Politics
Key City Council Panel Advances Plan to Ban ‘Sweepstakes’ Machines
A key Chicago City Council committee advanced a plan Tuesday to ban so-called sweepstakes machines over the objections of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration.
The City Council’s License and Consumer Protection Committee voted to ban the thousands of unpermitted sweepstakes machines that operate in all kinds of businesses across the city — including in bars, restaurants, gas stations, laundromats and convenience stores — but are concentrated on the South and West sides.
The proposal, authored by Ald. Anthony Beale (9th Ward), a frequent critic of Johnson, heads to the full City Council for a final vote on May 20. Just two alderpeople can block a vote on the proposal at that meeting, according to the City Council’s rules. Johnson told reporters before the vote that he had no position on the measure.
Alds. David Moore (18th Ward), Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) and Angela Clay (46th Ward) voted no.
The measure is the latest effort by opponents of the mayor to speed efforts by bar and restaurant owners to offer video gambling, in the hopes it will mean millions of dollars in new revenue for the city and a boost for struggling businesses.
Sweepstakes machines look like video poker machines and function in much the same way, but offer tickets redeemable for cash or merchandise, skirting the letter of the law in what officials have long called a “gray market.” Neither the city nor the state tax those machines.
Allowing unregulated sweepstakes machines to operate alongside licensed video poker, blackjack and slot machines would be unfair to business owners who follow the law, Beale said.
“We’re turning a blind eye on an industry that has taken advantage of the South and West Side under the guidelines that these are Black and Brown businesses,” Beale said. “Why did they come to the South and West sides? Because it’s easy. It’s easy to come into our communities and operate illegally. That’s why I cannot turn a blind eye to an industry that has taken advantage of the community, where the city of Chicago hasn’t gotten one benefit from sweepstakes machines. Not one.”
The measure would give the city the power to fine owners of businesses with unpermitted machines $1,000 for a first offense. A second offense could bring a $2,000 fine and the suspension of their business license for six months. In the case of a third offense, the city could confiscate the machine, according to the revised proposal presented to the City Council.
Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Ivan Capifali pleaded with committee members to delay a vote on the proposal to give his department enough time to craft a plan to enforce the new ban while “ensuring that regulations are not overly broad or burdensome, and addressing disparate impacts on various communities.”
“I don’t think it is fully baked yet,” Capifali said.
Capifali said his department has neither the authority nor the resources to stop businesses from offering sweepstakes machines but will often cite businesses with the machines for other violations of city codes and regulations.
Various proposals to legalize — or ban — the sweepstakes machines, which first popped up in Chicago more than a decade ago, have frequently surfaced at City Hall, only to fade away amid concerted lobbying by both sides, leaving the issue in limbo.
The push to ban the machines gained new life amid the city’s latest financial crisis and after the City Council authorized video gambling as part of Chicago’s 2026 spending plan, which took effect over Johnson’s objections.
The city’s budget relies on $6.8 million in revenue from video gambling.
More than 220 Chicago bars and restaurants have asked state regulators to let their patrons try their luck closer to home, rather than at the city’s casino, in the hopes that the machines will offer struggling businesses a lifeline in a tough economic climate.
There is no deadline for those applications to be approved or rejected by state officials, who must conduct a thorough investigation into each establishment, officials said.
Chicago permits thousands of “automatic amusement devices” to operate legally, including jukeboxes, marble machines, pinball machines, movie and video booths. Owners of the sweepstakes machines contend because their games do not require a player to make a payment before operating the machine, it is not considered gambling under state or local laws.
Approximately 5,000 of those machines have been permitted since the start of the year — nearly as many as in all of last year, according to Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th Ward).
Note: This article was published May 5, 2026, and updated with video May 12, 2026.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
