Video poker biz strikes back, launches pro-legalization campaign

January 8, 2010
Crain's Chicago Business
By Greg Hinz

The video poker industry is bankrolling a big-bucks grassroots campaign to get Chicago to allow the electronic gambling devices within its borders and to stop other towns from banning them.

Under the umbrella of the newly formed Back to Work Illinois, the industry is hoping to offset a wave of bad publicity it has suffered since the General Assembly decided last spring to legalize and tax video poker and similar devices to pay for Gov. Pat Quinn's new capital program.

Officially, the new organization — which has a Web site at backtoworkillinois.com — is a coalition of union and business groups, including the Illinois AFL-CIO, Illinois Restaurant Assn. and Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.  But a spokesman — Greg Goldner, a one-time campaign manager for Mayor Richard M. Daley — confirmed that the Illinois Coin Machine Operators Assn. and the Assn. of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers are providing "several hundred thousand dollars" to get the group going.

Some of the funds will be used to convince local communities not to follow the lead of unincorporated Kane and Cook counties, Rosemont and dozens of other jurisdictions that have banned the devices. Other funds will go to an effort to get the Chicago City Council to approve overtly of the machines. Chicago's status is uncertain under current law.

The new group itself will not lobby officials directly itself but will encourage local business owners, union members and others to do so, said Mr. Goldner, whose Resolute Consulting is the chief consultant for the coalition.

Talking points being distributed by the new group emphasize that local communities will get to keep 5% of receipts and that many machines already exist in bars and pay wagersunofficially. The talking points also assert that"we need our local elected officials to understand that jobs are at stake."

Illinois' casino operators reportedly are not thrilled about the new competition, with some insiders saying they have stirred up local communities to block legal video gambling machines.