Despite city ban, video gambling parlor plans to open in unincorporated site inside Naperville boundaries

Despite having a ban on gaming, it looks like Naperville will soon be welcoming slots to town.

And it all comes down to zoning.

A gaming parlor with six slot machines plans to open at 1001 E. Ogden Ave. later this year.

While Naperville bars video gaming within city limits, DuPage County allows the practice in unincorporated areas. The planned parlor — which will be called Betsy’$ Slots — will be located in one of those slivers of unincorporated land inside the city.

Owner Benny Salamone says he chose the location because he liked the real estate and the opportunities for business it offered.

“It was perfect, you know?” he said. “It was the perfect opportunity for me to invest (in Naperville).”

Salamone runs six other Betsy’$ locations in northern Illinois, with five in Rockford and another in South Beloit. His background is in the food industry, he said, but in recent years he’s delved into the state’s gaming industry, which has taken shape over the past decade and a half.

Illinois legalized video gambling at bars, restaurants, truck stops, fraternal organizations and veterans organizations in 2009 with the Video Gaming Act and officially went live across the state in 2012.

However, under the act, municipalities and counties are allowed to pass a local ordinance prohibiting video gaming within their boundaries.

Naperville was one of those that voted to shut it out. For a decade, DuPage County did the same until the County Board decided to lift the ban in 2019.

Today, some 23 municipalities in DuPage County allow gaming either outright or to a limited extent, according to the Illinois Gaming Board. Near Naperville, that list includes Aurora, Warrenville and Lisle. It’s prohibited in neighboring Bolingbrook and unincorporated areas of Will County.

Where Betsy’$ is headed in Naperville, though, is the result of land use luck.

Not only is 1001 E. Ogden Ave. on unincorporated land wedged between segments of the city, but it’s also zoned B2 for general business district use. B2 zoning allows for a wide range of uses, one of which allows gaming in places where alcohol is poured and consumed on site.

In Illinois, gaming licenses issued by the state are restricted to businesses that have a local liquor license to pour alcoholic drinks, according to Paul Hoss, planning and zoning coordinator for DuPage.

Hoss confirmed the county has issued a Class B liquor license for 1001 E. Ogden Ave.

As of Friday, the county also issued an occupancy permit for Salamone’s incoming parlor, Hoss said. That was the last step the business needed to satisfy in the permitting process.

Salamone said he had “always heard good things about Naperville,” adding that, “I’ve known a couple people over the years that lived there, and it’s a nice little city.”

His gaming parlor will have six slot machines, he said, and its atmosphere will be relaxed.

“It’s just going to be a place where people who want to get away can have a little entertainment and do a little gambling,” he said.

While Salamone said he has not yet secured a gaming license from the state, he intends to, he said.

Joe Miller, a spokeman for the Illinois Gaming Board, said in an email Friday that there is no set time frame for processing a video gaming license application. Each is reviewed by the board’s licensing, investigations, finance and legal units to ensure compliance with the state’s Video Gaming Act and board rules before it is considered for board approval. The next Gaming Board meeting is scheduled for July 25.

Betsy’$ existing locations offer complimentary soda, coffee and tea — and sell beer, wine and snacks — in addition to offering gaming, according to the Betsy’$ website.

Salamone said the parlors he operates are “very clean places” and “never have issues.”

Still, the prospect of gaming itself is one Naperville has taken a firm stance against, Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli said.

In an emailed statement Thursday, Wehrli said that when he was made aware of the proposed parlor on East Ogden, he “communicated to DuPage County that after the state legalized video gaming in 2009, Naperville was one of the first communities to ban it and (that) this proposal may be an end-run around that prohibition.”

He added that he “does not support putting video gaming machines in our community in exchange for Naperville getting a nickel on every dollar lost.”

“While some establishments may financially benefit,” he said, “the video gaming industry would likely squeeze out retail establishments, drive rents up, and draw consumers away from our restaurants and entertainment venues. I’ve been mayor for a year, and the only people asking me about the video gaming ban are those who would profit from video gaming machines.”

To date, 28 gaming establishments have opened in unincorporated DuPage County since its ban was lifted five years ago, according to the Illinois Gaming Board. Hoss said he is not aware of any others located in unincorporated Naperville beyond the one planned for East Ogden.

From January 2019 through June of this year, DuPage County accrued nearly $1.5 million in gaming tax revenue, online Gaming Board data shows.

Salamone’s parlor plans come just as gaming regulations in DuPage County are undergoing adjustments.

When gaming was allowed by the county five years ago, there weren’t any rules or regulations added to the county code relative specifically to gaming, Hoss said. Though the county has gotten by with existing land use regulations, there were some problems with ensuring gaming facilities were compliant with code, he said.

Now, efforts are underway to rectify that.

Over the past few weeks, zoning ordinance amendments have been working their way through the county approval process. They primarily lay out definitions for video gaming, establishments where it would be allowed in the county and how far away gaming facilities need to be from places like schools or daycare facilities. Parking requirements specific to gaming are also being codified.

The amendments passed through the county’s Development Committee last Tuesday. Hoss said he hopes to take them to the DuPage County Board in July.

The updates go hand in hand with amendments to the county’s liquor ordinances that were approved by the county board in late May, Hoss said. Those defined gaming as it relates to liquor licensing in the county and added two licenses to the code specific to the activity.

Despite the absence of defined regulations until now, Hoss noted that the county has not received any complaints over the past five years related to activity inside, parking, traffic around or even signage for its unincorporated gaming facilities.

The amendments do not affect Salamone’s plans for 1001 E. Ogden Ave. because they were already going through the county review process “before the code changes were being considered.” He added that even if the two did overlap, the amendments likely would have made approving the parlor easier.

Salamone said he hopes to open Besty’$ Naperville sometime in the fall.

tkenny@chicagotribune.com