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player ready...Video gaming is expanding to restaurants outside of downtown Long Grove, even though a divided village board debated whether approving another business with the gambling devices was the appropriate move.
Long Grove trustees were deadlocked on business owner George Callas’ proposed Pub 83 restaurant along Route 83 until Village President Angie Underwood voted in favor of it and broke a tie. On a 4-3 vote, Callas was granted a Class V liquor license, allowing him to add video gaming inside the new restaurant.
Before the vote Aug. 23, video gambling detractors on the Long Grove Village Board said the addition would alter the image of Long Grove and attract unwanted clientele.
“If we say ‘Yes’ here, it’s going to be everywhere,” said trustee Bill Jacob, who voted against the measure. “Right now, it’s contained in the downtown.”
Other board members, including Underwood, noted how the village should be supporting new business and pointed to how neighboring cities with video gaming haven’t seen negative effects.
“Because this means that we are welcoming a new business to town, I would love to be approving one of these every week in Long Grove,” Underwood said.
With the approval, Callas said he hopes to open Pub 83 later this fall, describing the restaurant as a “middle-class” place offering pizza and steaks.
He used to operate a restaurant called Gridley’s Bar & Grille in the building at 4868 Route 83, but he closed it about five years ago mostly because northbound drivers on Route 83 had no left-hand turn access to his lot, he said. Callas corrected that issue by buying two adjacent acres located closer to a left turn lane along Route 83, he said.
Rather than reopen Gridley’s, Callas said he wanted a new name, concept and entertainment options, including video gaming machines.
Long Grove officials have debated the merits of video gaming before. In spring 2014, they began a trial run with the machines and extended it several times.
In summer 2015, after a local election yielded a divided board, village officials surveyed residents on numerous prominent issues in the community.
Only 42 percent of all residents in Long Grove responded to the survey. But 53 percent of the respondents said they “strongly opposed” video gambling. By early December, village board members decided to make video gaming permanent in a vote that Underwood also had to break.
Regarding the latest video-gaming proposal, trustee Stan Borys cautioned the board to remain vigilant.
He said video gambling offers businesses a shortcut to attracting customers.
“There is an alternative to video gambling, and that’s offer a quality product at a competitive price,” Borys said. “To me, it looks like a cancer that metastasizes.”
But after the meeting, Callas said the machines are needed to sustain business.
“Before the vote, I was worried,” he said. “Without this, I wouldn’t be able to launch.”
Pub 83 will be the sixth Long Grove business with video gaming, according to Illinois Gaming Board records. Any business in Illinois that allows for video gambling can have up to five machines.
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