State gambling regulators on Thursday dealt Matteson village officials a recent hand of their bid for a coveted new south suburban casino license after residents in neighboring Frankfort railed towards the initial proposed location. South Suburban Growth LLC, led by Hinsdale investor Rob Miller and championed by Matteson Village President Sheila Chalmers-Currin, had initially pitched a site on an undeveloped plot near Lincoln and Harlem Avenue. That sent the Matteson group back to the drawing board, proposing an alternate site about three miles east, a vacant Carson Pirie Scott retailer at the former Lincoln Mall. However, after the Matteson group submitted software for its $300 million proposals to the Gaming Board in October, several neighboring group groups and the Frankfort Township Board publicly slammed the casino plan for being “directly adjacent to 2 faculties and three densely populated residential subdivisions.” A junior high school and elementary are each inside about a mile of Harlem and Lincoln.
