Buffalo Grove board votes to ban video gambling

Tired of waiting for rules from the state, on Monday the Buffalo Grove village board passed an ordinance prohibiting video gaming in the village.

The village board already passed an ordinance in August alerting liquor establishments that the village reserved its right under state statute to prohibit video gaming.

"We previously took a wait-and-see approach by enacting an ordinance that prevents installation of machines in the village unless the village specifically approves them," Trustee Jeffrey Berman said. "The idea was to make sure nobody jumped the gun with a premature installation before the gaming board completed its work, the rules were in place and the village had an opportunity to assess the rules so that we could proceed properly."

It was one of the first ordinances of the kind in the area, Village President Elliott Hartstein said.

Enacted on July 13, the state video gaming act legalizes the use of video gaming terminals in specific locations in Illinois. The Illinois Gaming Board is in the process of developing and formulating a rule-making process which will dictate how video gaming will operate and how it will be regulated. No date has been set as to when those rules will be submitted to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules or adopted by the gaming board, but the chair of the board has said it could be another year.

A section of the act allows a municipality to pass an ordinance prohibiting video gaming within its corporate limits.

Berman said that revenue from video gaming machines is an inherently unreliable means for the state to finance capital projects. "Yet that is precisely the purpose for which the legislature passed it and why a great number of communities and other entities have condemned it."

While some communities, including Rosemont, have banned it outright, others, including Mount Prospect, have banned it pending a formal review of whatever regulations the state ultimately adopts. DuPage County has banned it for liquor license holders in the unincorporated area, Elmhurst recently banned it and Wheaton has begun the process to ban it.