City Council members are revving up the fight to legalize video gambling in Chicago — even after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s financial team argued that the meager jackpot is not worth pursuing.
Two ordinances were introduced at Wednesday’s Council meeting, the last before the August recess.
One would authorize installation of hundreds of video gambling machines beyond security checkpoints at O’Hare and Midway Airports. The other would lift the longstanding ban on video gambling citywide in an attempt to offer an economic lifeline of sorts to neighborhoods bars and restaurants fighting for survival.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), chair of the City Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development, wants to start at Chicago airports, in part because it’s an “easier lift” politically.
