Chicago VGT Rollout Stuck At Zero Machines After 8 Months
Eight months after Chicago's City Council voted to legalize video gaming terminals (VGTs) as part of the city's 2026 budget, not a single machine is operating legally in the city, a reminder that not every jurisdiction moves in step on regulated online casinos and gaming machines.
The rollout has stalled between the council, Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration and the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB), even as roughly 7,000 unlicensed sweepstakes machines that mimic VGTs keep running across Chicago untaxed and unregulated, according to the nonpartisan Civic Federation.
42 Licenses, 311 Applications, Zero Machines
The Illinois Gaming Board has issued state licenses to 42 Chicago VGT locations out of 311 applications received, but none of those machines have begun operating because the city has not issued the local licenses required to switch them on, according to Illinois Gaming Board data.
The council's FY2026 budget assumed $6.8 million in net revenue from VGT licensing fees at some of the roughly 3,300 Chicago establishments eligible to host the machines. The Civic Federation's analysis concludes that figure is now unlikely to materialize this year.
Mayor Johnson's office has not sent the Illinois Gaming Board the formal notification needed to activate licensing under the ordinance the council passed, despite the council directly notifying the IGB that VGTs are legal in the city. The Mayor's office has separately tried to have the council repeal the legalization outright.
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A Failed Attempt to Ban a Competing Machine
Underscoring the standoff, the City Council voted 33 to 15 on June 17, 2026 to reject a proposed ban on the roughly 7,000 unpermitted sweepstakes machines operating in bars, restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores across the city, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Alderman Anthony Beale (9th Ward), who proposed the ban, argued it would speed up licensed VGT rollout and generate "tens of millions of dollars" in city revenue by eliminating unlicensed competition. Budget Committee Chair Jason Ervin (28th), a Johnson ally, argued against the ban, saying the sweepstakes machines "are not illegal machines. They're amusement devices."
Sweepstakes machines resemble video slot machines but exploit a legal grey area by paying out in coupons or free-play credit instead of cash, which has kept them outside VGT licensing and taxation under current Illinois law.
A Bigger Question for the 2027 Budget
The Civic Federation warns that the unresolved standoff matters less for 2026, where the VGT revenue was always a rounding error against Chicago's roughly $16.6 billion budget, than for the city's next budget cycle.
With Chicago facing another projected deficit for fiscal year 2027, the Federation is calling for the city's own internal analysis of VGT and sweepstakes-machine revenue, commissioned from consultant Christiansen & Associates, to be made public so the council can debate VGT licensing, sweepstakes-machine regulation and their relationship to Bally's Chicago casino on a shared set of facts before the mayor introduces a new budget in October.
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