As northwest suburban strip club prepares for new liquor license push, questions swirl around video gambling

When Ann Marie Buttitta spoke to Kane County’s liquor commission this year while seeking permission to start selling alcohol at Blackjacks, she pushed back against concerns from residents that she ultimately was also planning to apply for a state license to get video gambling machines in the Elgin area strip club.

“There is not one gentleman’s club in the state of Illinois” that’s “been able to get a gaming license,” Buttitta said. “Everyone knows why would you go spend all this money to try to get a gaming license if you’re not going to get one — common sense.”

Turns out, other strip clubs in northern Illinois are making lots of cents on video gambling, with at least five of the establishments licensed by the Illinois Gaming Board — several of which have reaped over $1 million from the devices, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis.

Club 390 in Chicago Heights is among them, with its gambling machines making $3.4 million in net terminal income since the business was licensed by gambling regulators a decade ago, including about $400,000 so far this year as of August, according to gaming board records.

During that period, the state government collected nearly $1 million in taxes from Club 390’s devices, while the local municipal government collected more than $170,000, records show.

The Sun-Times also found:

• The Just Enuff Cabaret in Rockford reported nearly $3 million in net terminal income from its video gambling devices since 2013.
  
• Uncle Paulie’s Bar in unincorporated Glen Ellyn, where performers wear “pasties and pantyhose” but aren’t nude, reported more than $1 million in net terminal income since it was licensed for video gambling several years back.
  
• The HighHeels Gentlemen’s Club in north central Illinois reported more than $800,000 in net terminal income since 2013.
  
• The Gold Room Chicago strip club in Stone Park reported more than $700,000 in net terminal income since 2022.

Critics believe those kinds of revenues are playing a role in Blackjacks’ liquor license push, as the gaming board only permits video gambling at that kind of business if it first has a liquor license from another governmental agency.

“You’ve already got the naked women, now you’re going to get liquor, and the poker machines go hand in hand with the liquor, why would you want a liquor license without the poker machines?” said Steve Serafin, a candidate for Kane County Board who spoke against the Blackjacks liquor application in the summer before it was denied by the county’s liquor commission.

“I don’t think the gambling should be mixed with the alcohol,” Serafin said, noting the previous operators of Blackjacks — Buttitta’s relatives — were once caught up in a federal investigation that included tax fraud and an illicit gambling operation. “Leave your venue the way it is.”

Buttitta’s attorney Brittany Pedersen says her client “didn’t intend to mislead” during her remarks to the liquor commission and “has no desire” to pursue video gambling for Blackjacks should the club ultimately land a liquor license.

Pedersen says her client has “started the process of reapplying” for one — which, if approved, would likely bring in more revenues and taxes.

Another strip club owner who asked not to be named said even with a liquor license, there’s no guarantee gambling regulators would license video poker machines and the like. Indeed, a downstate strip club was rejected for a gambling license within the last few years, records show.

Blackjacks lost its ability to sell alcohol around the time of the 2012 prosecution of Dominic Buttitta and his son Anthony Buttitta. A company affiliated with the men still owns the Blackjacks property, but the club itself is owned by a company helmed by Ann Marie Buttitta.

As Blackjacks tries again for a liquor license it may have a better chance of success depending on who is appointed to fill a vacancy on the liquor commission and the Kane County Board that was left by the recent death of member Dale Berman. He was one of two “no” votes on the license.

The chairwoman of the Kane County Board and of the liquor commission, Corinne Pierog, abstained from voting amid criticism she had accepted campaign contributions from the Buttitta company that owns the strip club property. She has declined to say whether she’s planning to return that money, and says through a spokesperson she hasn't "made any appointment decisions regarding the liquor commission."