Video Gaming Proponent: ‘We Can’t Wait for More Debate’

MORRIS, Ill., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ — Recent revelations that Cook County’s rush to opt out of video gaming is tied to casino industry interests have led union leaders and the Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association to urge a delay in the Tuesday vote scheduled on the issue.

Ray Hanania, a commentator with Radio Chicagoland (www.radiochicagoland.com), wrote in his blog (http://swside.blogspot.com/2009/10/scoop-drive-to-ban-video-gaming-in-cook.html) today that his examination of the financial records of Commissioner Bridget Gainer showed she received at least $2,000 in contributions from casino gaming interests three weeks before she launched her anti-video gaming campaign.

“Video gaming is critical to funding the Illinois Capital Bill, which was finally pushed through after a decade of debate over how to pay for improvements to our state’s deteriorating infrastructure,” said Tom Fiedler, president of the Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association, Morris, Ill.

“The idea that kicking the gaming act back to the General Assembly will force a more palatable funding solution is laughable,” he added. “It’s taken 10 years to get this far. In a state that has lost nearly 325,000 jobs since the start of the recession, can the thousands who would be put back to work by the capital bill afford to wait?”

The Cook County Board on Tuesday will consider a recommendation by its finance committee that the county opt out of video gaming, where certain liquor pouring establishments can operate as many as five gaming machines as long as access is restricted to adults.

Local municipalities will collect 5 percent of the revenues from machines located in their communities. More important, a quarter of the revenues from video gaming machines will help fund the Illinois Capital Bill, which covers many projects in areas opting out or considering it. In the greater Chicago and Cook County areas, these include: $40 million for a West Side campus for Chicago State University; $2.7 billion for Chicago area mass transit; and $64 million for a Chicago Veteran’s Home.

In a Sept. 24 letter to Cook County Commissioner Earlean Collins, Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis J. Gannon said: “Without collecting revenue from video gaming, the capital program will fall short of the necessary funding to improve our communities and put hundreds of thousands of men and women to work.”

In an earlier letter to the Kane County Board, the Transportation for Illinois Coalition stated, “Despite the political momentum behind local ordinances to ban video poker, [we] remain supportive of video poker as a revenue source for capital construction.”

Fiedler pointed out that a variety of agendas are likely being served in the midst of all the posturing. “But we can’t keep debating the funding options forever, especially when the likeliest suspects, such as a motor fuel tax, would hurt a lot more people a lot more substantially.”

Headquartered in Morris, the ICMOA is a 120-member, non-profit organization formed by businesses involved in the coin-operated amusement machine industry in Illinois. For more information, visit http://gaming.icmoa.org/.

    Media contact:
    Robyn Velasquez
    Hodge Schindler Integrated Communications
    312.666.6662 or
    rvelasquez@hodgeschindler.com

SOURCE Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association