Nearly a century ago, serial robber Willie Sutton reportedly explained why he was sticking up banks by saying wryly: “Because that’s where the money is.”
These days, crooks in the Chicago area seem to be centering on a new source of cash: establishments offering video gambling. The Illinois Gaming Board recently confirmed what many in the industry already knew: 2025 saw an explosion of crime, with more than $2.7 million stolen during 473 burglaries at those types of businesses last year.
Nearly half of those burglaries — 219 — occurred between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31.
There have been at least 40 since Jan. 1.
“There’s never been this volume and this audacity,” said a businessman who operates multiple video gambling sites that have collectively experienced eight burglaries since October.
In 2024, there were 358 such burglaries statewide and $1.9 million taken, according to the gaming board, the state government agency tasked with regulating legal gambling statewide, including roughly 9,000 sites with video gambling.
In 2023, there were 336 burglaries, plus 316 in 2022 and 306 in 2021 — with almost $4.7 million taken in those three years combined.
Some suburban gambling businesses have been hit more than once in recent months, and it appears multiple burglary crews are operating in the area, often rolling up to targeted sites in stolen cars when parlors are closed and smashing through windows and doors, triggering alarm systems but aiming to get in and out before police arrive.
On occasion, the thieves have gotten more creative, figuring out how to electronically bypass alarms, according to industry sources.
ATMs inside have been hauled away, and “redemption” kiosks that let winners cash out have been cracked open along with the electronic devices offering the games themselves.
Beyond the money taken, there’s also been costly damage to equipment — pry bars and sledgehammers are sometimes used to aggressively breach machines — and a rush by parlors to add security measures such as drop-down metal shields over entry points to contend with the growing menace.
At times burglaries have turned perilous. Some offenders have been armed, and their actions have led to police chases that often have been called off because of the danger of fleeing vehicles driving recklessly on local streets, according to interviews.
In one incident in October at a Midlothian gambling parlor closed for the night, several burglars busted through the front glass. Unable to dislodge an ATM machine inside, they drove a stolen Jeep into the storefront to jar it loose. The machine was then hoisted into the vehicle, which sped off and later was abandoned in another south suburb, Dolton.
It’s unclear whether the burglary crews are part of something organized — street gangs or operating under the auspices of the mob.
Illinois video gambling goes live in 2012
Legislation legalizing video gambling in Illinois was approved in 2009, and the first machines went live to the public in 2012. Before then, numerous bars and restaurants had devices, but they were supposed to be for “amusement” purposes — payouts to winners weren’t allowed.
Many establishments paid out anyway, and the Chicago mob was sometimes involved in distributing the machines and splitting the revenues.
Just last year, three reputed mob figures — including the Bridgeport man once portrayed by federal authorities as the Outfit’s video poker kingpin — were arrested for allegedly burglarizing a sprawling home in Kane County owned by a restaurateur whose establishments have video gambling machines. The homeowner, however, dismissed any connection to gambling.
That case is still pending in court.
Separately, within the last few days a car pulled up outside a gambling parlor in southwest suburban Bedford Park called Lilly’s Slots around 4 a.m., and several people wearing hoods and dark clothing started pounding the glass front door with a sledgehammer and hammer until it smashed, according to footage.
Within seconds, the thieves climbed through and centered their efforts on pummeling gambling devices until they splintered.
When a squad car arrived with lights flashing, the offenders scrambled out the door, hopped into the waiting car and sped away.
In north suburban Niles this month, thieves broke into, or attempted to break into, three establishments in quick succession early one morning, says Niles Deputy Police Chief Thomas Fragassi.
That followed a car theft and a dozen vehicle break-ins in town that may have been related.
As police showed up at the last of the three locales — TW Bistro at Oakton Street and Milwaukee Avenue — the thieves sped away.
In Bensenville on Jan. 8, two thieves busted into Bella’s Bistro in the near west suburb when the business was closed, and can be seen on video using what looks like a crowbar to crack into a machine.
That break-in followed two others in Prospect Heights by apparently the same people, officials say.
Wood Dale police spotted a vehicle matching the get-away car and tried to stop it, leading to a chase. Elmhurst police picked it up on Interstate 290, and Oak Brook police were able to put down a “tire deflation” device across the lanes that punctured a wheel. When the fleeing vehicle stopped, the men inside took off on foot and tried to carjack another driver.
In Chicago suburbs, ‘a growing problem’
Two suspects were later arrested, and $10,000 in cash was recovered, along with betting slips from “various gambling establishments,” police say.
Bensenville Police Chief Bradley Swanson described these types of crimes as “a growing problem” regionally.
“It’s fair to say they’re definitely on the rise,” Swanson said.
Chicago Ridge Police Chief Jim Jarolimek echoed that, saying “it’s a big issue” in the suburbs.
“They wear gloves, they all have masks, they’re in and out in minutes,” said Jarolimek, whose community has seen several burglaries over the last year or so, with crooks making off with about $60,000 in one of them. “They’re getting organized and they’re getting smart... I feel bad for the businesses, a lot of them are little cafes.”
In September, the Illinois attorney general’s office announced the arrest of three men allegedly part of a “video gaming theft ring” that had been responsible for 16 burglaries in Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will counties that reaped more than $500,000.
In August 2024, the agency announced the arrest of five men accused of 22 video gambling thefts totaling more than $100,000.
While the gaming board isn’t always notified about crime at Illinois casinos — which the Sun-Times examined last year, finding armed robberies and other disturbing incidents at some of those gambling complexes — video gambling license holders “are required to notify the IGB of any criminal incident that affects the gaming operation,” according to a written statement from the agency.
The gaming board is the “regulatory authority for video gaming” but “is not the primary law enforcement agency responsible for responding to burglaries and other non-gaming incidents at video gaming establishments,” according to the agency, which nonetheless works with police and prosecutors “to pursue and prosecute video gaming terminal burglaries at video gaming establishments statewide.”
“The IGB is committed to bringing these offenders to justice.”
A former gaming board agent familiar with the current crime trends said the agency, which ultimately reports to Gov. JB Pritzker, could do more to help, but “I don’t know if they have enough agents.”
A gaming board spokeswoman says such criticism is "misplaced" because the agency is "not a first responder" and "does not have the mandate or jurisdiction to provide security services" to video gambling businesses.
Pritzker wasn’t governor when video gambling took off, but he’s since presided over other gambling expansion, including a proliferation of sports betting and new casinos.
Would video gambling in Chicago bring more crime?
Referring to the prospect of the city of Chicago now allowing video gambling — not every municipality allows video gambling, and there’s a new push to permit it in the city — the ex-agent observed: “With Chicago coming on board, it’s ridiculous... just imagine what the city will be like” in terms of crime if that happens.
Asked about the possibility of increased crime should video gambling expand into Chicago, a spokesman for Mayor Brandon Johnson said:
"In addition to fiscal concerns, the mayor has considerable public safety concerns about the potential impact of legalizing VGTs [video gaming terminals] citywide."
"The mayor believes that Council should take a more thoughtful approach to the legalization of VGTs to mitigate against potential public safety concerns and financial risks associated with the current legislation."
Burglaries weren't the only crimes at video gambling establishments. There were seven robberies in 2025, according to the gaming board.
Michael Dwyer, deputy chief of investigations for the Cook County sheriff's police, says his agency has handled a dozen burglaries over the last six to eight months, and "there is a collective effort" to share information "across multiple jurisdictions" to halt the upward spiral in incidents.
"There was a time banks were held up pretty regularly," Dwyer said. "Then, adjustments were made" by authorities and the businesses themselves to better deter and arrest culprits.
"I'd anticipate the same thing here."
