West Dundee village trustees this week agreed to indefinitely defer starting a penny-per-push tax on video gaming machines.
The village and several other communities approved the push tax last year ahead of a Nov. 1 deadline set by the state. At the time, West Dundee set May 1 as the start date for the tax.
But Village Manager Joe Cavallaro said questions linger on how the tax would be collected. There’s also a pending lawsuit in Cook County challenging the tax.
Under state law, 5% of gambling machine revenues go to municipalities, 25% goes to the state, and the Video Gaming Terminal Central Communication System, to which all machines in the state connect, collects 1%. The remaining 69% is split between the machine operator and the establishment hosting the machine. The push tax would provide municipalities with another penny every time a player pushes the button on a machine.
The state reports each month how much revenue has been generated by video gaming machines. For example, West Dundee took in just under $6,000 in revenue for the month of February from video gaming machines.
But, with no software available to charge players the additional penny, implementation of the tax remains troublesome, gaming officials have said.
«What has transpired is a lot of confusion and noncompliance by video terminal operators,» Cavallaro said.
Though some municipalities have attempted to collect the tax, with little success, Cavallaro said village trustees have opted to adopt a wait-and-see approach.
«We want to ensure there’s some clarity in how it’s going to be implemented on a statewide basis,» he said.
