The Lake County board members are preparing to debate the advantages of Video Poker gambling in October, and many officials have set their minds on the issue. Some of them are supporting the decision to ban video poker and other gambling games, while some of them are in favor of the games continuing at the casinos.
Grayslake Democrat Melinda Bush said that casino video poker gambling in bars, clubs and restaurants were legalized under a huge capital improvement package, which was accepted by state lawmakers this summer. The machines were expected to bring in $367 million annually to support infrastructure projects which was regarded a huge contribution to the economy. Communities throughout Chicago have disputed the issue on whether to oppose the law and ban the machines locally. Heads of villages in Gurnee, Mettawa, Lindenhurst and Schaumburg have escalated this matter to boardrooms, but have not reached a consensus.
Officials on behalf of Kildeer, Rosemont, Country Club Hills and DuPage County are among those that have ratified video-gambling bans and Lake County Officials are yet to fix dates for their discussions on the issue. During the course of last week, County Administrator Barry Burton requested the board to first get through the current budget process, which will come to an end in November.
Like O’Rourke, Maine is of the opinion that gambling is all about taking money from people who really can’t afford to lose it, she also said that revenue from gambling is not really a steady income and cant be earmarked for funding road improvements and other public efforts, she concluded that it was not really a good way to finance a government especially when it came to capital expenditure on projects.