North Chicago council committees direct attorney to draft stricter video-gaming ordinance

The city’s committees reviewed a proposed rewrite of North Chicago’s video-gaming rules and gave staff and the city attorney direction to draft a formal ordinance for council consideration before the moratorium expires in August.

The proposed changes would make gaming an accessory use to a principal business, bar gaming licenses for convenience stores, general retail, liquor stores and gas stations (except state-regulated truck stops), require table-service restaurants to qualify for licenses, and set a 150-foot minimum separation to limit clustering of gaming establishments. The draft also tightens application and renewal requirements, including site plans, machine placement plans, and financial reports for the last four operating quarters to show gaming remains incidental to the primary business use.

City Chief of Staff Bruce told the committee the rewrite joins revisions across city code — title 5 (video gaming), title 8 (liquor control) and title 12 (signs and zoning) — so the sections are consistent. He said the draft would grandfather existing businesses but likely reduce clustered gaming “through attrition” as locations change ownership and must reapply. “We don’t want to push that business totally away, but we also don’t wanna look like Las Vegas,” Bruce said. He added staff will include auditing mechanisms and performance thresholds that could trigger license suspension if gaming becomes a primary revenue source.

The draft proposes a 33% benchmark for when gaming might be considered more than incidental; the chief of staff said council could choose a different percentage. The draft also would require terminals to be segregated from areas accessible to persons under 18, ban flashing lights or sound within five feet of machines, and require terminal operators to hold valid Illinois Gaming Board licenses.

Committee members asked about enforcement and practical effects. One alderman asked whether a restaurant that becomes more gaming-focused could be required to remove gaming terminals; Bruce said a trend analysis over time could lead to suspension and the city has auditing mechanisms. Committee members asked about relocation and grandfathering; staff said existing licenses would not automatically transfer to a new location and a business that moves would need to reapply under the new standards, including site plans and proximity rules.

The staff presentation also explained the city’s recently adopted “push tax” (a per-play levy on terminal operators) and noted recent litigation in other Illinois municipalities. Bruce said the city adopted a push tax prior to a statutory cut-off in order to preserve that authority. He described the push tax in plain terms for committee members: each time a player initiates a play (a “push”), the terminal operator remits the per-play fee to the city.

Committee members directed the city attorney to prepare a formal ordinance for council consideration; with the moratorium set to expire in August, staff said the draft would allow council at least one more read if members want changes. The committee recorded a consensus to move forward and asked staff to return a redlined ordinance for the council’s next steps.