* Basic facts to remember when talking about legalized poker machines. The quotes are from Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie)…
“While you can argue this (video gaming machines) is a dangerous and addictive form of gaming, there are 65,000 of these machines licensed only for amusement throughout the state now. Many are (illegally) paying out.” […]
Lang said by legalizing and regulating gaming payoffs the total number of machines would be reduced across the state from 65,000 to 40,000 and he added establishments violating laws regarding the machines would lose their liquor licenses. […]
Under the new law, net revenues from the machines would be taxed at a rate of 30% with 25% going to the state and 5% going to the local municipality.
The law provides local municipalities the ability to ban the legal gaming machines from their communities through either a vote of the city council or village board or through a referendum vote of the people.
Those amusement licenses on existing poker machines will all expire soon. And then they can’t be renewed. The state has the right under the new law to seize those unlicensed machines and destroy them and take away the liquor licenses of violators. That’s a particularly important point to remember. Tavern owners don’t like to endanger their licenses.
The referendum requirements are probably way too high, but local governments can ban the machines, and I expect at least some will do so.
* The basic problem with the law as I see it is that the GA gave oversight powers to the Gaming Board, which doesn’t have the resources to deal with the new reality. That oversight should’ve gone to the Illinois Lottery, which already has a statewide network and the machines that go with it. The Gaming Board is gonna be overwhelmed…
First up for the Gaming Board is settling on regulations and establishing, among other things, how gamblers will be paid their winnings and determining which bar owners must submit to criminal background checks, board spokesman Gene O’Shea said.
“It’s an understatement to say this is a major undertaking,” O’Shea said.
Then, the Gaming Board will seek proposals from companies to create and maintain a central computer system to keep track of “how much money goes in and how much money goes out,” O’Shea said. All video poker machines will have to come from licensed manufacturers, which have not been selected yet. The whole process could take 18 months or longer, O’Shea said.
Giving the program to the Lottery would’ve also avoided bringing the coin operated machine distributors into the equation. Andy Shaw of the Better Governement Association makes this point in a recent op-ed…
That will be to the delight of the mob, which has its fingerprints all over this business
* Silliest. Objection. Ever…
Saloons provide jobs and sales taxes. The state might get its cut, but will it come at the expense of municipalities?
As noted above, municipalities will get a cut from the games. And now that all the profits will have to be reported, that will likely mean more taxes will be paid.
* A factually incorrect objection in the SouthtownStar…
A 2005 report by the North Carolina Family Policy Council says video gambling is “socially devastating.” Video poker has been legal in North Carolina since 1993. The report says it is difficult for police to monitor illegal payouts, even with regulated machines.
Actually, those NC video poker machines are licensed for “amusement only” - the same as in Illinois before our new law. You can’t use that “study” (which is more of a report than a study, anyway) to compare Illinois’ future with NC’s present. Also, that NCFPC group seems far more interested in limiting “homosexual rights” than video poker.
Thoughts?