136 riverboat stationed in Aurora that would later expand by 88-feet in 1995.9 Meanwhile, the Empress would expand its 222-foot span with the addition of a 238-foot boat by December, and ultimately housed over 1,000 video poker and slot machines in total.10 Characterized by explosive success, the years shortly after the instatement of the Riverboat Gambling Act saw the launching of frequent large-scale construction efforts. The common usage of riverboat casinos continued into the 2020s. Although the original Empress River Casino met its end through a fiery accident in 2009, the number of functioning riverboat casinos rose from six in 1995 to eleven in 2022.11 Across the intermediate decades, the Gaming Board legalized various other forms of entertainment to be included in riverboat casinos, such as Video Gaming Terminals (VGTs), causing them to become all the more successful.12 In fact, upwards trends in riverboat gambling are prominent when observing the gross receipts collected by the Illinois Gaming Board. While 605 million dollars were collected in 1993, the number had risen to 1.98 billion by 2007, and more recently lay at 1.4 billion in 2016.13 From the consistently high activity apparent in Fox River casinos, it is clear that riverboat gambling quickly became a significant component of entertainment and culture in Illinois. Misguided business officials were quick to argue that this rapid success of riverboat casinos would be environmentally advantageous due to their utility as a source of revenue, which would allow Illinois to fund environmental agencies tackling the Fox River. Though such claims of 9 Baniak, Peter. "CASINO'S ADDITION A MARITIME MARVEL AURORA BOAT BECOMING 88 FEET LONGER WITHOUT LEAVING THE FOX RIVER: [SOUTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION]." Chicago Tribune (Pre1997 Fulltext), Apr 18, 1995. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/imsa.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/casinos-additionmaritime-marvel-aurora-boat/docview/283960133/se-2. 10 "Six Casinos Afloat in Chicago Area." New York Times 1994. 11 Illinois Gaming Board. 2016 Annual Report, 2016. https://www.igb.illinois.gov/FilesAnnualReport/2016IGBAnnualReport.pdf. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid.
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