Aurora is continuing to look at the possibility of increasing fees for video gambling machines in the city.

The matter is being held at the City Council’s Finance Committee for discussion, and also is being looked at by the mayor’s office. If any change would be made, it would not be until the next round of renewals of the licenses, beginning in October 2023.

“The request to hold did come from our office,” said Alex Voigt, deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office. “Which typically is what we do when there are so many constituent concerns.”

As it stands now, there is one proposal to increase the annual license for each location that has video gambling from $1,000 to $1,100, and the monthly operation fee from $125 a machine to $175 a machine.

The city’s intention is to have the terminal operators – which in the city’s ordinance means those supplying the machines – to assume the additional cost, not the establishment, meaning the club, organization or business where the machine is located.

Under the city’s figuring, the establishment cost of locating five machines would stay the same – at $1,500 a year. But the cost for the terminal operators would increase from $7,000 a year to $10,100 a year.

The situation has been complicated by a change in state law, which attempted to make the establishments and terminal operators share in the cost of the fees, rather than do what Aurora does, which is to charge the terminal operators more.

But that state law, recently adopted, still is being evaluated by the Illinois Gaming Commission, which has not issued any guidelines on how it should be implemented.

One of the reasons the city began the discussion about its fees was related to that new state law, but city officials backed off after hearing the Gaming Commission is not ready yet to implement it.

Some city officials have been concerned that the fees do not need to be changed because they could be burdensome for the establishments that have them. But other officials want to make sure the fees, which have been the same since 2009, are enough to cover the costs the city has for administering the licenses.

Officials from some of the city’s not-for-profits have been particularly concerned about any increased cost.

At the most recent Finance Committee meeting, Rick Waszkowink, representing the Tiger Club, said non-profits like his club are “not making as much as some around town.”

He said if the city does change its fees, he hopes social clubs “are in a different category” than regular for-profit businesses.

Joe Lusk, of the Luxemburger Club on High Street on the East Side, has regularly questioned the need for higher fees on gambling machines. The Luxemburger Club, known as Luxies, uses a lot of the money it raises to donate to social service agencies throughout the city.

He agreed with Waszkowink that the clubs “would prefer to be in a separate bracket.” He said he also prefers the city charge a flat fee, rather than a charge for each machine.

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