The first riverboat casino in Illinois opened in September 1991 in Alton. The original Alton Belle Casino was a three-deck, 600-passenger boat that included 296 slot machines and 22 gaming tables. Alton received the first of 10 original licenses from the Illinois Gaming Board. 

Options to gamble legally in Illinois before the establishment of riverboat casinos were limited, with bets on horse races legal since 1927 and lottery tickets able to be purchased since 1974. 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Tim Mapes, key aide to former Speaker Madigan, convicted in federal court. The former chief of staff to the office of the Speaker was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. The charges were related to false answers that Mapes voiced to a federal grand jury when he was being questioned under oath. The false answers were closely related to a parallel criminal inquiry mounted by federal investigators against Mapes’ former boss, Chicago’s Michael J. Madigan.