SPRINGFIELD -- State lawmakers have moved to remove the biggest roadblock left keeping the state from putting video gambling machines into bars.

Last week, lawmakers voted to give the Illinois Gaming Board more than $2.5 million. Some of the money can be used for the board to hire the staff it needs to begin regulating video gambling.

Gov. Pat Quinn still gets final review of the spending plan.

Earlier this year, Quinn and lawmakers legalized gambling machines like video poker in bars in order to pay for a massive road and building construction program.

For months, though, none of the machines have become reality as the Gaming Board works to come up with rules to regulate the new form of Illinois gambling.

Now, if Quinn approves of the spending, new Gaming Board staff can start reviewing applications from machine owners in several months.

"There was only so much we could do without the funding," said Gaming Board spokesman Gene O'Shea said. "That was our main roadblock."

He said it's still hard to say when video gambling will hit Illinois bars. O'Shea said the board's goal is to shoot for the end of 2010.

The Gaming Board funding was part of a larger spending package approved by lawmakers last week. They refused, though, to approve legislation that would have allowed gambling machines to be used in truck stops 24 hours a day.

Democratic state Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie said that plan can be approved early next year, but getting the board money was more important.

"That was the one thing we couldn't do without," Lang said.

Still, some counties and communities across the state have already voted to ban video gambling in their counties and towns.

At least two dozen bans have taken effect, leading some to question whether the machines will raise enough money to support the construction they were supposed to pay for.

And gambling opponent Anita Bedell, director of Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction problems, said follow-up legislation like the truck stop plan is evidence the original proposal wasn't done well.

"This was done so fast, so hastily, it's not done right," she said.