Kane County bans video gambling; 3 board members miss vote
Absence likely made video gambling opponents grow fonder on Tuesday when the Kane County Board voted to ban the practice in a close vote that could have had a different outcome if all the county board members were present.
The board voted 12-11 to ban video gambling. Three board members - Mike Kenyon, Gerald Jones and Robert McConnaughay - were absent from the meeting. Jesse Vazquez, chairman of the county's task force on video gambling, said after the meeting that all three of those county board members, if present, were expected to vote in favor of allowing video gambling.
The county took months to come to a final vote, seeking public input on several occasions. On the day of the final vote, only three public speakers signed up to be heard, and all asked the county to ban video gambling.
Despite the months-long debate, eight county board members pushed to delay the vote until the state issues clearer rules and regulations about how video gambling will be handled, and until there is clarity on what benefits a capital bill will bring to the county. That move was overruled by the majority of the board who either wanted the county to take a clear stance or feared state lawmakers tinkering with the law and stripping the county of its ability to ban video gambling after the first of the year.
"If you're against video gambling in Kane County, there is only one choice," county board member Jim Mitchell said. "If you are truly against it, now is the time to stand up, not two months from now."
With a vote on a ban on the table, debate was short. Some county board members, such as Tom Van Cleave, said they'd vote to ban video gambling to send a message to Springfield to not push through "half conceived" laws for other governing bodies to sort out. Others, like county board member Drew Frasz, said a ban was the right vote from a moral standpoint.
Those who spoke in favor of video gambling, such as county board member Cristina Castro, said the county needs the jobs that a fully funded state capital bill will bring to the area. Others, such as county board member Bill Wyatt, said they were in favor of video gambling from the standpoint of letting individual businesses decide what they want to do.
"How punitive do you want to be to exert your moral authority?" Wyatt asked the board. "Do you really think that if you extract these machines that people won't gamble? I don't think so."
After the board passed the ban, Chairman Karen McConnaughay said the county board's work isn't complete on the issue.
"That's not a good message when you pass something like that with one vote," McConnaughay said. "The issue becomes how do you want the state to find the revenue to create the capital (projects) that you want in your districts."
After the meeting, McConnaughay said that although she "wasn't necessarily a fan" of even casino gambling, she had hoped the county board would have delayed the vote while state lawmakers clarified the law.
"The ban passed by one vote," McConnaughay said. "That says, from my experience, that the county board is frustrated by how the state has managed this issue."