Two days after the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a law authorizing video gambling machines in bars and restaurants, the state’s top gaming regulator said his agency doesn’t have the staff to police the devices.
Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe on Wednesday criticized lawmakers for approving legislation expanding gambling opportunities—including video gaming in 2009 and a bill approved in May that would add five new casinos—without consulting experts, appropriating enough money or preserving the integrity of regulatory bodies.
“It’s a bad bill,” Jaffe said of a casino expansion package that passed during the final days of the legislative session in May. “There are too many loopholes in that bill. I’ve said it before and I’ll tell you again: It’s 409 pages of garbage”
The board’s 215 staff members are trying to manage the implementation of video gaming, which lawmakers approved two years ago, while facing the potential of yet another expansion of casinos—unless Gov. Pat Quinn vetoes the bill.
“Yes, he should veto it,” said Jaffe, who met with Quinn last week. “We talked about the bill, and I told him exactly how I felt, and he listened very carefully.”
Board officials said they would need to double their staff and their $50 million budget to properly regulate new video and riverboat gambling. The court decision this week cleared the way for more than 75,000 video gaming machines to go on-line statewide.* No timeline is set, but some predicated it would happen within the next 10 months.
“Now that the Supreme Court made this decision, it’s going to explode in terms of the staff involvement and the number of people we have to vet,” said the Rev. Eugene Winkler, member of the five-person gaming board.
At Wednesday’s meeting alone, the gaming board approved more than 600 new employees at the state’s existing gaming facilities, all of whom the board had to vet.
The bill approved in May adds a casino in Chicago, four others statewide, a gambling post on the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield and slot machines at horse tracks and airports.
Quinn called the bill “excessive” when lawmakers passed it and hinted at a veto. The Senate, in turn, used a parliamentary maneuver to keep it from landing on the governor’s desk for now.
“There are 400 items put in that bill by special interests,” Jaffe told reporters Wednesday. “Do I have to spell that out for you? Special interests were involved in that bill. These are back room deals.”
*Correction: The original story incorrectly stated that more than 16,000 video gaming machines will be activated across the state. The court ruling cleared the way for more than 75,000 video gaming machines.
Kristen McQueary covers state government as part of a partnership between CNC and Chicago Public Media