Skip to main content
IL
← Look up another Location

Penny's Place

Hickory Hills · Cook County · IL · 6 terminals
IGB license 130701886 · Operator: J&J Ventures Gaming, LLC (as of August 2026)
Download the one-pager (PDF)
High play · high holdMomentum +9%YoY +78%

Your performance · September 2026

NTI
$139,826
net terminal income · this month
Win per unit
$777
per machine · per day
Terminals
6
machines in service
Annual NTI
$1,393,110
trailing 12 months

The four numbers operators read first

NTI / machine
$23,304
monthly · per terminal
state median $4,170/mo
99th pct of 8,629 IL locations
#3 of 19 in Hickory Hills
Hold
10.0%
this month
state median 9.4% · above
62nd pct of 8,629 IL locations
74th pct of 19 in Hickory Hills
Cycle rate
3.07×
this month
state median 2.59× · engagement
91st pct of 8,629 IL locations
97th pct of 19 in Hickory Hills
Play / machine
$232.8K
monthly · per terminal
state median $45.5K/mo
99th pct of 8,629 IL locations
89th pct of 19 in Hickory Hills

Against locations your size (6+ terminals, 6,823 of them), your NTI/machine is +$18,316/mo vs the $4,988 peer median — bucketing by size keeps a small bar from being measured against a big one.

Where the money goes (September 2026)

NTI this month
$139,826
Gaming tax
−$48,939
After tax
$90,887
Your take-home
$45,443
your 50% this month
Gaming tax$48,939 · 35%Operator's 50%$45,443 · 32%Yours, 50%$45,443 · 32%

Illinois law fixes the after-tax split at 50/50 and bans any deviation (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $45,443 to you and $45,443 to your operator this month. Neither side can move that split. That's the whole point of The Gameset: with the split set by statute, operators compete for your gameset on service — games, cabinets, refresh cadence, response time.

Where your gameset stands

High play · high hold

Strong demand and a healthy hold — your gameset is doing well on both the traffic and the margin side.

What an operator sees: An operator reads this as a proven, high-value gameset and will compete hard on service to win it.

NTI/machine — 99th percentile of 8,629 Illinois locations this month
In Hickory Hills — #3 of 19 locations by NTI/machine (your own neighborhood, the fairest like-for-like)
Among locations your size (6+ terminals) — 99th percentile of 6,823
Your gameset — you among your Hickory Hills peers18 peer locations
play per machine →
your gameset a Hickory Hills peer (anonymized) statewide median

1 peer location sits beyond the axis range and is drawn at the edge — shown, never dropped.

Each gray dot is another Hickory Hills gameset for the same month, shown without identity. The dashed lines are the statewide medians — which quadrant you land in is the positioning above, drawn out.

Trend

Net terminal income by monthpeak $139,826
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
latest month up vs prior down vs prior Hickory Hills median ($29,763)
Cycle rate by monthlatest 3.07× · state median 2.59×
your cycle rate state median

Cycle rate is a leading indicator: when players start cycling their money fewer times, it usually shows up here before it shows up in NTI — an early read on gameset health for you and for an operator.

Win per unit by monthlatest $777 · Hickory Hills median $165
your WPU (per machine, per day) Hickory Hills median WPU
Hold % by monthlatest 10.0% · state median 9.4%
your hold state median hold

These are the two series a service change shows up in. Fresher titles and faster response tend to move win per unit first; hold follows the game mix. Both are your own numbers against a neutral market line — not a verdict on anyone.

This year against last, by monthSeptember 2026 up 78% on a year earlier
October 2025 – September 2026October 2024 – September 2025

A month that looks like a collapse is often just that month. Laid over the same months a year earlier, a seasonal dip and a real decline stop looking alike.

Seasonality check: August → September moved +8% this year vs −30% a year ago — so a normal seasonal dip isn't mistaken for a real decline.

Your town's market

Hickory Hills's total gaming income is +1% year over year (trailing 3 months vs the same 3 a year ago).

Your own gameset is +78% over the same-month-last-year comparison — holding up as well as or better than the town around you.

A deeper operator read

The same history, cut the way a Terminal Operator cuts it when they decide how hard to compete for your gameset.

Win per unit (WPU)
$777/day
per machine · per day · Hickory Hills median $165/day · +370%
WPU momentum
+2%
last 3 months $689/day vs prior 3 $673/day
Seasonality
August peak
strongest August ($113,161 avg) · softest January ($78,764 avg)
Revenue steadiness
steady
±13% month-to-month swing, trailing 12

Your operator

J&J Ventures Gaming, LLC

Linked to your Location as of August 2026 — the Illinois Gaming Board publishes this each month, so a recent change may not show yet.

Locations
2,571
Avg NTI / Location
$31,971
Avg NTI / Terminal
$5,578
Total NTI
$82,196,548

Year over year

Your NTI is +4% up year over year, trailing the Cook County market (+5%).

Your Location
+4%
$1,393,110 vs $1,344,142 (last 12 months vs the prior 12)
The market (Cook County)
+5%
typical Location: $42,751 vs $40,728

Takeaways

•Each terminal earned about $23,304 in September 2026 — the 99th percentile of 8,629 Illinois locations that month. Per-terminal NTI is the number operators judge a gameset by, because it strips out how many machines you run.
•Within Hickory Hills, that's #3 of 19 locations by per-terminal earnings — the fairest like-for-like, since neighbors share the same foot traffic and economy.
•Hold — the share of money played that the gameset keeps — was 10.0% — above the 9.4% state median. Hold is driven mostly by the games in the gameset, which is exactly what an operator brings to the table.
•A dollar cycled through your machines 3.07× before leaving — higher means longer, more engaged sessions. When the cycle rate starts falling it usually shows up before NTI does, so it's an early read on gameset health for both sides.
•High play · high hold — Strong demand and a healthy hold — your gameset is doing well on both the traffic and the margin side.
•After $48,939 in gaming tax, September 2026's income is split 50/50 with your operator by law (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $45,443 to you. Neither side can move that split, which is why operators here compete on service.
•Recent momentum is building — +9% against your trailing average.
•Terminal Operator J&J Ventures Gaming, LLC runs 2571 Locations in our data.
You're ahead of your market.

A gameset doing these numbers is the one Operators compete hardest for — and most owners never find out what that competition is worth, because they never put it out to bid.

Create your Listing
Full September 2026 report detail
Amount played
$1,396,637
Amount won
$1,256,811
Net wager
$139,826
Funds in
$454,536
Funds out
$314,710
Net terminal income
$139,826
NTI tax
$48,939
State share
$41,941
Municipality share
$6,998

Source: Illinois Gaming Board monthly video gaming reports. This is public data about your own licensed Location, shown for informational purposes.

Penny's Place — gaming performance, Hickory Hills, Cook County, IL — The Gameset