Video gambling taxes to be raised in Illinois

A committee in Mundelein has proposed to raise fees for video gambling, turning them from the lowest to the highest in the area.

US.- Video gambling may soon be subject to a major tax increase in the northwest suburbs of Chicago as the Mundelein government is considering charging higher fees on the segment. The town had one of the lowest fees in the area but is soon to become one of the highest charging jurisdictions.

The government currently charges US$250 through an application fee (and a further US$50 video gambling business licence fee once it gets accepted) in addition to US$150 more to register each machine. However, on October 1st trustees decided to increase the latter fee to US$1k per machine.

Authorities are preparing a revision to the ordinance in order to get a vote on it before the annual May 1st application deadline, Village Administrator John Lobaito said. “We surveyed 25 communities and based on that survey it shows that our fees are a bit low,” he said in order to explain the decision.

Trustees agree that the machines should be taxed more heavily as other jurisdictions in the area charge them with fees around the US$1k mark. “They’re not doing too bad,” village Trustee Dawn Abernathy said as she researched how much money restaurants and machine operators make a year. “I agree, go to $1,000 per machine.”