Posted by David Kidwell and Ray Long at 3:23 p.m.; updated at 3:53 p.m.
A controversial video poker bill state gambling regulators fear will allow the operators of illegal machines to stay in business throughout the state was approved 81-26 Wednesday in the Illinois House.
The measure, which expands on the General Assembly’s legalization of video gambling in bars and restaurants last year, now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn for final approval.
The legislation seeks to define the Illinois Gaming Board’s power to deny licenses. Gaming board Chairman Aaron Jaffe says the legislation would require a felony conviction on gambling charges before regulators could deny a license to operate video gambling machines in
Illinois. He criticized the measure as a “disaster” for gambling enforcement in Illinois.
But supporters said the legislation would allow a variety of ways to deny a person a license, ranging from a gambling-related conviction to having a shady past.
The provision was quietly amended to a bill without opposition in the Senate earlier this month, but has stirred quite a debate since gambling regulators were made aware of it.
“My main concern with this bill is that it is midnight legislation adopted just a short time before the end of the session,” said Art Bilek, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission. “It it is such a good thing for the people of this state, then why did it have to be done in such a surreptitious manner.”
The bill is designed to rein in a new gaming board rule that would have required applicants to attest under oath that they had never operated the machines before they were legalized.
It was shepherded by some well-connected lobbyists for the Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association, including Joseph Berrios, a longtime ally of House Speaker Michael Madigan and Madigan’s choice to become the next Cook County assessor.
Berrios, who also is the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, has been spending time campaigning for assessor and lobbying for the bill. His campaign issued a statement praising the legislature for its favorable vote.
"I’m pleased that I could help get this bill passed during such a difficult fiscal time," Berrios said in an e-mail from his campaign. "However, as I have noted since last fall, once I become assessor I will resign as a lobbyist and my sole priority will be serving the people of Cook County with fairness and efficiency."
Berrios and other supporters of the measure have argued that Jaffe’s rule is too broad and vague to be applied in an even-handed way. They say the gaming board retains authority to deny video gambling licenses for wide range of reasons.
"At a time when the state is struggling for revenue, this measure will bring in $250 million to $500 million a year for use in state capital projects like roads and school construction," Berrios said. “It’s a win-win for the state. Our unemployment rate is at an all-time high and our schools are crumbling. This new revenue will help in so many ways."
In addition to what critics call an “amnesty” provision for all those operators who have been illegally paying off on the video machines, the bill also extends to truck stops and VFW posts the right to operate the machines. Last year’s law only allowed bars and restaurants to operate the video poker games.
Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, told colleagues on the House floor the Gaming Board already has “broad and substantial powers” to deny a license to anyone found by the board to have a criminal record, bad reputation or activities that would pose a threat to the public.
At the center of the debate is that the Gaming Board created a rule that determined any establishment caught operating illegal games after Dec. 16 would be unable to get licensed, Lang said.
But he argued that the board “curiously” added a provision that said anyone operating illegal games before Dec. 16 “may” be unable to be licensed, a standard that was too vague.
Thousands of potential applicants “have a right to know the rules and regulations and laws and statutes … don’t say ‘may,’” Lang said. “They have a right to know … what will be investigated and what won’t be investigated.”
Lang also advanced a follow-up proposal that would allow a restaurant to have video games in its own establishment if it, for example, rents space to an off-track betting parlor. The restaurant and OTB parlor would be prohibited from sharing proceeds from the video gambling.
Anti-gambling activist Anita Bedell told the House Executive Committee that the move represented a further “foot in the door” to a broader expansion of gambling throughout Illinois. The panel voted 10-1, sending the legislation to the full House.