Peoria businesses to see major reduction in wait time for slot machine licenses
The Peoria City Council on Tuesday voted to reduce the wait for restaurants seeking to install slot machines.
Previously, new businesses seeking video gaming licenses were required to be in operation for a minimum of 24 months before the licenses would be granted. The new ordinance reduced that period to just six months.
Peoria's 24-month waiting period was abnormally long for a city of its size in Illinois. Of 24 comparable cities, only Edwardsville had a longer waiting period at 36 months, according to a presentation at the City Council meeting on Sept. 13. And 14 of the cities have no specific waiting period at all.
Councilmembers expressed broad support for reducing the wait time during the meeting Sept. 13, with at-large councilmembers Zachary Oyler and John Kelly saying they would support removing the wait time entirely. The initial version of the ordinance, which was presented for a first reading Sept. 13, would have reduced the wait time to 12 months and was amended to instead include the six-month figure.
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Dennis Cyr, the 5th District councilmember, was the sole vote against the ordinance on Tuesday. He told the Journal Star that a six-month waiting period is too short.
"I don't want Peoria in the next 10 to 20 years to have a bunch of cannabis, a bunch of bars, a bunch of gaming and all that," he said. "I think that would increase crime."
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Cyr said that he wanted to see more discussion of the ordinance, and would have voted in favor of a 12-month waiting period.
A block away from City Hall, John Hopkins co-owns and operates the Neon Bison, a bar on Main Street. He purchased the business, which already had a video gaming license, in 2019, and supports the new ordinance.
While Hopkins said that shorter wait times for new businesses seeking to offer electronic gambling might mean more competition for his own establishment, he believes the change will be good for businesses in general.
"I think I think it's fair to to have the shorter period because in the nation that we live in, the U.S., competition is good," he said.
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Having some length of waiting period, he added, is a smart move to prevent the city from "becoming too oversaturated" with gaming businesses.
Peoria currently has 66 establishments that offer electronic gambling, with a total of 237 terminals, according to data compiled by Chrissie Kapustka, the city's interim corporation counsel.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria restaurants to benefit from this change for video gaming licenses
