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Illinois Tracks May Be Allowed Gambling Machines

Posted on April 25th, 2010

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A deal that would allow video slot and poker machines at Arlington Park and other horse tracks may be in the offing as discussions have been going on for weeks at the Capitol. According to the plan, video machines would give financial aid not only to the tracks, but also to the local government and the state. The deal would give Arlington Park and other tracks in Cook County as many as 1,200 video gambling positions and around 900 to Downstate tracks, which must be placed inside 300 yards of the tracks.

The proposal would require the tracks to pay up to $25,000 per video gambling machine and the money the tracks make from the machines would be taxed. Towns or cities where local tracks are located would get 5 percent of the revenues from the machines. One lawmaker said the deal could easily generate $300 million a year for the state which could help fund the state’s public works program.

Last year, a $31 billion construction project was approved by lawmakers to be partly funded by revenues from the recently legalized video gambling machines to be installed in taverns, but many local governments did not want the gambling machines in their localities.

Rep. Suzie Bassi, R-Palatine said she is backing the new deal that would put video machines at tracks because the tracks, unlike taverns and bars, are already within the range of gambling regulators. “The state is broke. There’s a lot of things I’m looking at here that I might not look at otherwise.

When we have a $13 billion hole in a $27 billion budget, there are going to be difficult choices all the way around,” she said. But Arlington Heights Trustee Joseph Farwell is not in favour of the idea of not giving the local governments the right to be heard as to whether or not they want the machines. “That takes the decision-making factor away from the citizens that the bill mostly affects,” he said. “I think it would fine to have the dialogue here in the village about whether or not the slots would be a good thing at the track.”

State Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine said that although he has always been against slots, he still wants to go over the legislation and discuss with the citizens before making a decision. “I think they should have some say,” he said. Democratic State Rep. Mark Walker from Arlington Heights said if the deal would save jobs at Arlington Park, he would endorse the slots. But there are some who expressed worry over the possibility that slots at Arlington Park would turn the track effectively into a casino.

Arlington Heights Trustee Tom Hayes said, “No matter how much revenue it produced for the village, I would not be for anything that would create a land-based casino in Arlington Heights.” The Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce is giving its full support to the deal and is pushing for the passage of the bill. The chamber’s executive director, Jon Ridler said, “We would support that with any business in town.”