and sales taxes all stay in the community where the casino is located, making the new business very profitable for the host city.
Decades later in 2019, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker will sign a measure to legalize gambling at brick-and-mortar casinos in Illinois, writing a new chapter in the craps casino battle between Peoria and East Peoria.
In 2020 Peoria sent a delegation consisting of City Manager Patrick Urich; former Mayor Jim Addis; Peoria Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth; State Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria; and a city attorney to Las Vegas to meet with Boyd Gaming leaders to discuss new land legislation and reaffirm the 1991 intergovernmental agreement.
In 2023, Boyd Gaming first publicly stated plans to build a replacement for Par-A-Dice Casino, with Thursday’s announcement preceded the official launch of the event.
More: The History of Par-A-Dice Casinos: From Illinois Gambling Legalization to Modern-Day Disputes
This article originally appeared in the Journal Star: Boyd Gaming to build new Par-A-Dice casino in East Peoria