Rock Falls establishments with gaming machines, and the machines’ owners, will be required to pay more in gaming machine fees to the city starting this year.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Rock Falls City Council approved the new annual fee of $175, up from $125, imposed on each gaming machine inside a licensed bar or restaurant that serves alcohol, fraternal or veterans organizations and truck stops. That encompasses 26 establishments in the city, each with four to six machines for a total of 146, according to Illinois Gaming Board data.

The cost of the annual fee, paid during the fiscal year from May 1 to April 30, is required to be paid 50% by the machine owner and 50% by the location that leases it, according to the ordinance.

Council members approved the increase on a 5-3 vote, with Alderpersons Violet Sobottka, Gabriella McKanna, Cathy Arduini, Vickey Byrd and Nathan Stahr voting yes and Alderpersons Bill Wangelin, Steve Dowd and Marshall Doane voting no.

Sobottka, also chair of the council’s ordinance committee, told Shaw Local the city wanted to raise the fee to more closely align with the fee charged by nearby municipalities.

“The other cities are way higher than what we are, so we’re just trying to come into line with the other cities, but not quite as high as they are,” Sobottka said.

Dixon and Sterling charge an annual fee of $250 per machine, which is the maximum allowed under the Illinois Gaming Act, according to the city codes.

Sobottka also pointed out that gaming machines can be very profitable for the places that have them and said the city is “just trying to recoup some of the revenues.”

Establishments with machines don’t keep all the revenue they generate. As required by state law, a very small percentage goes to the company that maintains the software that all machines connect to, and 9% goes to the state, which gives 5% of that to the municipality. The remaining revenues are split between the machine owner and the business or organization leasing it.

In 2025, gaming machines in Rock Falls generated total revenue of about $8.4 million. Of that, the state made about $2.5 million, and the city made $416,040, according to IGB data.

The city also profits from annual machine fees and annual liquor license fees paid by places that also sell alcohol.

In 2025, with a $125 annual fee and 162 machines, the machine fees brought in $20,250, according to IGB data.

For places that sell liquor, the annual fee varies from $1,150 to $1,750 based on license type, with an additional $450 fee for all types, except campgrounds, if the business is open Sundays, according to Rock Falls city code.

The city has drafted some changes to its classifications of liquor licenses, which will be up for approval at the next meeting, at 5:30 p.m. March 3.

Sobottka said the council tried to raise the annual machine fee about two years ago and received a lot of pushback from the owners of establishments that have gaming machines. It got some pushback this year, as well.

Doane told Shaw Local that some community organizations, such as the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Rock Falls American Legion, don’t bring in as much money from the machines as bars do because they’re private clubs. He pointed to the Rock Falls chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that recently shut down.

The revenue they make is “enough to, like, keep the lights on and make your establishment profitable enough to not really have to worry about closing down because you’re not selling enough beer,” Doane said.

“That was a huge issue and why a lot of us voted no,” Doane said.

He also said that nationally, liquor sales are declining and that many businesses use the revenues from gaming machines to make sure they can stay open.

“I’ve got a vested interest in their success...that’s what my job as an alderman is,” Doane said. “From the business owners like this is not a welcome change. This is not a welcome cost that they want to incur every year.”