The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability recently released its annual wagering report, which revealed casino income dropped 14 percent since 2012 but overall gaming revenue rose almost 60 percent. The report also indicated the state’s share of tax revenue from wagering hit $1.31 billion last year, a 7.9 percent increase over 2016.
Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Don Tracy said he expects, under current law, the trend will continue. “Video gaming is exploding due to no state limit or cap on location licenses,” he said. But he stated it’s a “debatable opinion” whether video gaming establishments are becoming more popular than casinos. Last year, the state’s 10 casinos generated about $115 million more in tax revenue than video gaming, according to the wagering report.
In addition, the report showed the rapid proliferation of video gambling machines has peaked out. About 30,000 machines are in operation, more than the report had forecast for this year. An average of 838 new terminals was activated each month between September 2012 and June 2014, according to the commission. That number dropped to 272 per month in fiscal year 2015, then to 249 per month last year, according to the report.
The report also stated the number of new machines across the state could be affected by local ordinances that would limit the number of gaming licenses permitted in some cities, or even ban additional machines. That’s what’s happening in Bloomington, where the city council recently unanimously voted to prohibit adding new video gambling machines until March 1, 2019. City staff will use that time to evaluate the impact of video gambling within the city and determine if any new video gambling regulations should be enacted.
The moratorium was sponsored by Alderman Joni Painter. She stated, “Even though last year we got about $750,000 from the gaming terminals, the net wagering activity, the money that was drawn out of our local economy, was almost $16 million.” Painter also said she was concerned that a proposed Circle K convenience store in her ward would sell alcohol and offer video gambling machines next door to a day care center.
Aldermen rejected the idea of requiring a fee on video gambling machines, such as in Normal which charges $200 per machine per year.
According to the Illinois Gaming Board, 59 establishments offered a total of 259 video gambling terminals in Bloomington in 2017. The city ranked among the gaming board’s top 10 video gambling cities in 2015 and 2016; the 2017 list will not be available until after March 1.
Currently 137 municipalities in Illinois have do not allow video gambling machines; they opted out, banned it by ordinance or are dry villages.
