Chicago Mayor Seeking Reversal of Video Gambling Approval

^{Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is still seeking a ban on video gambling machines. (Photo: Alan Kotok / Alamy)}

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is asking the City Council Committee on Workforce Development to consider an ordinance that would disallow video gaming terminals in the city, which the City Council had previously approved in the 2026 budget.

Johnson is seeking to have the request heard at a Monday committee meeting, which comes as six bars and restaurants in Chicago became the first to receive licenses to offer video gambling terminals from the Illinois Gaming Board.

Both those licenses and Johnson’s push to reinstate a ban on video gambling were announced on Thursday, June 11.

Bally’s Balks at Bar Betting

Video gambling has been a controversial topic in the city of Chiago. While the City Council lifted the ban on the games in the hopes of generating $6.8 million in licensing fees this year, the proposal had the potential to anger Bally’s, which currently operates a temporary casino in the city and is in the process of building a permanent facility in the River West area.

“There’ll be discussions over the weekend and on Monday in the committee, and we’ll see where folks are at,” Workforce Development Chair Mike Rodriguez (D-22nd Ward) told the Chicago Sun-Times.  “I hear smart people…and friends in labor, saying that Bally’s may balk on their millions that’s guaranteed to the city. That’s why we’re gonna have a conversation.”

Bally's has argued that allowing bars and restaurants to offer video gambling would ultimately cost the city far more money in the long run. The casino giant has said that the move could not only cost the city approximately $74 million in annual revenue and as many as 1,000 jobs or more at its casino operations in the city due to the increased competition, but it might also force both sides to renegotiate the city’s host agreement, including a guaranteed $4 million payment each year from Bally’s to the city.

“VGT’s undermine the Host Community Agreement and undercut its economics and intent,” Bally’s Senior Vice President for Corporate Development Christopher Jewett said in a statement. “If VGTs go live in Chicago, Bally’s will pursue all available legal remedies, which – alongside the loss of tax revenues – will have a monetary impact to the city that Bally’s conservatively believes is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Supporters Holding Course While State, City Approve Licenses

None of this has deterred supporters of video gambling, who say they expect the decision to survive any attempts by the mayor to reimpose a ban on the machines.

“We had 31 aldermen to approve this, along with the budget. I would be hard-pressed to believe he can get several aldermen to change their position on this in order to try to repeal it,” said Alderman Anthony Beale (D-9th Ward). “Are these people willing to blow a larger hole in the budget and go down the road with this administration, which has already shown they don’t have the capacity to run this city?”

In the meantime, bars, restaurants, and bowling alleys in Chicago can apply for state licenses, with at least 286 businesses in the city having license applications pending with the Illinois Gaming Board. Those who have been approved – or get that approval moving forward – will then have to also apply for permits from the city.

“We expect the city to begin that process sometime in the next week or so,” Accel Gaming CEO Andy Rubinstein told WBBM Newsradio. “We’re in the final stages, it’s really exciting for a lot of these small business owners.”