Video gambling a hit in St. Charles, but city profits lag

The number of St. Charles establishments offering video gambling is set to grow more than five times beyond the three businesses that pioneered the machines just in September.

City aldermen will review Tuesday night a report on video gambling activity in the city. The report shows 10 video gambling establishments are now up and running. The businesses have a total of 45 machines in operation. The police department is working with six more businesses to get them up and running.

The new report shows about $6,322 as the city's cut so far, but the total only encompasses activity at eight of the establishments.

It's an amount Alderman Rita Payleitner described as "peasley" in a Facebook post last Wednesday. She is one of most vocal critics of the city council's decision to legalize video gambling in the city. In the post, Payleitner points out the cash comes from $126,435 in net gambling losses.

A commenter on the post asks: "So sad. How can this be stopped?"

Payleitner replied: "Working on it."

She'll have a chance to say more at the city council's government operations committee meeting at about 7 p.m.