Elmhurst's Neighbors Make A Lot From Video Gambling

ELMHURST, IL — While video gambling may be prohibited in Elmhurst, various towns surrounding the city – specifically, Addison, Villa Park and Oakbrook Terrace – have pulled in a lot of tax money because of such activities.

According to the state's Gaming Board, each of the three towns earned over $500,000 in tax revenue in the last year from video gambling – Villa Park, $632,887; Addison, $600,607; and Oakbrook Terrace, $548,729.

Villa Park has two dozen establishments with video gambling. The top three tax generators during the same time period were Stella’s Place in the Villa Oaks Shopping Center ($56,748), Betty’s Bistro ($45,896) and Stella’s Place in the North Park Shopping Center ($45,764).

In Addison, 27 establishments have video gambling machines. Four earned over a million dollars in income. Lacey’s Place #1 was the top tax generator in Addison ($80,600), followed by the Shell Deli Cafe ($65,527), Penny’s Bistro ($61,926) and Lacey’s Place #2 ($54,030).

Oakbrook Terrace, with a population of just 2,900, has 17 establishments with video gambling, with three of them earning over a million dollars in income. VIP’s Cafe was the village’s top tax generator ($60,633), followed by Sabrina’s Cafe ($53,822) and Penny’s Place ($52,196).

In Illinois, 5 percent of video gambling proceeds go to the municipal governments.

Communities such as Villa Park have budgeted their revenue from video gambling for their general funds. Village President Nick Cuzzone said the general fund is used to support village operations such as police and fire services, community and economic development, and some parks and recreation expenses.

Other communities such as Darien have used the tax income to help keep their property tax levy the same for over a decade.

Elmhurst, along with Downers Grove, Burr Ridge, Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, La Grange and Western Springs, are some of the suburbs that do not allow video gambling.

However, recently, Burr Ridge officials have said they would like to reopen discussions on whether to allow video gambling.