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SPRINGFIELD—

— Buried more than 400 pages into the 524-page gambling expansion bill that would bring a casino to Chicago are directions for splitting some of the state's take to create new ways to pay for the pork-barrel projects politicians covet.

Money from the new casinos and slot machines at horse racing tracks would be steered to a new "depressed communities economic development fund," a "Latino community economic development fund," grants to the State Fairgrounds and county fairs, funding for equine research, soil and water conservation, cooperative extension services and an annual grant to the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Other provisions in the bill allow several suburbs to split the local share of the new gambling take, guaranteeing that nearby cities and villages will collect cash even if they aren't the coveted winners of a new casino or have a horse track within their borders.

All told, some legislative estimates show about $250 million in annual revenues will be diverted from the state in what's shaping up to be a conga line of earmarks. At once, the promise of spreading a new influx of money to interest groups is both a powerful tool to win more votes for gambling expansion and a new way to dispense pork projects after state tax dollars dried up significantly because of Illinois' dire budget problems.

"It's probably no different than any other major bill … money is shared around," said Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, whose hometown has been trying to get a casino. "Clearly, Chicago and the Chicago area is going to be a huge winner, so to put extra pork into Chicago is something that's probably not necessary — but something that happens as part of the process."

The latest gambling bill, similar to two prior versions Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed, would give new casinos to Chicago, the south suburbs, Rockford, Danville and Lake County, and put video slots into existing horse racing tracks. If it becomes law, it's expected to generate big bucks for Illinois' cash-starved government, owing billions of dollars to providers of state services while trying to manage the nation's largest unfunded public employee pension liability.

Even the purpose of the state's gambling act, ostensibly aimed at promoting tourism and economic development while using revenues to support public education, has changed. It now includes a provision to use some upfront licensing fees to "defray state expenses, including unpaid bills" to state health care providers.

But it is the creation of new funds for "depressed communities" and "Latino community economic development" that have drawn attention as a way to appeal for minority votes to help ensure the bill's passage.

Under the plan, the depressed communities fund, overseen by an 11-member board appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, would get about $13 million a year. The Latino community economic development fund, overseen by a 12-member board appointed by the governor, would get $6.5 million.

Both boards would recommend the awarding of grant money to public or private entities and be overseen by the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Depressed communities grants could be awarded to efforts to curb poverty, job and population loss in communities with a poverty rate at least 3 percent greater than the state average. The Latino grants would be used for efforts to "assist in the economic development of the Latino community," according to the bill.

Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, whose father was a sponsor of the state's riverboat gambling law, supports the gambling expansion package but said he believed "it's kind of a game just to carve out specific groups of people to be winners."

"The fact is, from my perspective, education should be the winner because education is the great equalizer," Jacobs said. "Rather than spreading it among these little groups who may have been needed to put together a bill, we should take that money and spread it over education, which affects everyone."

But Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, a co-sponsor of the gambling measure and a member of the General Assembly's caucus of African-American lawmakers, said the depressed communities fund was created because the original promise of creating casino gambling has not lived up to its commitment of helping economically troubled areas.

"It's not a Democrat or Republican initiative," said Trotter, who added that it was a "misconception" to label the creation of the fund as an initiative of African-American lawmakers since grants would be made available to distressed communities across the state, allowing them to generate matching funds needed to access state dollars for public works improvements.

Still, Trotter questioned the need to authorize a separate fund for economic development for Latino communities, saying it appeared redundant with the creation of a depressed communities fund.

House sponsor Rep. Robert Rita, D-Blue Island, said Sunday he was still negotiating changes in the Senate-passed bill and acknowledged that there were "issues with the black caucus" over the creation of the Latino development fund.

"There's many different issues and a lot of moving parts out there," he said of the bill.

Sen. Terry Link, the Waukegan Democrat who is the chief Senate sponsor of the gambling expansion bill, said representatives of the black and Latino caucuses came to him separately for inclusion of the two special funds. Link said the diversions offset the need to tap the state's all-purpose checkbook, the General Revenue Fund.

"This is just a revenue stream for different avenues that would have been put into the regular GRF fund. You can look at GRF and there's things like African-American studies and Latino studies" those kind of things, Link said. "At least now it's not coming out of GRF anymore."