Pair of Plano aldermen not happy with expansion of video gambling – Chicago Tribune

With a vote of 5 to 2, Plano aldermen approved the addition of a liquor license for beer and wine for Betty's Place, which will be a new video gambling facility at 623 W. Route 34.

Betty's Place is owned by Tomar LLC of Springfield, Illinois. With the approval of a liquor license, Tomar can now obtain a gaming license from the state.

Currently, Plano has 10 places with video gambling with a total of 44 machines.

The Illinois Gaming Board reports that in 2016, Plano had eight places with video gambling with 34 machines. Their website reports that during that year, Plano video gambling participants gambled a total of $18,913,607.75 which resulted in a tax distribution share for the city of $78,051.35.

Mayor Bob Hausler said that this year's city budget is anticipating tax revenues of $85,000 from video gambling. He said the revenue goes into the city's general fund.

Aldermen Jamal Williams and Ben Eaton were the two dissenting votes on the council. Williams, from the city's 2nd Ward, was elected to the City Council in April.

"One of the main reasons I ran for the council is to be a voice for the community," he said. "People told me they do not want more gaming facilities."

Williams acknowledged that the gambling has generated funds for the city, but added, "my mother always told me that all money isn't good money. I think we need to be more responsible. We need to be smart with our decisions for the future instead of letting money make our decisions for us."

Eaton agrees with Williams and said, "I think we have a lot of these licenses that are handed out way too fast and easily. I don't think we need as many facilities as we are handing out liquor licenses for. They should be limited to restaurants and bars as opposed to handing them out for convenience gaming which doesn't add anything to the community."

Williams said, "there had been some discussion on a potential moratorium on licenses from this point forward."

Hausler said there is a limit to the amount of video gambling that would make sense for Plano.

"I do think there is a saturation point," he said. "The facilities we now have are quite low-key and don't have ostentatious signs. I don't think they have the same negative effect that building vacancies would."

Easton believes that the revenues generated from gambling should be dedicated to specific programs such as street repairs or economic development. He is chairman of the Streets and Utilities Committee and said that while the street department usually gets funding for equipment, they generally do not get the needed funding for projects such as curbs and gutters that are needed in areas throughout town.

"We have only done about half of the projects that we need to for the last few years," he said. "We need the money to be able to fix things."

He said there was some talk about a study being done over the next 12 months regarding the impact of video gambling on the city, but no action has been taken yet. He said residents need to become involved and to make their voices heard.

"It is going to take the voice of the people to their aldermen and for the aldermen to then vote accordingly," he said.

Susan Thanepohn is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News

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Pair of Plano aldermen not happy with expansion of video gambling - Chicago Tribune