SPRINGFIELD - Video gambling could be coming to Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.
Airport executive director Mark Hanna said Monday airport officials are considering installin gup to four terminals, if the airport receives a license from the Illinois Gaming Board. The Springfield Airport Authority submitted the application.
Hanna said the initial plan is for two gaming machines inside the passenger terminal and two inside an area for passengers who have gone through security screening.
"We are always looking and evaluating alternative revenue sources, as all businesses and government entities do," said Hanna.
He said the board won't make a final decision until the gaming board rules on the license. The airport joins a group of more than 70 Springfield bars, restaurants, convenience stores and retail outlets that have applications pending, according to the gaming board.
More than 350 locations have been approved statewide for gaming, which is expected to begin in a matter of weeks.
"We thought we should get in line," said Hanna. He said the airport authority submitted the application because it holds the liquor license for the airport.
The gaming board has not given the airport a time-line for a decision. But Hanna said if the airport board decides to proceed, there are strict limits on access to gambling from the general terminal.
OTHER AIRPORTS LOOKING Springfield is the only airport listed up to now among the hundreds of applicants at the Illinois Gaming Board, but airport executives in Rockford and Peoria said they have had informal discussions of video gambling.
"It's obviously an income producer, and that's the bottom line," said Mike Dunn, director of Chicago Rockford International Airport.
The state gaming law sets aside five percent of revenue for municipalities and 25 percent for state capital improvements. The remainder is split between game operators and the establishment.
Dunn said Rockford airport board members have no immediate plans to apply for a license. He said there are concerns video gambling would not fit the overall mission of the airport.
"We're not sure we want to have people up in the terminal stuck to a game, when an airport boarding call is made," said Dunn. "It potentially falls outside the scope of the type of environment we want."
A restaurant inside the Greater Peoria Regional Airport terminal has applied for a gambling license, said airport director Gene Olson.
But he said the airport authority board would have to approve a change in the lease agreement with the Hangar Too restaurant for gambling to begin.
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