We have continued to monitor court cases pertaining to municipal regulation of video gaming licenses and establishments. One case we previously reported on was J&J Ventures Gaming, LLC v. Wild, Inc. At specific issue in the case was the preeminence of the Illinois Gaming Board to enforce the Gaming Act. The appellate court and now the Illinois Supreme Court have weighed in and agreed that the Gaming Board has exclusive authority over the placement of terminals and agreements arising between video gaming establishments and the terminal providers, and that includes jurisdiction over exclusive location agreements. The J&J Ventures case had remained a concern for municipalities, even though municipal regulation was not at specific issue, because the exclusive regulatory authority of the Gaming Board over video gaming was arguably applicable to municipal regulation as well. Nothing in the Supreme Court’s decision expanded the jurisdiction of the Gaming Board to municipal regulation. Consequently, the First District Appellate Court’s holding in Accel Entertainment Gaming, LLC v. Village of Elmwood Park, is still the instructive authority on the scope of municipal authority to regulate video gaming. The court in Accel recognized that a home rule municipality could regulate video gaming beyond the statutory and IGB requirements because video gaming implicated local concerns of safety and welfare.
Author: Brad Stewart