City of Peoria - File #: 22-307

• File #: 22-307
• Version: 2
• Type: Ordinance
• Status: Adopted
• File created: 8/21/2022
• In control: City Council
• On agenda: 9/27/2022
• Final action: 9/27/2022
• Title: Communication from the City Manager and Interim Corporation Counsel with a Request to ADOPT an ORDINANCE Amending CHAPTER 18, ARTICLE IV, SECTION 18-99, of the City's Municipal CODE, to Revise the Issuance of VIDEO GAMING LICENSES.

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
9/27/2022	2	City Council	adopted	Pass
9/13/2022	1	City Council	received and filed	Pass

ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Interim Corporation Counsel with a Request to ADOPT an ORDINANCE Amending CHAPTER 18, ARTICLE IV, SECTION 18-99, of the City's Municipal CODE, to Revise the Issuance of VIDEO GAMING LICENSES.

Body
BACKGROUND:
Section 18-99 of the City Code requires applicants for video gaming licenses to:

1. Be at least 21 years of age;
2. The applicant or principal officer cannot have held a license revoked for cause;
3. The applicant or principal officer cannot furnish false or misleading information on the application;
4. For new applicants for each of the 2 years prior to applying the business must have generated at least 80% of its revenue from food/beverages. If an applicant currently has another establishment and wants to open a second establishment, the applicant is exempt from the waiting period;
5. The applicant must maintain at least 60% of its revenue from food/beverages;
6. Minimum food/beverage sale requirements do not apply to fraternal or veterans' establishments as well as indoor entertainment facilities with a liquor license.

In general, new businesses must wait 24 months before they are eligible for a video gaming license. Peoria does not cap the number of establishments that may have licenses or the number of terminals that each licensee may have. State-wide there are multiple approaches to video gaming. They range from a complete prohibition on video gaming to no minimum operation period and no video gaming license caps, and every variation in between. We researched 25 communities and determined the following regarding minimum operation requirements:

No minimum: 14
6 months:|910|12 months:|910|24 months: 1 (Peoria)
36 months: |9
10|
Based on the communities we surveyed, 15 communities have less VGTs than Peoria. Bloomington, Champaign, Waukegan, Quincy, Joliet, Rockford and Springfield have more VGTs than Peoria. There is no direct correlation between the number of VGTs and the...