The Cato Institute has filed an amicus brief supporting the petitioner in Empress Casino Joliet Corp. v. Giannoulias, No. 08-945 (cert. petition filed Jan. 21, 2009). In that case, the Illinois Supreme Court held (896N.E.2d 277 (Ill. 2008) that a regulation which imposes a 3%”surcharge” on Illinois casinos with gross receipts over $200 millionper year, and then gives the money to horse racing tracks is not ataking of property. Several casinos challenged the law asserting,among other arguments, that the redistribution of their money to trackswas a taking. The Illinois Supreme Court held that the regulation was a tax, and not subject to takingsanalysis. The cert petition asks:
In this case, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a state lawtransferring the revenues of four Illinois casinos to five Illinoishorse-racing tracks is categorically not susceptible to challenge underthe Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment because, in that court’sview, “regulatory actions