CALUMET CITY | Gaming could be in the cards for Calumet City, if the Illinois Gaming Commission grants it the state's 10th gaming license.

City officials Thursday approved an agreement with 1893 Entertainment Group LLC for a local gaming and entertainment venue in Calumet City near Torrence Avenue.

The Illinois Gaming Commission is accepting applications until Tuesday for the state's 10th gaming license. 1893 Entertainment Group LLC and its partners plan to submit an application, Calumet City Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush said.

"You will hear people say -- people with very good intentions and very spiritual reasons -- that this decision is morally wrong," she said. "I understand the ethical dilemma, but I wish they could see what I've seen: day after day, person after person stops in my office to fill out job applications."

Many other communities also are vying for the gaming license, including Country Club Hills.

But Calumet City and the south suburbs need a bigger piece of the economic pie and more jobs compared to the northwest suburbs, Qualkinbush said.

"The greatest ethical mistake would be to sit by and allow millions of dollars of tax revenues to go to some other community," she said.

Qualkinbush, 1st Ward Alderman Ed Gonzalez, 2nd Ward Alderman Leni Wosczynski, 3rd Ward Alderman Thaddeus Jones, and 5th Ward Alderman Gerry Tarka voted in favor of the deal. Fourth Ward Alderman Brian Wilson, 6th Ward Alderman Nick Manousopoulos and 7th Ward Alderman Cindi Pallick voted against it.

Pallick said she had mixed feelings, but ultimately chose to vote no based on what her residents felt.

"For Calumet City to obtain a boat and a convention center it would be wonderful, but again I can't think of my feelings in all this because I represent 5,000 people," she said. "I can see the upsides, but I have to worry about my senior citizen population as well as traffic problems in the city anyway."

As part of the proposal, officials approved a resolution establishing revenue sharing among south suburban Cook County municipalities, funding for the Illinois Gaming Board's statewide voluntary self-exclusion program, and a resolution authorizing a property tax rebate program upon issuance of a gaming license.

Rick Novack, of Calumet City, spoke at the meeting against gaming. He said people in Hammond pay high taxes despite gaming revenue and other communities take much of the revenue from agreements.

"It's not for the good of the people - it's not," he said.