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.

La Salle adds more liquor licenses so video gamblers can have a drink

Whether its bars, truck stops or stand alone buildings, video gaming machines are popping up everywhere. A divided La Salle City Council is doing what it can to accommodate the growth of video gaming.

The Council voted 5 to 4 Monday night with Mayor Jeff Grove breaking a tie to double the number of Class B liquor licenses from 10 to 20. Places like Becks and Shell want to put in gaming machines and hope to be able to offer up alcohol in cans or bottles to gamblers.

La Salle already has ten Class B liquor licenses spoken for so they need more for Becks and Shell and for any other business that may want to serve alcohol to video gamers.

Alderman Jim Bacidore was against adding liquor licenses wondering if it was time to cap the number of video gaming locations. He says there’s only so much money to go around and wonders how many businesses will even make money with video gambling.

Ottawa limits what kinds of businesses can serve alcohol

Video gaming is changing a lot of things in Illinois including places wanting to serve alcohol that normally wouldn’t.

With the popularity of video gaming machines, Ottawa Mayor Bob Eschbach says they’ve been getting requests from gas stations and even grocery stores wanting a liquor license to serve alcohol by the machines. The council last night amended its liquor ordinance to allow only so called “Pour Licenses” for bars, pubs, clubs, taverns, restaurants and motels. Gas stations and grocery stores could still sell packaged liquor but not get a license to serve it to customers in glasses.

The council also streamlined its liquor ordinance by raising the cost of licenses for all businesses serving beer and wine from $675 to $900 with the exception of clubs, or service organizations.