With unregulated “sweepstakes” games popping up in Chicago bars, gas stations, convenience stores and laundromats, Chicago city council alderman Pat O’Connor said the time has come to “look to the model that at least allows the city to get its share” of the revenue, to help the city address a $1 billion spike in pension payments. “While a casino is certainly something that people are looking at, that’s several years away. This is a much more immediate potential. It is a revenue source that could address pensions. It is a revenue source that, right now, is going on under our noses untapped,” O’Connor said.
He added, “It’s not a panacea. But most people are saying minimally, you’d be looking at $80 million a year as a potential income. And that is before you would look at potentially changing the state formula for the share between municipalities and the state, which I believe is something the state would consider, given the potential to come into the city and basically increase their revenue significantly.”
O’Connor stated the machines “are in gas stations. There’s no age limit. Little kids are playing them in laundromats.” He has sponsored an ordinance that would remove the illegal machines, although retailers who are profiting from them point to “some loophole in the state law,” he said. “But most people in the Law Department are saying they’re illegal machines, no matter how you slice it. Under the state formula, people who own them are vetted. They can only be in establishments that have a liquor license. And they’re limited to adults. Whereas right now, it’s open season.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has opposed video gambling. He previously said, “I’m opposed to it. I’ve said that many times. I’ll repeat it. I’m opposed to video gaming. I don’t support it. If we’re going to have gaming, it should be isolated or in a central location like a casino. I don’t want to see it spread throughout the city of Chicago. I don’t think that’s good for the type of city we want to have.”
O’Connor said Emanuel embraced the idea of a single casino “because he thinks if it was down on the East Side where Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana is located, we could basically pick off the Chicagoans who were going there anyway.” But Emanuel is a lame duck, and O’Connor has mentioned video gambling at several recent aldermanic forums with his four challengers in the 40th Ward. He said, “The city council might disagree with me. The mayor certainly disagrees with me. But factually speaking, that is a legitimate place to look for new revenue.”
