EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (First Alert 4) – Voters in Edwardsville will decide March 17 whether to expand video gaming machines in the city to include bars and restaurants, a measure that some business owners said could provide a critical revenue stream.
Edwardsville remains one of the few communities in the Metro East where video gaming is heavily restricted. Currently, the machines are permitted only in lodges and fraternal organizations.
Ryan High, co-owner of Global Brew Tap House, is among the business owners pushing for the change.
“You’re looking at 30% more in sales to have the same type of impact; it’s a substantial business change to try to be able to generate that revenue. Gaming will provide more revenue that can be readily spent on more labor, more events, more philanthropic needs and ways to support our community,” High said.
Steve Seibert, owner of Big Daddy’s Edwardsville, said the expansion would address mounting operational costs.
“All our expenses are up. This applies to us as everyone back at home. Our food costs, utility costs, insurance costs are up. Our labor costs are up,” Seibert said.
Seibert said customers have noticed the absence of gaming machines at his establishment. “We have people who walk in asking, ‘you don’t have gaming,’ they’re thrown off, because everywhere around us does,” he said.
High said he wants to “have a safe environment for those to game in, and especially help our local businesses survive.”
If approved, the measure would include restrictions that would keep businesses from opening up just to offer the machines or from opening in gas stations. The owners added that there would be no outdoor advertising.
“We think that these restrictions with the private gaming lounges, the revenue match requirement, and the two-year liquor license requirement will only put a safeguard on this whole process for the city,” Seibert said.
He added, “That will reward existing small businesses, so people aren’t just moving into town to be in the gaming industry in town.”
High pointed to O’Fallon, Illinois, as a model, where gaming machines are placed in a more secluded area of bar and grill locations. He said Global Brew’s Edwardsville location would place machines behind a partition at the back of the bar and restaurant.
“The regulations are very important. The last thing that we want as community members is to see gaming be approved with no guardrails and it become the Wild West,” High said. “The restrictions that we propose help maintain the values and the ambiance and the operations of our small businesses.”
Seibert added, “We are kind of late to the party, but because we are late to the party, that has allowed us to see what has worked and what has not worked, this allows us to propose restrictions that we think will benefit our businesses and the community.”
High and Seibert said that even if the ballot measure passes, it would be at least a year before gaming machines would begin appearing in establishments like theirs.
“There is an absolute protocol of go to a city council committee, then the whole full city council. Then there’s a six- to nine-month process with the Illinois Gaming Board,” said Seibert.
A similar measure appeared on the Edwardsville ballot in 2021 but was voted down by residents.
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