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TO: Mayor Irvin and the City Council
FROM: The Law Department
DATE: September 27, 2019
SUBJECT:
Municipal Gambling Prohibitions.
PURPOSE:
To revise the prohibitions in Section 29, Article IV, Division 2 of the City Code pertaining to gambling offenses to reflect changes in State law.
BACKGROUND:
Sections 29-76 through 29-79 of the City Code contains the City's local prohibitions on various forms of gambling. As originally drafted, the ordinance mirrored similar provisions in Article 28 of the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961. Over time, the State amended the Criminal Code to encompass additional forms of gambling activity - including forms of online gambling - and exempted other conduct, including participation pull tab games, poker runs and sports gambling when regulated by the State, and games of chance, from the statutory definition of gambling. With the exception of adding language to permit video gaming in 2012, the City, however did not make corresponding changes to its Code. As a result, our gambling ordinance is simultaneously more restrictive and less restrictive than State law.
DISCUSSION:
The proposed changes will once again bring the City into near lock-step with the State in its approach to the prohibition of gambling. Consistent with the extent of the City's authority to impose criminal penalties, all violations of Division 2 will constitute a Misdemeanor IV, which is the municipal equivalent of a Class B Misdemeanor. The ordinance also updates references to related State laws, including reflecting recent changes to some statutory short titles (e.g. the Criminal Code of 2012 and the Raffles and Poker Runs Act. These changes encompass amendments made to the Criminal Code during the past legislative session and will, by reference, adopt subsequent changes made by the legislature.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
The proposed changes will eliminate minor but unintended differences between the State criminal law and the City's local ordinances involvin...
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