Elburn board moves towards banning video gambling

Elburn stepped closer to banning video gambling Monday night.

The village board directed the town's attorney, by a 4-1 vote, to draft an ordinance.

Trustee William Grabarek passionately called for the ban, saying he doesn't trust what regulations may come from the state gaming board about inspection, licensing and regulation of such machines. The board has 60 days to come up with emergency guidelines, and towns have until mid-September to opt out.

He said he also doesn't trust that the state legislature won't take away cities' right to ban video gambling, leaving only a citizen-petition referendum as a means to do so.

He questioned whether the machines will produce the money the state says it will.

And he just doesn't think it fits in with Elburn's efforts to be a wholesome, family-oriented place.

"It's likely to be more ugly than beneficial," he said.

Grabarek noted that he is not morally opposed to gambling; he's been known to enjoy games of chance on vacations around the country. Elburn would be allowed up to 40 machines.

Trustee Gordon Dierschow abstained from the vote, saying he thought it was premature precisely because the state hasn't made its rules yet.

Trustee Jerry Schmidt, who voted against it, worried that Elburn bars and restaurants will lose customers to nearby towns if those towns don't also enact bans. Waving memos about the gaming law, he said, "I don't see anything about people being dragged in off the street. ... I'm looking out for our community. We've got to go pro-growth here."

Trustees Romke, Kenneth Anderson and Jeffrey Walter voted in favor, with Anderson saying he has a relative who is $30,000 or more in debt due to a video gambling addiction.

The ordinance will be brought up for a vote at a village board meeting in September.

Darlene Marcusson, founder and director of Lazarus House shelter in St. Charles, spoke against video gambling, both as an Elburn resident and as an addictions counselor.

"Of all the addictions, and that includes ones as horrible as heroin, gambling has the highest suicide rate of all the addictions," she said, urging the board to approve the ban.

Fellow resident Mary Baumstark also asked for the ban. "I personally don't feel that it is a good fit with this small, family-oriented community. I think it promotes addictive behavior that is harmful to people," she told the board.

County board member Drew Frasz of La Fox, who serves on a new county task force studying whether the county should ban it in unincorporated areas, told the board he is concerned about competitive issues, if some towns and the county ban it and others don't. He'd like to see uniformity, one way or the other, he said.

And President Dave Anderson said he wonders if the state won't penalize towns that opt out, then want to later allow video gambling, by refusing to let them. Especially if enough towns ban it that it threatens the funding for the capital projects, the reason behind the video gambling law.

Grabarek pooh-poohed that notion, saying he couldn't believe the state would ever turn down a chance to have another moneymaking machine placed.