It seems to be one step forward and two steps back for gambling legislation advancement in Illinois. The latest news from the Land of Lincoln is that the bidding process to introduce video gambling machines in bars and restaurants in the state has begun all over again, after the Illinois Gaming Board cancelled a contract that it had previously awarded.

The state is due to introduce video gambling machines to public places of recreation next year, and initially a contract worth nearly $90 million was awarded to Scientific Games Corp in August this year. However, it has now been reported that there will have to be a rebid after gaming regulators said that there had been unspecified “miscalculations” in the previous bid that affected other bidders in the process.

“In evaluating the price portion of the proposals, miscalculations were made, due, in part, to assumptions made by the Gaming Board and by vendors that were not uniform and not clarified,” said the Board in an official statement.

Illinoisans were promised video gambling by March 2011, however, the state’s Gaming Board has said that the new delays would only see the introduction of these machines by July at the very least.

Illinois made the decision to expand its gambling legislation after calculating that video gambling could bring in at least $300 million a year to help fund a construction project introduced by Governor Quinn. The project is expected to cost at least $31 billion – a sum that cannot be met without the revenue brought in by gambling. A spokesperson for Governor Quinn said that the construction program would be going ahead on schedule, despite the delay in the Gaming Board’s contract approval.

A new initiative will, for the first time, see a legal online poker network based in the United States since the introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. Cake Gaming has signed a licensing agreement to provide the network on Native American land, allowing patrons at tribal casinos to play online poker in more than 30 different states across America.

The agreement was signed between Cake Gaming and the Internet Group Corporation, and is being backed by the National Indian Gaming Commission which oversees regulation and legislation for Indian gaming in the United States. This body reportedly gave the network – named the Tribal Gaming Network – its blessing in 2009, meaning that nobody believes that it will be deemed illegal under existing gambling laws.

The network will operate on a wide area progressive network – not the internet - which will only be available to players linked to the network through the tribal casinos, and not to others on the internet. There will be no connection between the new network and the Cake Poker network.

Cake Gaming’s move into tribal gaming may prove to be a good strategic plan. At the moment, it remains one of a handful of online poker networks, such as Full Tilt and Poker Stars, which makes no apologies for offering poker services to US players. Should federal laws change in the near future, this may backfire on them as they could have a problem getting licensed by US authorities. As such, Cake’s entry into the tribal gaming market effectively gets it through the legal front door before the laws are changed.

Barney Frank’s HR 2267 is currently pending a full House of Representative vote and the new tribal poker network proposal comes at an interesting time.

A recent investigation by Fox29 led to a report that mobsters who are barred from entering casinos in New Jersey are allowed to visit casinos in Pennsylvania. Up to 200 gangsters (including convicted felons and casino cheats) appear on a list of people who are not allowed to play at New Jersey casinos, a list commissioned by the state’s Casino control commission.

Fox29 found that there are only four mobsters who appear on the parallel list in Pennsylvania, a fact that may be worrying to the public, considering that the first casino in Philadelphia is due to open in the coming weeks.

The Pennsylvania list includes the names of four people who are accused of having cheated casinos or their patrons. The list does not include career criminals or known mobsters.

The media station gave as an example South Philadelphia boss Joe Ligambi who cannot put his foot into a casino in New Jersey but who can easily waltz into any gambling establishment across the state line. Another example is mob boss Joey Merlino or his right hand man, Marty Angelina.

Local newspapers have picked up on this story, with Philadelphia Inquirer reporter George Anastasia noting: “You look at the New Jersey list and you piggyback off of that. Any wise guys from this area that are on the Jersey list ought to be on the Pennsylvania list. Because it’s about the integrity of gambling and you don’t want those kinds of individuals around the casinos. So Pennsylvania has a base already to build off of because gamblers who go to Atlantic City are just as likely to come here to Pennsylvania.”

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said the facts had been duly noted and that a statement would be made about the case in the coming days.