In an effort to control the growth of video gambling, the city council in Joliet, Illinois recently approved a 1-year, partial moratorium on new video gambling licenses for establishments east of Route 59 that hold a liquor license. Interim City Attorney Chris Regis said the moratorium “will give us a year to look at this and make decisions going forward.” Currently Joliet has 341 video gambling machines at 78 locations, not including the city’s two casinos.
The moratorium excludes the area west of Route 59, where Joliet has been attempting to attract more commercial and retail businesses. Also, it does not apply to truck stops or convenience stores that qualify under state law based fuel sales volume. Five video gambling locations in Joliet are truck stops, with a total of 25 video gambling terminals. The moratorium also does not affect businesses that already have video gambling licenses.
The city created a video gambling license in June 2017, charging $250 for the license and an additional $250 for each video gambling machine.
Regis said at the end of the moratorium, Joliet may consider capping the number of video gambling licenses allowed. Meanwhile he said business owners continue to request video gaming licenses. “They come in on a regular basis. We’ve been trying to discourage them. But we thought it best to make it official,” he said.
