Cities like Quincy, Peoria, Pekin, Canton, Moline, Alton all have terminal fees for their video gaming machines.
After Monday night’s City Council meeting, now Galesburg does as well.
Aldermen voted to enact the $250 per machine fee, by a 5-2 vote with Peter Schwartzman and Wayne Dennis opposed.
That means owners of establishments with the machines now have to get an annual license for gaming terminals at $250 per machine.
City Manager Todd Thompson says the city has 32 establishments with 156 terminals, with estimated revenue from the fees at around $39,000.
“Quite common throughout the state. We did a survey — the City Clerk’s office did a survey and I believe we were the only city out of a long list that did not have such a fee.”
City Clerk Kelli Bennewitz says they polled about 40 other municipalities for comparison.
Dennis, a former bar owner himself, said he felt there were too many new fees being piled on to local taverns.
“We had an increase in the liquor license now we’re going to hit them with this. I just think it’s a heck of a buck to some of the bar owners.”
Alderman Wayne Dennis was worried that $250 might too high of a fee, but Mayor John Pritchard pointed out that some towns surveyed charged as much as $1,000 per terminal.
Pritchard says he made a suggestion to assess a fee based on a percentage of net wagering activity, but there didn’t seem to be any precedent.
16 more machines were added to the city’s total just in January.
Bennewitz reminded Council that there was a slight increase to the liquor license fee in the fee schedule that was passed in December.
Alderman Peter Schwartzman asked if the administration considered different sized fees for different sized establishments.
Bennewitz says they didn’t find that kind of fee structure in any of the cities they looked at, but some had a fee per establishment.
For the 12 months ending in December video gaming machines in Galesburg made $7.7 million, or as Mayor John Pritchard says “gamblers lost” $7.7 million.
That equates to $2 million in taxes for the state, $385,000 went to the City of Galesburg and the rest is profit.
The increase to $150 was the first since 2009.
