Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Gaming Regulation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Waukegan council bans unregulated sweepstakes machines, staff cites regulatory gap
Summary
The City Council voted to prohibit sweepstakes machines citywide after staff explained those machines fall outside Illinois Gaming Board oversight and do not share revenue with municipalities, unlike regulated gaming machines.
The Waukegan City Council voted Aug. 3 to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the operation of sweepstakes machines within city limits, following a staff explanation about how such devices differ from Illinois Gaming Board–regulated machines.
Tom Grange, the city’s interim license director, told council members that sweepstakes-style machines operate under prize-and-gift statutes and lack the municipal fee and regulatory structure that governs licensed gaming machines. “The sweepstakes do neither,” he said, explaining that gaming-board-regulated machines remit a fee and a share of proceeds to municipalities while sweepstakes machines currently do not.
Council members asked questions about the machines’ proliferation in gas stations, grocery stores and other retail establishments and noted ongoing litigation over related push taxes. After discussion the council voted in favor of the ordinance; the mayor announced the motion carried.
The action removes a regulatory loophole city officials said had allowed unregulated devices to become widespread in other communities and gives the enforcement framework to city license authorities.
