Elk Grove Village gambling café cited for selling alcohol to minor

A gambling café in Elk Grove Village was cited Tuesday for selling alcohol to a minor during a recent undercover police department sting.

Erin’s Eatery & Gaming, 600 E. Devon Ave., was the lone business to be cited for underage sales among the 45 establishments holding liquor licenses in town, officials said.

But noting it was the business’ first violation and that the bartender who served the minor no longer works there, Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson went easy on the gambling café during a hearing Tuesday afternoon at village hall.

“We’re going to charge you $100 in recognition of your long-standing good standing,” Johnson, who serves as local liquor commissioner, told owner Raymond Samlow.

The minimum fine is typically $250, Johnson noted.

Samlow will also have to pay court reporter’s costs of about $100.

“You do a fine job. You are a good business. It was a mistake. It happens. And it was not something we saw as an ongoing problem or occurrence,” Johnson said. “You’re in good stead with the village.”

Working with Elk Grove police as their confidential informant, a minor under age 21 went into the gambling café around noon Sept. 26 and ordered a White Claw hard seltzer, according to Police Officer Nicholas Marzec.

The employee, who said she was new to bartending, didn’t ask for identification, Marzec said.

During a court appearance last week, Christine Seiler, 37, of Schiller Park, pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful sale and delivery of alcohol to a minor.

Samlow said Seiler told him she thought the minor was a friend of someone else, “so she thought she sort of recognized him and that’s why she didn’t card him.”

Seiler left the job on her own, Samlow said.

Elk Grove police conduct the undercover stings at least twice a year, but violations are rare. The last liquor hearing was in 2021, when Quick Stop Food Pantry was cited for failure to pay past due fees to the village.