What your mayor says on video gambling locally

Here is a Daily Herald staff compilation of comments from suburban mayors about whether they would vote to ban video gambling machines in their towns:

"My first inclination is I'm not enthusiastic about it, but I'm certainly not going to make something (into law) that I don't know anything about. That's not fair."

-- Algonquin Village President John Schmitt

"I really don't know what we will do officially yet. This is just my opinion, but this whole gambling thing seems like a never-ending loser. It's especially bad in hard times. Everyone thinks they will win. It seems like the easy way out. It's just a temporary fix. We'll have to study it."

-- Antioch Mayor Larry Hanson

"If any place should have gaming it should be where it currently exists at the racetrack. I don't understand the proliferation. Who is going to pay for the extra police time? We have cut ourselves as thin as we can already. I don't want to speak for my board, but I'm sure there would be considerable concern expressed. I think it is in conflict with the family environment of the majority of our restaurants. I just feel that this is a bad idea."

-- Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder

"Mayor Weisner is glad the legislature provides a legal option for the City of Aurora to allow or disallow legalized video gambling, and he and members of the city council will consider that option very carefully when and if the time comes."

City spokeswoman Amy Roth, on behalf of Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner

"We definitely want to talk about it and we are going to be learning more about it."

-- Barrington Mayor Karen Darch

"I think legalized gambling kind of preys upon the weakest parts of society. You don't see guys walking out of country clubs going to play video poker machines. In my unschooled opinion there's long been an association with poker games and gambling of all sorts and organized crime. I think it's a matter of sooner or later you get legalized gambling in town, you're going to have the influence of organized crime in your time. Personally, from my perspective, I would not favor it."

-- Bartlett Village President Michael Kelly

"I could roll either way. I would want to know the sense of the city council on it."

-- Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke

"Just one establishment with five machines automatically calls for more bar checks and compliance enforcement, so it's much easier to not have to worry about those things if you simply say Bloomingdale does not need to rely on that type of revenue."

-- Bloomingdale Mayor Bob Iden

Buffalo Grove Village President Elliott Hartstein said he couldn't give a "thoughtful answer" without more information.

"If the governor does sign the bill and it goes into effect, I would assume that's something that would be discussed at a future board meeting."

-- Campton Hills Village President Patsy Smith

"I don't think it is a good plan because it will be hard to supervise. There will be thousands of locations and it will be difficult to make sure all of the machines are running property and that customers are getting fair odds. It is a hastily approved plan that's going to be hard to make work. People will put in machines and not register them. I understand that it's going to be hard for anyone to turn down money or revenue at this point in time. But it has to be properly enforced and I don't know if it will be by the village, the state police or the gaming authority. I need more information before I can make a decision."

-- Carpentersville Village President Ed Ritter

"If and when it does get signed into law, we'll take a look at it and we'll react in a fashion that's in the best interest of Cary."

-- Cary Village President Tom Kierna

"I'm afraid in the condition that the state is in that they're scrambling and doing things that maybe they don't really want to do. I don't know how much effort was put into this. We still have problems with the smoking ban and the lottery."

-- Carol Stream Mayor Frank Saverino

"I haven't taken a position yet. Video poker is legal already. It's just that the payouts are not legalized. We're in the process of formulating our position."

-- Des Plaines Mayor Marty Moylan

Elgin Mayor Ed Schock didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

"Like anything, it's got to be an individual community's decision. I'd have to look into it. It's something that would be new to us. I never thought we'd have an OTB in our village but we do now."

-- Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson

"My initial thoughts were that nobody in the bar really pays attention to what's happening and somebody can really abuse their financial wherewithal in a bar. At least there is some oversight (in a casino). We believe in a bar, there is no oversight."

-- Fox River Grove Village President Robert Nunamaker

"Video gaming is not even on our radar. It would not be presented to us unless it came under the auspices of our liquor licensing."

-- Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns, who believe current village law would ban machines

"I think that is something I would definitely seek board and community input on. My bias is that we probably would not want to have that in town, but I think that's something that should be publicly vetted. It doesn't seem to me to go with the character of Glen Ellyn, but, again, it'd be very difficult to regulate it so I'd want to publicly vet it. We'd have to really see a cost-benefit analysis."

-- Glen Ellyn Village President Mark Pfefferman

Grayslake Mayor Rhett Taylor could not be reached for comment.

"I still don't know a whole lot about it, but it doesn't seem to fit with the image I have of Gurnee. I expect that we'd be very judicious about something like this in that it won't be in every bar on every corner in town. But, I'm sure we'd spend some serious time trying to figure where this does belong. Gurnee prides itself as being an entertainment destination, but most of that entertainment is geared toward families. I can certainly see some advantages for our true tourist destinations, but we will be conservative in the long run."

-- Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik

Hampshire Village Administrator Eric Palm said the village board will discuss the issue at its first June meeting.

"I'm not an advocate of gambling, per se, but I have an obligation to look at every opportunity for revenue today that we can get our hands on. I haven't seen the proposal so I'm hesitant to say what I'd do."

-- Hanover Park Mayor Rod Craig

"I would have concerns about whether the gaming board is really able to regulate this, but we certainly can't put our businesses at a competitive disadvantage. I would be concerned that would happen if we were to ban it and everyone else didn't. I'm sure there will be a discussion on the issue, no doubt about that."

-- Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod

"With the limited amount of restaurants and bars and liquor-license-holders, it's really not going to be an issue in Lake in the Hills. I don't see it being different from a lottery ticket. It's the same principle isn't it? It's gaming either way and surely you're not going to see video poker machines lined up in gas stations."

-- Lake in the Hills Village President Ed Plaza

"I'm just going to have to get some information, take the pros and cons and weigh them like I would with anything else."

-- Lake Zurich Village President Suzanne Branding

"I do not favor an increase in gambling in our community, but that is based on my own feelings. I would want some public input before making a choice for the community. I think we can find better ways to increase our revenues than with these types of machines. I think the possible complaints and enforcement issues that could arise would outweigh the potential tax benefits that we would receive from the machines."

-- Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler

"The Village of Lindenhurst would prefer that the state not legalize video poker machines, nor would we want them in our village."

-- Lindenhurst Mayor Susan Lahr

"We haven't met as a board yet to discuss our feelings on the issue but for me personally, I don't think video poker is a good fit for Lisle. The good news is that I'm hearing we as a community can opt out and decide not to have any. Where does it stop? Are they going to be in the beauty salons next? The last thing we need in these difficult times is to have someone drowning their sorrows at a liquor establishment and have the added distraction of video poker. Those things aren't made to pay out. They're only made to benefit the video poker industry. I know some folks really like playing and that it can even become addictive. But it's not my cup of tea and as I sit here, I can't think of a single place in Lisle where it would be a good fit."

-- Lisle Mayor Joseph Broda

"I'm not really informed. I'm not all that familiar with the legislation. I don't want to sound ignorant so I'll let the other mayors comment."

-- Mount Prospect Mayor Irvana K. Wilks

"I can think of 30 different places in Mundelein that would qualify, and that part makes me wonder about it a little bit."

-- Mundelein Mayor Kenneth H. Kessler

"I think at this point this is really something new for us in a way. I would go to our legislators and our chamber of commerce and business community before making a decision with our council. I think we need to hear from them and listen to them as far as what the ramifications would be for that and what the plusses and minuses would be. I wouldn't be so bold as to just say we're going to ban them here. I would just look to all of us to make a decision in community like we always have."

-- Naperville Mayor George Pradel

"Above all I would certainly need to get input from residents before we make any sort of decision. Personally, I don't gamble and never had the desire to. It's too hard to earn money. In my former profession you were told back in college not to do anything in regards to gambling. It could be bad news."

-- Palatine Mayor Jim Schwantz

"I'm not crazy about it. Our community has been opposed to having gambling in the community for a very long time. We defeated a proposal for a casino 25 to 30 years ago. Criminal elements are associated with gambling."

-- Rolling Meadows Mayor Kenneth Nelson

"If I had my way and it wouldn't hurt business I would probably ban them. I just think the enforcement and the potential for fraud ... is a pretty sure thing. However I don't want to put our businesses at a disadvantage of surrounding communities so I'm probably going to need to look at how this is going to work and talk with other mayors to see which direction they're going. None of us as mayors wants to put businesses at a disadvantage but there are some enforcement issues and I don't know if the revenues we're going to receive for these are going to cover the cuts of."

-- Roselle Mayor Gayle A. Smolinski

"I think they've been controversial in the past. There's been machines in establishments that were paying off in some places without any state oversight and that's been an issue at times I've heard. They said the big thing is answering the question of who is going to manage it and how that will work. This is not like a casino facility where you have a company to manage the machines. It's going to turn in to a nightmare to try to manage it. My feeling is that there might be enough people to create the referendum to ban the machines. We may try to do that but I have to look in to the details."

-- Round Lake Mayor Jim Dietz

"I haven't looked into the details deeply enough to make a comment."

-- Round Lake Park Mayor Jean McCue

"We haven't taken a position on that."

-- Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson

He said he doesn't have an opinion, but noted other communities already have the machines in bars. He expects a board discussion on the issue.

-- South Elgin Village President Jim Hansen

Streamwood voted to ban video poker machines in 2004. The village also voted to not take part in seeking a casino about a decade ago. O'Rourke's "sense is that our board would not support the change to the local ordinance based on those two prior actions."

-- Streamwood Village Manager Bill O'Rourke

"I think there are some key issues that we need to talk about, especially with our police department. It's a decision we'll make in combination with our police and village board, but I am not in favor of it."

-- Wauconda Mayor Mark Knigge

"It is a half-baked, unfunded mandate driven by the state on the backs of the municipalities. Who's going to police it?"

-- West Chicago Mayor Michael Kwasman

"I'm reluctant to make a categorical statement without having much additional information. On the surface, things seem like a good idea and others seem like a bad idea. At this point it would be knee-jerk reaction to decide one another. Either way, it could be a bad decision until we know more."

-- West Dundee Village President Lary Keller

"I have huge concerns that gambling is the panacea of all of our woes and difficulties. We were told 25, 30 years ago that the lottery was going to be the savior of education and we would use that to pay for school improvements and things like that. That never happened. I would look really, really close as to whether we want that in our community. As a lifetime resident of Wheaton, I don't believe that would fit our character as a community. But I would discuss that with my colleagues on the board."

-- Wheaton Mayor Michael Gresk