Daley insider pushing for lift of city's video gambling ban

January 11, 2010
Chicago Sun-Times
By Tim Novak, Art Golab, and Chris Fusco

Mayor Daley says video gambling is illegal in Chicago, and no one has asked him to overturn that ban. But that could soon change.

Daley's former campaign manager Greg Goldner is spearheading a high-stakes campaign to get the City Council to lift the ban so video gambling can legally operate in every neighborhood.

If Goldner succeeds, Chicago could end up with 15,715 video-gambling machines in hundreds of bars and other businesses that serve alcohol -- including restaurants at O'Hare and Midway airports, as well as Wrigley Field and other arenas.

In all, the city could end up with more video-gambling machines than the 10,321 now operating at the state's nine casinos. It would even be more than the number of lottery terminals statewide.

The machines could let patrons gamble on poker, blackjack, slots and other games of chance, placing bets of a nickel to $2.

They'd likely be centered on the North Side in areas that have the city's highest concentration of liquor licenses -- including the Loop, North Michigan Avenue, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Bucktown and Wicker Park.

City Hall's cut? At least 5 percent of the money wagered -- which video-gambling backers say could amount to as much as $30 million a year. The state's cut: 25 percent. The rest would be split between the liquor-license holders and the people who own the machines.

Goldner was brought in by the Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association and the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers after Gov. Quinn and the Illinois Legislature legalized video gambling last July to help pay for a $31 billion statewide public building program that officials say will create and retain more than 439,000 jobs over the next six years.

The law allows any business that serves alcohol to put in as many as five video-gambling machines.

But the law lets local governments opt out. So far, 60 governments, primarily in the suburbs, have banned video gambling.

That has caused concern among the groups working with Goldner to bring video gambling to Chicago, which already had a ban in place.

"Anything that's going to get people back to work in Illinois, we think, is a good thing," says Sheila O'Grady, the mayor's former chief of staff, who is now president of the Illinois Restaurant Association. "Illinois needs revenue, and Illinois needs jobs. It might help some restaurants stay open.

"I don't know how many [restaurants] will actually have video gaming," says O'Grady. "For some people, it's not going to work with their restaurant concept."

Last fall, O'Grady took part in a strategy session in the law offices of Shefsky & Froelich, which represents the coin-machine operators group, longtime proponent of video gambling. Also at the meeting: Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, Goldner and labor leaders.

"I represent 100,000 construction workers, and we have 30,000 people who are out of work," says Thomas P. Villanova, president of the Chicago and Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council. He's also a board member of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which runs McCormick Place and Navy Pier. "We're going to get them to call their elected officials and tell them that we need this bill passed" by the City Council.

"It's not only jobs; it's improvements to people's lives here," says Villanova, who lives in Orland Park, which banned video gambling last month.

Goldner, who declined requests for an interview, is heading the effort to bring video gambling to Chicago under the name Back to Work Illinois, a company he created in late November.

He ran Daley's re-election campaign in 2003 and was once a top aide to Victor Reyes, when Reyes ran Daley's patronage office and the now-defunct Hispanic Democratic Organization political army.

Daley hasn't said whether he'll support the expansion of video gambling to Chicago.

"You can't have video poker in Chicago, by law," the mayor said in a recent interview on WBBM-AM (780). "No one's asked us to change it. It's as simple as that."

Goldner's efforts to win over city aldermen have run into some opposition. One of the biggest opponents is Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer (D-Chicago). Gainer, who successfully pushed for the Cook County Board to ban video gambling in unincorporated areas, says she fears it would overwhelm her district on the North Side.

"You have areas like Halsted and Clark where there's a high concentration of liquor licenses, and you could have 50 of these in a block," says Gainer. "The [casino] boats are in limited locations and are highly regulated, and now we're going to put [machines] in so many different locations.

"I don't think the city should do it," she says. "We're taking a huge risk. ... Overnight, we want to go from zero machines to 15,000 machines. These aren't going to be at the Ritz-Carlton. Often, it's going to be in places where people can least afford to gamble. You will definitely see an increase in crime."


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