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News
Recommend review Oswego fund-raiser law : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisRecommend review Oswego fund-raiser law
| Attorney: 'Vegas Nights', poker tourneys probably illegal under current law
| by John Etheredge
| 8/16/2012
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Gambling is illegal in the Village of Oswego, but a 1986 ordinance does allow raffles, Karl Ottosen, an attorney for the village, told the village board last week.
Ottosen said the 1986 ordinance requires groups or individuals to obtain a license for their raffle from the village.
Ottosen, however, added that other types of fund-raisers involving games of chance such as "Vegas Nights" or Texas hold'em poker tournaments that are periodically offered by local clubs and social organizations are probably illegal under a 1935 ordinance that outlaws all gambling in the village.
"My recommendation is that (village) staff take a look at what you have permitted and what you have not and what is going on in the community," Ottosen said.
The village annually issues a limited number of raffle licenses, Jeanne Hester, village clerk, said Monday.
Last year the village issued a total of 13 licenses for raffles and has issued a total of seven licenses this year, Hester said.
In 2009 a total of eight licenses were issued and six in 2010, according to Hester.
Hester said over the years many of the licenses have been issued to the Oswego Senior Center, to organizers of car shows, and local clubs and social organizations.
"It varies from year-to-year," she said of the number of raffle license applications.
The fee for a raffle license is nominal and based on the aggregate amount of the cash prices to be awarded, Hester said.
There is no fee for a license if the raffle prize is $500 or less, and then increases to $5 for a raffle with a prize ranging from $501 to $5,000. The fee for raffle with a prize of $5,001 or more is $25, according to Hester.
Ottosen and village staff investigated the village's gambling regulations as the board considered-but ultimately rejected-a plan to permit video gambling in local restaurants, bars and social clubs.
To allow video gambling, the board would have had to vote to repeal the 1935 ordinance that banned gambling in the village, Ottosen advised the board.
In July a motion to repeal the 1935 ordinance failed in a 3-2 board vote. Last week, representatives from the Oswego American Legion, the Oswego Inn and the Fox Valley Kickers Club all asked the board to reconsider their July vote and to allow video gambling. The board, however, chose not to take any further action.
State lawmakers voted in 2009 to allow video gambling in businesses across the state that are licensed to serve alcoholic beverages. Revenues from video gambling are intended to help pay for a statewide capital improvement program.
The state law permits businesses in communities were video gambling has been permitted to have up to five machines, with a maximum payout on each machine of $500.
Among the Fox Valley area communities to have approved video gambling are Yorkville, Geneva and Sugar Grove.
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