Big money being played on gaming machines in the Illinois Valley

Many in the Illinois Valley like games of chance and the numbers are there to prove it when it comes to video gambling.

According to the Illinois Gaming Board, over $258 million was wagered in La Salle County on video gambling machines in 2014. Payouts were over $238 million.

In Bureau County over $42 million was pumped into video gaming last year with over $39 million paid out. In Putnam County just under $4 million was gambled with the payouts totaling over $3.5 million.

Streator leads the pack in the Illinois Valley with over $51 million wagered in video gaming machines last year. B&R Café in Streator saw the most action with $10.7 million played in its five machines. That was enough for the city to make over $189,000 as part of its share of the revenue.

Both Peru and Ottawa saw over $30 million played in video gaming machines last year while over $20 million was gambled in La Salle and Princeton. Even a village the size of Naplate had over $12 million wagered with video gaming.

Statewide, gamblers wagered $8.2 billion into video gaming machines in 2014. The state’s take of the revenue was around $164 million.