In an attempt to curb the number of video gaming machines in the community, the City of Lincoln is raising the cost of those machines.

Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch indicates as the gaming commissioner, he was not going to approve any further machines in the community until things quote - leveled out - because he felt there were too many machines in proportion to the population.

For the Mayor, he approached the Liquor Commission about this. He believes there is going to be a transition period because they have existing applications for the machines before the change will be effective and so they want to remain good business partners with its community businesses.

Gaming machines have proven to be a good revenue generator for communities. According to Mayor Welch, adding gaming machines is not increasing the revenue for the city.

Video gaming money is not necessarily designated for specific budgets or projects, however, Mayor Welch says conversations are being had to do that in the future so there can be a visible demonstration of the benefits of the increase in the fees for the machines.

With the next fiscal year's budget beginning to be put together, the Mayor hopes perhaps the plans to designate video gaming money could be a part of the upcoming budget process.