Not even with backing from “Iron Mike” Ditka could Hawthorne Race Course officials drive through a bid Friday on the state’s 10th casino license.

Hawthorne Race Course officials lost out on the chance Friday to continue vying for the much sought-after 10th casino license after Illinois Gaming Board members tapped three other bidders as finalists.

Continuing to the next round are proposals for casinos in Rosemont, Waukegan and Des Plaines. Hawthorne’s bid received not a single vote Friday from gaming board members. Hawthorne’s development group bid $150 million for the license. Rosemont’s bid was almost triple that amount.

“I’m shocked to say the least,” Tim Carey, president and general manager of Hawthorne Race Course, said Friday night. “Everyone’s just blown away to think there’s not one southern applicant. I don’t know how the board can ignore the south like that.”

Illinois Gaming Board members met at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the second floor conference room at the James R. Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph to reveal their selections. Rosemont, Waukegan and Des Plaines, as short-list finalists for the 10th Illinois casino license, move on to the next round of considerations.

Rosemont's bid for the license is in the financial lead at $435 million. In second place is Waukegan, registering a $225 million bid.

Coming in third was a $175 million bid for Harvey, with Hawthorne Race Course and Calumet City tying for fourth place at $150 million apiece. The least-lucrative bidders proposed casinos in Des Plaines and Country Club Hills, with bids of $100 million and $60 million, respectively.

Carey said $720 million are lost to Indiana casinos because Illinois residents hop over the state line to casino there. He said a casino in the southern suburban area could have kept some of that cash here.

“One billion has been lost and that’s all due to Rosemont,” Carey said.

Isle of Capri Casinos bid $518 million in 2004 for the license in order to build a casino in Rosemont. But the proposal fell flat after legal questions arose from the state. The 10th license since has languished.

Carey and a team of backers wanted to build a $500 million Champions Casino and Resort, hotel and conference center, theater, water park and suite of restaurants and entertainment venues at the site.

But this was the state's final casino license.

The proposal for Hawthorne Race Course, 3501 S. Laramie Ave., included plans for a 40,000-square-foot casino, 1,150 slot machines, 50 table games and a poker room, a 300-room casino hotel and conference center.

Also proposed was a 140,000-square-foot entertainment district with eight to 12 restaurants, a 150,000-square-foot water park with 400 all-inclusive suites, a multi-screen movie theater, 25,000-square-foot bowling alley and 4,800-seat outdoor ampitheater.

The project would have spanned 136 acres owned by the Carey family between Cicero and Laramie avenues. Hawthorne Race Course straddles the Stickney-Cicero border.

Hawthorne National, which oversees racing at the track, joined forces with Altium Development Group and Merit Gaming Group, on plans to redevelop this parcel if awarded the 10th casino license.

Former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka, a backer with major star power, had proposed a restaurant on the site.

Messages were left Friday for Stickney Mayor Donald Tabor, but he was unavailable for comment.

Carey’s group projected that constructing the revamped Champions Casino and Resort would have created more than 3,000 jobs in what they called an “economically deprived area.”

A message also was left Friday for Mary Esther Hernandez, executive director of the Cicero Chamber of Commerce and Industry, but she was unavailable for comment.

The three finalists will be called in to make presentations during an upcoming open session of a gaming board meeting, according to the board.

Gaming board members are expected to select the winning application by year’s end.

“I just think they think there’s more money up north,” Carey said.