By AP/KWMU
Collinsville, Ill. – The majority owner of Fairmount Park in Collinsville is offering charity in hopes that lawmakers will allow slot machines at the horse racing track.
William Stiritz says he'll devote a percentage of any revenue from slot machines to area charities. In fact, the former chairman of Ralston Purina is pledging to set up an endowment with $10 million of his own cash as seed money.
On Monday, the track promised to create up to 300 new jobs and put about $20 million into state and local coffers if the state lets the struggling track put in 900 slot machines.
Legislation that includes the slots-at-horse tracks language recently cleared a committee in the Illinois House, but similar efforts have failed in the past becasue of legislative opposition to gambling expansion.