Neil Bluhm vehemently opposed the City Council’s efforts to lift the city’s ban on sports betting in 2021 - and testified during a City Council committee hearing that doing so would hurt the city’s casino.
While Chicago has not legalized video gambling, there is a patchwork of venues throughout the city that instead offer so-called sweepstakes machines, which are unregulated by the city but operate in much the same way as video gambling machines.
Video gambling has experienced rapid growth since it began in 2012, and the Illinois’ Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability noted in its September 2022 report on wagering that Chicago “has a huge impact on potential video gaming revenues,” and if the city allows for the terminals, the total “could grow significantly.” In a written statement, a campaign spokesperson for Johnson said the commissioner “is a supporter of legalized video gambling as an important revenue source for critical investments in public safety, transportation, housing and other public accommodations.” He said he would use “a fair share of TIF money, a fair share of casino money, the gaming money, the video poker money - which of course I would support and legalize - the developer fee money.”
Vallas brought it up during an NBC 5 debate last week when asked how he would fund investments in the South and West sides. Chicago already had an ordinance on the books banning video gambling in the city, and rather than opting to legalize the machines, Chicago mayors have instead put their efforts into creating a casino in the city limits.īut with Chicago’s first casino in the works, both former CPS CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson have expressed support for bringing video gambling to the city.
Under state law, local governments can prohibit video gambling machines from operating at restaurants or bars within their city limits.
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