Chicago voters say yes to ban video gambling

More than half of the voters, 52 per cent to be exact, in Illinois voted in favour of banning video gambling machines in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park.

There were pressure groups in action to delay the voting process. But officials rejected putting the question up to vote. However, an appeals court ruled the local electoral board was “clearly erroneous” in rejecting all of the petition signatures over a few pages of signatures that were found to be invalid.

“I feel really happy that we were able to get on the ballot and get a favourable result,” said Jordan Kuehn of the group Let Forest Park Vote on Video Gaming. “People really wanted to weigh in on this issue,” he highlighted as nearly 60 per cent of the local electorate voted in Tuesday’s election and weighed in on the video gambling ban. “I find it reassuring that they weren’t able to buy our vote,” he added about out-of-town gambling interests.

Forest Park will suffer a loss of US$170k that it that used to receive from video poker revenue to state coffers. “It will be a big hit for a small town,” Village Administrator Tim Gillian said.