Talk to Your Neighbors!
Here are some brief points to share with your neighbors:
Please remember to vote on November 5th (or take advantage of early or mail-in voting starting September 26th). We strongly encourage you to VOTE NO on the Video Gaming (Gambling) Referendum.
Preserve the family friendly feel of our Village for our families and future young families so our restaurants don’t feel and look like Las Vegas.
Avoid gaudy neon signs in restaurant windows, sidewalk signs, and pole flags.
Prevent machines from disrupting our dining experience and changing the atmosphere.
Keep critical table space by not allowing up to 6 machines in each venue.
Reject incremental tax revenues that fail to outweigh the negatives of video gambling, including mental health and addiction issues.
Please note:
- The Downers Grove Economic Development Corporation and the Downers Grove Downtown Management Corporation DO NOT support the Video Gambling ordinance.
- Video Gambling revenue WILL NOT lower your property taxes (potential gambling revenue would be earmarked for another expense) and the expected revenue is only a fraction of a percent of our Village’s budget (the Village would only receive 5% while 95% would be split between the vending operators, the State, and the restaurants).
- The referendum you’ll be voting on incorrectly states it won’t be Downtown. If passed, the Moose and Tivoli would have access to Video Gambling which are within the Downtown Business District. Every single town that started with only a handful of licenses and location restrictions ALL increased their number of licenses by several fold and Video Gambling is now in ALL of their Downtown areas.
- The restaurants asking for Video Gambling opened their businesses after the State of IL started allowing gaming licenses. Meaning, if these businesses wanted to include Gambling in their basic business model, they should have opened in a municipality that allowed it and not rely on our Village to change our rules to accommodate them.
