Springfield maintains top spot in Illinois with most video gambling machines
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The City of Springfield has embraced video gambling since it became legal in Illinois a decade ago.
The latest report on gambling from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the fiscal gurus for the state legislature, shows the city with a total of 757 terminals in operation during the fiscal year that ended this summer. That’s an addition of more than 100 since 2019 and well ahead of second place Rockford, a larger city, which reported 537 terminals.
Springfield sites brought in $47.9 million dollars in the past fiscal year. The state took $12 million in taxes from that amount and local government received $2.4 million. That’s a rebound from when the pandemic caused revenue to drop by 42 percent.
Springfield uses the gambling revenue for infrastructure and maintenance.
Surrounding communities have also taken to video gambling. Decatur was third in the state with 522 terminals. Unincorporated Sangamon County ranked 14 with 281 terminals last year.
Overall in Illinois, there were 43,128 terminals in operation in the fiscal year.
Soon after it became legal, the report said insiders estimated that the State would plateau at around 20,000 video terminals, “but the popularity of video gaming has spurred so much interest that the State has sailed past this mark.”
It added the growth in gambling figures will continue to be enhanced by the related changes under P.A. 101-0031.
“Under this public act, the following changes to the video gaming industry have taken place: increased betting limits; the terminal limit per location increased from 5 to 6; terminal limit on large truck stops increased from 5 to 10; and the availability of video gaming at the Illinois State Fair and the Du Quoin State Fair.”
