Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association, ICMOA, video poker, video lottery, video gambling, video gaming terminal, Illinois gaming, Illinois gambling, Chicago Crime Commission, Illinois Gaming Board, Video Gaming Act, penny video poker
SPRINGFIELD, IL -- The Illinois Coin Machine Operators
Association is supporting a bill to amend
Illinois' Video Gaming Act to permit "penny video
poker" machines and 24-hour gambling on VLTs
in truckstops, among other measures. According to the
Chicago Tribune, the measure, sponsored
by Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan), was passed by the
state Senate 42-11 on May 5, but the House draft, HB
4927, stalled on May 7.
The bill's sudden loss of momentum was caused by
sharp criticism from officials of the Illinois
Gaming Board and the Chicago Crime
Commission. IGB chairman Aaron Jaffe said
the bill "would allow people who have been
operating machines illegally for all these years to
continue" under the planned legal market --
contrary to the board's regulations announced in
January.
Even some state senators who had voted for the bill said
Jaffe's concerns should "put the brakes on" its passage.
However, ICMOA lobbyist Zack Stamp said Jaffe
misunderstood the intent of the bill.
On May 7, Art Bilek, executive director of the Chicago
Crime Commission, charged that the gambling
industry and its legislative allies were using "Al
Capone" tactics to enact "unsavory legislation" that
would "profoundly expand gambling in Illinois." The
commission director said HB 4927 was introduced in a
last-minute rush under a "veil of secrecy," and was
hidden within an unrelated measure to regulate
nursing homes in an effort to "ram through" the
changes.
