City Council members are revving up the fight to legalize video gambling in Chicago — even after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s financial team argued that the meager jackpot is not worth pursuing.
Two ordinances were introduced at Wednesday’s Council meeting, the last before the August recess.
One would authorize installation of hundreds of video gambling machines beyond security checkpoints at O’Hare and Midway Airports. The other would lift the longstanding ban on video gambling citywide in an attempt to offer an economic lifeline of sorts to neighborhoods bars and restaurants fighting for survival.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), chair of the City Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development, wants to start at Chicago airports, in part because it’s an “easier lift” politically.
“The General Assembly has provided this opportunity through the casino bill. Yet, we’re not taking advantage of capturing dollars from one of the busiest airports in the country,” Villegas said. “This is a captive audience. People are there, in some cases, one or two hours before. If their flight is delayed or they’re making a connection and there is a delay, there’s an opportunity to capture an audience that may not even be going to the city. They have time to kill.”
If 400 video gambling terminals were installed at Chicago airports and every one of them generated $800 in daily revenue, the annual jackpot would be $116.8 million. Chicago would get a cut of that revenue from gambling taxes and licensing fees.
His ordinance calls for a “location license” of $10,000 plus $500 per-video-gambling terminal and a “terminal license” of $1,000 plus $500 per gambling terminal.
“Here’s an opportunity to look at something that’s not controversial. This is a new idea on how to create revenue for the city that would garner less pushback from anyone,” Villegas said.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) wants to go even bigger by legalizing video gambling citywide.
His ordinance proposes a “location license” of $500, plus $1,000-per-video gambling terminal and a “terminal license” of $500 plus $1,000-per-terminal.
“We need to do it citywide and at the airports. We need the revenue and this administration has not shown a willingness to find new revenue that’s not gonna hit the taxpayers in every household,” Beale said.
Last month, Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski disclosed the results of a consulting study that showed video gambling revenue would be $10 million-a-year at best and could actually end up costing the city money because of the impact it would have on slot machines at the Chicago casino.
That’s in part because the tax on slot machine revenue would be nearly four times higher than it is on video gambling terminals.
Beale was not deterred.
“That’s because they haven’t shown the willingness to go down to Springfield and change the formula,” he said. “I’m hoping that submitting these ordinances will finally convince them to send a team down there to change the formula to where it would be beneficial to the city of Chicago.”
With a $1.2 billion shortfall and $3 billion more on the federal chopping block, Beale argued that every dollar is worth chasing and that legalizing video gambling citywide would not be small potatoes.
“It’s amazing how they want you to come up with revenue ideas and then they want to shoot down low-hanging fruit,” Beale said. “This is something that is quick, easy. It’s something people choose to do. It’s not like this administration putting speed cameras on steroids across the entire city.”
Ald. William Hall (6th) said the revenue sub-committee he chairs will hold yet another “subject matter” hearing on Monday to consider legalizing video gambling and other revenue ideas submitted by his colleagues.
Hall agreed with Beale that the more video gambling terminals installed in Chicago, the better off the city would be. But, only after “tough regulations are put in place” to crack down on restaurants and bars that have been “cheating the system” for years.
“Sweepstakes machines are essentially illegal slot machines in a lot of neighborhoods. We need to look at a regulation package that stops this,” Hall said. “We have grandmothers and aunties playing these games inside gas stations and taking these tickets up to the counter and getting cash. It’s creating a black market that’s detrimental.”
Hall said that once illegal sweepstakes machines are swept out, there is “an opportunity for over 3,800 terminals — slot machines, gambling terminals — to be added into the eco-system” in Chicago.