Green Oaks, Illinois: Masked Crew Smashes Video Gambling Machines at Gas Station, Lake County Sheriff Says

It was over quickly. Early Wednesday, Sept. 9, five people in masks and gloves got inside a gas station in Green Oaks, Illinois, and went after its video gambling machines with sledgehammers and crowbars, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.

A sixth person waited outside in a black SUV. By the time they fled, the crew had broken into several machines and a cash register drawer, all while a private security guard hired by the gaming company was at the business.

The sheriff’s office is investigating it as a targeted gaming machine burglary. It isn’t the first time this station has been hit.

How it happened

Deputies responded around 3:35 a.m. to a reported armed robbery at the station, in the 14000 block of West Rockland Road. Local outlet Lake McHenry Scanner identified it as the Gas N Wash at 14010 W. Rockland Road.

The clerk told deputies that five people were inside breaking into the machines. The SUV was last seen speeding south on Interstate 294, the sheriff’s office said. The office didn’t say how much money was taken and didn’t report anyone being hurt.

Lake McHenry Scanner added two details the sheriff’s office hasn’t released. The outlet said a witness saw the suspects jump over the counter, threaten the clerk and throw a glass bottle at him. It also reported, citing sheriff’s Chief Christopher Covelli, that Chicago police recovered proceeds from the break-in on the city’s South Side.

Detectives from the sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division are on the case. No arrests had been reported as of Sept. 13.

Part of a bigger pattern

Less than a month earlier, on the morning of Friday, Aug. 14, the same station’s video gambling machines were damaged, Cardinal News reported. According to Lake McHenry Scanner, a crew of about a dozen masked, gloved suspects forced their way into the station and into Fatmans, a restaurant in unincorporated Gurnee, that morning, causing more than $100,000 in damage.

Green Oaks wasn’t alone. In the week before Sept. 10, crews also hit a restaurant and a gambling cafe in Schaumburg, a gas station in Wheeling, a bar in New Lenox and a truck stop in Peotone, the Daily Herald reported.

Investigators are now pooling their efforts. Sheriff’s detectives and detectives from around the Chicago area have formed a task force focused on these burglaries, the sheriff’s office said. The Daily Herald reported that more than 50 detectives from Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties have met as part of it.

Covelli told the paper that the crews “appear to be very organized” and “appear to be street gang-related.”

What these machines are

For readers outside Illinois: these aren’t arcade games. They’re licensed gambling terminals, which the state allows in licensed retail establishments, truck stops, and veterans and fraternal organizations, according to the Illinois Gaming Board. The board’s website says about 49,000 of them operate at roughly 9,000 licensed locations across Illinois.

Related: Pennsylvania Businesses Face October 13 2026 Skill Games Deadline