CHICAGO -- As restaurateurs here weighed the significance of tentative support by Mayor Richard Daley and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for a proposed Chicago casino, state legislators were mulling a measure that would allow Illinois restaurants to deal video poker.

In the final weeks of the Legislature's session in Springfield this month, lawmakers were wrestling with Illinois' $5 billion budget deficit, and gaming committee members were considering a new plan to allow a casino in Chicago and permit 47,000 video poker machines in bars and restaurants statewide.

Meanwhile, Mayor Daley surprised legislators by saying he was looking into the possibility of applying for a city-owned, land-based casino, which would require the state to lift its current ban on gaming in the nation's No. 3 city.

Mindful that Las Vegas had upped the ante on its tourism industry by fostering a dramatic restaurant renaissance there over the past decade, some hospitality veterans in Chicago welcomed the prospect of casino gaming in their city.

"If it's well run, it could only benefit us," said Patrick Norton, general manager of the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse branch overlooking the Chicago River on North State Street. "The big thing is for convention people; it would give them something more to do. People like to hang in casinos and have a couple of drinks."

Hugo Ralli, a partner in the Gibsons Steakhouse in Chicago, predicted that the arrival of casino gambling "might fill up certain empty seats." However, he added, "I've always wondered if gamblers eat."

Another Gibsons restaurant is in suburban Rosemont, Ill., which also has been a contender for a gaming license. However, Ralli said that the restaurant had sales of $12 million last year without the presumed benefit of a local casino.

Nine Illinois cities currently have licenses for riverboat casinos, and a 10th license became available after one riverboat went out of business.

As chairman of the House gaming committee, state Rep. Louis Lang, D-Skokie, proposed legislation May 7 that would grant Chicago a riverboat casino license. Lang said the bill would have to be amended to permit land-based gaming. As currently written, the bill also would increase gaming at existing casinos in the state, add slot machines to horseracing tracks and legalize the installations of the video poker units.

"The restaurant people would be very happy to have this happen," Lang told Nation's Restaurant News.