Trustees Rule on Video Gaming Amidst Debating Residents

trustees heard from both sides of the local gambling debate this week before making their final call on the matter—one they have already supported for more than half a century. 

The board unanimously favored a motion Tuesday that will keep video poker machines out of town. They have been outlawed locally since the 1960s, according to village documents. The move adds Tinley to the growing list of about 300 Illinois municipalities that have already opted out of the state's Video Gaming Act.

"The state's new legislation may supersede our existing ordinances," Brian Maher, chair of the village's Public Safety Committee, said at a May meeting. "We're suggesting passing this in order to maintain our longstanding stance against video gaming devices." 

In May, officials revised the first reading of the ordinance to remove Tinley Park from the state's gaming plans. Trustees said that they've been fielding questions on the matter since the Illinois law began evolving, leading them to further clarify the ban.

Some, like Luby's Steakhouse owner Terry Luby, feel it's unfair to prevent businesses from allowing such gambling. 

"We're not talking about bringing casinos and roulette wheels in," he said, addressing the board before they took their final vote on Tuesday. "This is a nickel slot machine, not a big gambling vice. You're taking away something from veterans … This is their life. They show up and commiserate with each other then they go home."

The board has been attentive to Luby and others' concerns during the gaming debate. But Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki wasn't shy about voicing is disagreement. 

"This is not taking anything away from you now because you don't have gambling now," he said. "The gambling would take place would be in addition to what you're doing now."

Maher alluded to the "ripple effect" that a gambling addiction can create.

"There is potential crime by involving these machines," he said in May. " … The social impact of addicted gamblers is significant on gamblers as well. … I will tell you that many of the local towns have already opted out of this."

Among those towns are Frankfort, Orland Park, Oak Forest, Mokena, Oak Lawn, Chicago Heights, Palos Heights and New Lenox, according to the Illinois Gaming Board's website.

The gaming program was approved in 2009 to generate money for the state's infrastructure projects. The Illinois board started accepting video poker license applications in April.

A gambling researcher and clergyman, as well as another local pastor spoke Tuesday in support of the board's stance on the matter, saying they appreciated the fact that officials have kept Tinley "wholesome."

"Tinley Park has been a family community and allowing these kind of establishments in will tear down the moral fiber the mayor and this village board has worked so hard to create," said Hyemin Na, pastor at . " … Please promote a place of health and wellness in our community."

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