Whatever the case, the casino’s gain is their neighbors’ loss. In a recent telephone interview, Bluhm defended the tax reductions, saying the assessment should be “based upon what this property would be worth if we weren’t operating a casino there.”

Late last month, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission rejected Bluhm’s proposal to put a $677 million casino in Brockton, Mass. Bluhm and his group are building a casino in Schenectady, N.Y., which is scheduled to open in 2017. He and his family members are major investors and also own or operate casinos in Niagara Falls, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The casino is owned by Midwest Gaming & Entertainment, chaired by billionaire real estate developer Neil Bluhm. The owners have gone to court seeking refunds of taxes paid in three previous years, arguing the assessments are still too high. The lower evaluation is used to calculate taxes, resulting in savings of $1 million per year for the casino owners, records show.īut for Rivers Casino, this tax reduction is not enough. The Cook County assessor set a “fair market value” of around $104 million for the last four years but the Cook County Board of Review – a government agency run by three elected officials who hear appeals of tax assessments – has consistently reduced the value to $88 million.

Most recently they claimed it is worth only $62.9 million, records show. The owners paid $117 million for land and construction of the casino, according to records they provided to Cook County government officials, but each year they have argued the real estate is worth $80 million, or less. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription.

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