Gaming Legislation Update!

The legislative session is underway. On Wednesday, April 28th, the House Executive Committee held a hearing on gaming. The Support Main Street Illinois (“SMSIL”) coalition in conjunction with the ILBA and IGMOA is requesting your help.  

Please call your local legislator to voice your opinion on the following unified messages:  

We strongly oppose:

• I-gaming and believe it will be detrimental to our already suffering businesses by keeping patrons home instead of visiting their local small bars and restaurants.  

We strongly support:

• Mandating a 50/50 split of all local license fees related to Video Gaming between Licensed Establishments and Terminal Operators.
• Stopping local governments from over-regulating and double taxing the video gaming industry. Under the VGA, local governments have no additional responsibility to regulate video gaming and are receiving double-digit increases each year.
• The Illinois Gaming Board’s initiatives banning all unregulated gaming including sweepstakes machines, licensing Sales Agents, and streamlining the license renewal process.  

To find your elected State Representatives and State Senators, log onto Find My Elected Official and follow the onscreen directions.  

We are at a precarious time, and the future of our families and the families of our employees are very uncertain. We need your help! Lawmakers need to hear from you! Please contact your legislators today.  

Thank you for being a part of this important effort. Please CLICK HERE or go to https://supportmainstreetil.org/ and sign the petition! There is strength in numbers. Working together, we can get pro-industry legislation enacted and defeat harmful policies. Your support is vital to our success and we appreciate all you do to help in our efforts to promote our industry!