Trustee: OTB plan won't put Buffalo Grove in the gambling business

An off-track betting parlor could be moving into the Village Bar & Grill, owned by the village of Buffalo Grove and located within the village's municipal campus, just steps from both the police department and village hall.

So does this mean that Buffalo Grove is, in essence, getting into the gambling business?

Village trustees, who will be examining the proposal once it is discussed by the town's plan commission, say no.

“We are absolutely, unequivocally not (getting into) the gambling business,” Trustee Lester Ottenheimer said.

Trustee Jeffrey Berman, who has voiced other concerns about the proposal, echoed Ottenheimer's thoughts.

“This is a private enterprise, participating with another private enterprise that is running a restaurant in a leasehold that we have leased to them,” Berman said. “Yes, they (would be) going into a building that is owned by the village of Buffalo Grove, but the village of Buffalo Grove will not be running the OTB.

“That isn't to say that I haven't expressed reservations about that very point. I have,” he added. “The intertwining of the village's campus with the uses is something that I have expressed concern about.”

Under the proposal discussed by the village board Monday, the OTB would be located in the restaurant at 48 Raupp Boulevard, possibly in a banquet room at the south end of the facility. The private inter-track wagering area would create a buffer between the OTB and the dining area. The east door to the banquet room would serve as a private entrance to the OTB.

The OTB's operator, Hawthorne Race Course Inc., would pay for the renovation of the proposed OTB area within the facility.

Other financial terms are still being hammered out, but it is likely the village will enter into a lease with Hawthorne under which the OTB operators would annually pay either 10-percent of its net commissions or $60,000, whichever is greater. The village would continue to receive the 1-percent privilege tax of 1 percent of the handle, which would amount to $80,000.

The lease with the food and beverage provider at the restaurant, Tap Room Hospitality, would likely be amended and a text amendment to the village's zoning ordinance to allow inter-track wagering as a special use also would be needed.

The tentative timeline calls for the plan commission to meet Wednesday to discuss the proposal. The commission would then hold hearings on March 7 and March 19.

Among the items to be considered are the impact the OTB will have on the restaurant and operations at the neighboring Buffalo Grove Golf Course. The village's director of golf operations, Carmen Molinaro, has said he does not believe the OTB not hinder golf operations. Instead, he thinks it would offer golfers an additional entertainment and recreational opportunity.

The OTB stirred much controversy when it first was proposed in Buffalo Grove. On June 2, 2010, the village board approved an ordinance allowing Inter-Track Partners, LLC to manage an OTB at Adam's Roadhouse, 301 N. Milwaukee Ave. Approval came after marathon hearings attended by overflow crowds at village hall.

Hawthorne Race Course, Inc., later acquired the assets of Inter-Track Partners. Last summer Adam's Roadhouse fell into receivership, leaving Hawthorne without anyone to provide food and beverage services at the facility. This gap was filled by Progressive Management LLC, which operates the restaurant and banquet facility at the village-owned Arboretum Golf Club.

Hawthorne now is operating the facility on a month-to-month lease with limited food service and no liquor sales.

“Considering the challenges that we have, we're doing well enough that I think we want to maintain its existence in Buffalo Grove,” said Jeff Kras, Hawthorne's chief financial officer.

In the new location, Kras said the village should exceed $200,000 per year in revenue.

Trustees do not believe the proposal to move the OTB onto the village campus will draw the same kind of controversy that preceded its arrival two years ago. Ottenheimer said the difference between now and then is that the OTB, and its impact on the village, are no longer unknowns.

“I think the big problem that people had was born out of ignorance, because they didn't know. And now, to me, it's not even an issue,” he said.

“I have come to the conclusion that if you have never been to one of those, that you have to go see it, because it's not what you imagine it is.”

Trustee Andrew Stein opposed the OTB as a private citizen but now sees the facility in a different light.

“After living less than a thousand feet from the front door of the OTB and seeing that my original fears were unfounded, I honestly don't feel that it was the detriment that I feared it would be,” he said. “They were good neighbors where they were, and I'm sorry that they didn't succeed.”

Trustee Michael Terson sees the OTB as a valuable revenue generator and is philosophical about the social ramifications.

“I don't see it as the village being in the gambling business,” he said. “The restaurant operator sells alcohol at the bar at the Village Bar & Grill. I don't see the village being in the alcohol business. I don't see our goal as village officials to legislate morality.”