(File photo from Flickr/roundnoon)
By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington City Council is expected to vote Monday evening whether to end its moratorium on video gaming licenses, but the new ordinance to be considered by the council might not be what some local businesses wanted.
The proposed ordinance caps at 60 the number of businesses that would be given licenses, meaning the city would grant only eight more licenses.
License holders would have to show that video gaming would account for no more than half of the business’ total gross revenues.
Also, they would not be allowed to have more than five gaming machines, although some bars indicated they wanted to install a sixth machine to accommodate larger weekend crowds.
City staffers are presenting an amendment that does away with the idea of allowing large truck stops to have as many as 10 gaming machines. Council member Jamie Mathy said at a committee-of-the-whole meeting last week that the truck stops should not receive special treatment.
“I would like to see them regulated with the same number of machines that everybody else has,” said Mathy.
“I think it should be equal across the community,” Mathy added.
Although she said the issue is not a dealbreaker, Council member Jenn Carrillo wonders why the ordinance allows video gaming at liquor establishments, but not where marijuana might be sold, “which wouldn’t be coming for many years in the future.”
“So it just seems silly to me that we are limiting before that’s even a possibility, or something that we’ve really discussed,” Carrillo also said.
Carrillo also called for the city to fund treatment for gambling addictions. Council member Donna Boelen argued services are already available for people with various addictions.
“Addiction is addiction, so if you call PATH or any other support organization, you would get support for gambling also, Boelen said.
Council member Julie Emig praised the staff for crafting a compromise “that reasonably captures the views of many differing opinions.”
“It’s incremental progress, but it’s progress,” Emig said.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
