Does East Dundee have too many video gaming terminals, or should the village allow businesses to add more?
It’s a debate that went round and round at this week’s village board meeting, with trustees ultimately deciding to ask residents weigh in on the issue. At the request of Trustee Andy Sauder, village staff will develop a survey that they will bring to the board.
Village President Dan Pearson resurrected the debate by asking the board to discuss video gaming regulations.
Over the last three years, the board has discussed and created new regulations for video gaming. The first came in 2022 over the noise coming from terminals and resulted in a requirement that convenience stores have fueling stations with a minimum of 3,000 square feet before they could get a gaming license.
Another requirement was based on the number of terminals for the overall square footage of a business, with a rule being adopted that mandates there be only one gaming terminal for every 750 square feet of public space.
Businesses with existing licenses were allowed to keep their setup unless there was a change in ownership, in which case the new owner would need to apply for a license under the new rules.
East Dundee has had a lot of interest in video gaming licenses in addition to requests to open gaming salons, two of which are located in a strip shopping center on Route 68.
In order to create a little breathing room, the board authorized a moratorium on issuing new licenses from October 2023 to October 2024. When the moratorium was lifted, the board increased the per-terminal fee from $250 to $500 and restricted gaming cafes to the downtown business district.
It also established a six-month waiting period before a gaming license could be approved for a new business.
At this week’s meeting, Sauder said the new rules were needed after trustees started seeing businesses removing tables to make room for more video gaming terminals and gaming salon application requests increasing.
“We wanted to stop that trend and have (East Dundee) be known as a culinary district, and we compete on the food, the service and the quality,” Sauder said. “We were trying to weed out video gaming cafes.”
Pearson, who was sworn in as village president this spring, joined newly appointed Trustee Ryan Gumma in arguing that businesses be allowed to have the maximum number of video gaming terminals allowed under state law, which is six.
“We should not put a chokehold on our businesses here,” said Gumma, who works for Gold Rush Gaming. The regulation also keeps new businesses from coming in, he said. “It’s just asinine.”
“You want gaming. It benefits you financially,” Trustee Scott Kunze told Gumma at one point during the discussion. “I understand that, but we have to look out for everybody, not just the vendors,”
Bryan Waggoner, who is opening a new bar called Zambonis at 315 4th St., said the video gaming license from the previous business, Spartan Axe Throwing, didn’t transfer and the village ordinance will not allow him to have the maximum number of terminals.
At Monday’s meeting, he asked the village to change the rules, saying he would not have invested in Zambonis had he knew about the restrictions.
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While Pearson and Gumma support changing the regulations, other board members had divided opinions.
“I think most of the business owners (in East Dundee) know we are pro-business,” Trustee Kathleen Mahony said. “However, we also represent the residents here. We are elected by the residents here.”
In 2022, the village had 18 video gaming licenses for a total of 102 terminals, Mahony said, referencing data compiled by village staff. The village’s share of the revenue from those machines that year was $367,656, or about $3,604 per gaming terminal, she said.
The number of licenses increased in 2023 to 22 for a total of 124 terminals. The village’s share of revenue was $337,621, or about $3,000 per terminal, she said.
There was a 25% increase in the number of terminals between 2022 and 2023 but only a .8% increase in revenues, Mahony said. “Based on this (data), more terminals don’t necessarily mean more money.”
“I want businesses to be successful,” she said. “Businesses will succeed if they have a good business plan and a good model. They shouldn’t be relying on just terminals.”
Spartan Axe had six terminals, Mahony said. “Did they succeed? No, because it wasn’t the right business model for this area.”
“I will do everything I can to work with businesses, to help businesses and to foster a really good business environment for our businesses, but on this, this is where I stand,” she said.
Trustee Tricia Saviano, a proponent of letting businesses have the maximum number of terminals allowed by state law, said she doesn’t think new businesses should have to wait six month to apply for a gaming license nor does she think it’s a problem if East Dundee has more terminals than other towns. It would make sense that they would given that the village is 70% commercial and 30% residential, she said.
“People can choose if they want to go there or not, if there are too many games or not,” Saviano said. “There are other establishments that don’t have them. I think it’s free choice.”
She also believes the village should not be telling business owners, who are making a financial investment, what they can do in this regard, she said.
“You put the money in; you invested. You should make the choice, not me,” Saviano said. “That’s my stance.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.