With the passage of HB 1306, local citizens that vote to outlaw video poker machines in their localities will have to wait two years before the referendum goes into effect. With the growing number of municipalities and counties resisting the state legislature's carte blanche to video poker machines, the state's Coin Operators' Union must be panicking -- what happens if they buy machines and don't get their money out of them? Or get the community's money out of them?
Joe Berrios' pressure as a key Coin Operators' lobbyist must be pressuring in Springfield as the Senate voted 40 to 12 (several senators missing) to allow video poker machine owners to defy the public's decision and continue operating video poker machines for two years, even if the public says it doesn't want the machines there.
The 12 senators who voted "No" (against allowing the two year extentsion ) are listed below (click to enlarge). The bill goes to the House Friday.
