Video gambling could be closer to schools, churches

SPRINGFIELD - Suburban parents dropping the kids off at school might not have to go too far if they want to play some video poker on the way home.

Video poker and other video gambling machines would be allowed to locate as close as 100 feet from a school or a church under a late-night, last-minute change included in the nearly $29 billion construction program state lawmakers approved last week.

The original video gambling proposal required the machines to be more than 1,000 feet - about two city blocks - away from schools, churches, riverboat casinos and horse tracks. State Rep. Frank Mautino, who sponsored the proposal with the 1,000-foot limit on video gambling, said he supports the 100-foot rule.

"If you have a church in a town square in a small town, then everything is within 1,000 feet," said Mautino, a Spring Valley Democrat. "I looked around my town and there would only be one place that wouldn't be within 1,000 feet.

"Whatever the law is for a liquor license, that's what it should be."

The measure would allow up to five video gambling machines to be placed in bars and taverns, fraternal and veterans halls and truck stops. And while the change would allow video gambling closer to schools and churches, it keeps the 1,000-foot limit in place for riverboats and tracks.

"If it was going to be done for one, it probably should have been done for all," Mautino said. He said the payout limits on video poker in bars likely wouldn't keep gamblers from hitting the riverboats or horse tracks looking for bigger wins.

He's also not worried that students coming home from school could end up playing the machines.

"There shouldn't be a child inside of a bar anyway," Mautino said.

The video gambling change was approved unanimously in the state Senate and 116-0 in the House in the very early hours of June 1. However, state Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, put a legislative hold on the measure, keeping it from going to Gov. Pat Quinn for his signature. Quinn has said he won't sign a construction program into law until the legislature gives him an operating budget he likes.

Video gambling revenue and increased alcohol taxes and vehicle fees would be used to finance the state's first construction program in a decade. The plan calls for spending nearly $29 billion across the state, including billions for road construction and maintenance and new projects throughout the suburbs.