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An Illinois prohibition on arcades facilitating wagers on their games got a new vehicle with the capability of reaching the finish line in the final week of the legislative session.
At the beginning of this month, Dave & Buster’s announced plans to facilitate friendly wagers on arcade games through its app.
Illinois House Gaming Committee Chairman Dan Didech promptly responded by filing a bill to prohibit a family amusement establishment from facilitating wagers on amusement games.
However, HB5382 was introduced past the deadline to file new legislation for this session.
The Gaming Committee voted 15-0 on Thursday to amend the language into HB394. That bill was previously designed to make a technical change to the Illinois Horse Racing Act.
The maneuver gives the bill a chance to pass before the Illinois legislature adjourns May 24.
Sponsor provides reasons for Dave & Buster’s bill
Didech provided four reasons the Dave & Buster’s proposal was not in line with responsible gaming operations in Illinois:
- It sets a gambling age minimum of 18 compared to the age minimum of 21 for other Illinois gambling games.
- It exposes teenagers and young children to gambling in an uncontrolled setting. Also, it provides no protections or resources for problem gamblers.
- Allowing the proliferation of unregulated arcade gambling could negatively impact licensed gambling businesses and state revenue.
- There was no oversight, standardization or testing requirements to ensure the fairness or integrity of the arcade games that would be gambled on.
Dave & Buster’s announced it was partnering with Lucra to incorporate peer-to-peer wagering into the Dave & Buster’s app.
Didech said he downloaded the Lucra app and only had to click that he was 18 or older without any verification. Then he saw on the app a place to choose who would score more points in that night’s NBA game, Jamal Murray or Karl-Anthony Towns.
It’s unclear what would be on the Dave & Buster’s app if this plan moves forward. But Didech, who has a Dave & Buster’s in his district, was concerned with what he saw.
“I think [it] raises some very serious questions about how this is going to be applied in a local arcade environment. It’s not necessarily just going to be me and you having friendly wagers against each other. It could be a third party playing the game and then you have some sort of syndicate offering lines on how the third party is going to perform on the game.”
The Illinois Gaming Board submitted a witness slip as a proponent to the legislation. The Dave & Buster’s announcement also has drawn scrutiny, though not yet any action, in the Pennsylvania and Ohio gaming commissions.
Dave & Buster’s did not participate or submit written testimony for the hearing. Didech noted that he has not received any contact in opposition to the legislation.
House passage appears in the works
Didech said he is working on an amendment to ensure the bill doesn’t prohibit anything that is not intended.
“Bars often times have Golden Tee tournaments, billiards tournaments, darts tournaments,” Didech said. “We’re not trying to ban those sorts of contests and we are going to refine the language to make sure we’re not accidentally prohibiting those types of contests.”
After the hearing, Didech told PlayUSA:
“We will continue to work with all stakeholders to refine the legislation’s language as the session progresses, with the goal of passing the bill into law.”
It appears likely that the Dave & Buster’s gambling prohibition will get a vote on the Illinois House floor next week.
“My intention is that we will see slightly different language on this bill before it is voted on by the full House,” Didech said. “We will see at least some slightly different language in the House before it is called on for a vote.”
The bill would then need to get through the Senate and receive the governor’s signature.
