Security Window Film for Illinois Video Gaming Locations

The glass. Film holds the broken glass together and the attachment helps keep it in the frame, so a door or window does not clear in a few swings; the crew has to keep working, in the open. At one Illinois gaming location, the customer reported 18 sledgehammer strikes on a filmed door before entry. With enough time and tools a crew can still get in: no film makes glass impossible to break through.

Clear film does not change what an employee or a camera sees, so the view requirement of rule 1800.810 and the camera requirement of rule 1800.250 are unaffected. No Gaming Board rule requires security film, and film does not satisfy any rule by itself. A tinted or opaque film is a different question: check your village’s code and the employee’s view before choosing one.

Sometimes. Where the code requires only that the terminals not be visible from outside, an opaque or heavily tinted film on the gaming-area glass can be one way to comply, as long as an employee inside keeps the view the Gaming Board requires. Where the code requires solid walls, as in Downers Grove, film is not the answer. We tell you which case you are in before we quote.

They do different jobs, and they stack. Shutters cover the glass when they are down; fog fills the room after someone is inside; film works at the glass itself, at any hour, with no power and no one on duty. Many owners use more than one. We install film only, and we will say so if what you need most is something else.

Yes. Most of our gaming installations were commissioned by terminal operators as multi-site rollouts, and we work with whoever is buying: the location, the company behind it or the operator. Who pays is between the location and its operator. Rule 1800.350(b)(3) lets an operator provide “video surveillance, alarms, ID scanners, or other security systems or devices required by this Part or intended to monitor or enhance the security and integrity of video gaming operations and the video gaming area,” but not permanent physical construction. Neither the rule nor the Board’s memorandum of January 13, 2026 mentions window film. Whether an operator may pay for a film system at your location, in whole or by cost-sharing, is a question for your operator and the Board’s legal staff.

Yes, within the rules above. We have installed both clear and tinted security film at gaming locations. Solar Gard makes Armorcoat in Stainless Steel 35 and Silver 20, 8 mil security films with a reflective tint that cuts the daytime view in and also reduces glare and heat. At night, with the lights on inside, a tinted film does not hide the room; only an opaque film does. Clear film leaves every view and every camera unchanged. Does privacy window film work at night?

The film and the attachment come out with the broken glass. The glazier or board-up company replaces the glass, and we install new film and a new attachment on it. The location also reports the entry to its terminal operator and to the Board’s Administrator, as rule 1800.270 requires.