EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville voters made their positions on video gambling well known during the 2026 primary elections.
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Voters faced a city-wide referendum on their ballots concerning the topic of video gambling, with the exact wording as follows: Shall the City of Edwardsville allow video gambling subject to regulation in existing establishments with on premises consumption of alcohol/liquor?
66.73% of Edwardsville residents voted against the referendum, while 33.27% voted in favor, according to unofficial results from March 17, 2026 with 100% of precincts reporting.
The referendum is not legally binding and was meant to gauge public opinion on the subject of video gambling to guide future decision-making by city leadership.
City Council members heavily debated the wording of the referendum late last year, seeking to balance “urgent” requests from small business owners with a need to prevent voters from being confused over certain language.
“The reason this is being put on the ballot is the urgent requests that we’ve had from our small business owners to see if the climate has changed,” Alderwoman Elizabeth Grant said at the time.
Edwardsville voters previously rejected a similar ballot referendum in 2021, seemingly indicating public opinion on video gambling has not changed over the past five years.
More details on the discussion behind the ballot referendum are available in this previous story on Riverbender.com.
