CHICAGO (AP) — A federal appeals court has taken on the issue of pay-to-play corruption in Illinois under disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a lawsuit by riverboat casinos in a late Friday ruling. The suit alleges that racetrack owners bribed Blagojevich to push through legislation that transferred 3 percent of casino revenue to the racetracks.

The Chicago-based court says the case required it to “once again to decide whether some shenanigans” in the Legislature “and governor’s office crossed the line from the merely unseemly to the unlawful.”

The same court is still considering Blagojevich’s appeal of his corruption convictions. Jurors convicted him on 18 counts. Three related to his bid to extort a racetrack executive for a donation.

Blagojevich is currently serving a 14-year prison term.

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