2 businesses with gambling request permits in Bartlett

Both a gambling lounge that would serve food and liquor and a full-service restaurant that would have gambling are seeking permits to open in Bartlett within the next few months.

May's Lounge, which already has locations in Lake Zurich and Hickory Hills, seeks to occupy the 1,587-square-foot space at 211 S. Main St., between O'Hare's Pub & Restaurant and Arts in Bartlett directly east of village hall.

Bartlett resident Jennifer Craig hopes to open a restaurant named Gambit's in a 3,500-square-foot space at 997 S. Route 59, in the Bartlett Place shopping center at the southeast corner of Apple Valley Drive.

Bartlett trustees Tuesday referred both proposals to the plan commission for hearings on Thursday, July 12.

May's Lounge, which will soon open other locations in Streamwood, Addison, Carpentersville, Berwyn, Burbank and Niles, needs a liquor license from the village to be eligible for a gambling license from the state.

The proposed business intends to have five gambling stations, plus 12 seats in a separate lounging area. One of its approximately six employees would work each shift.

Both of its potential next-door neighbors wrote letters to the village stating they had no objections, but Arts in Bartlett asked that all cigarette butts outside be picked up and that music not pass through their shared wall.

Craig said Gambit's, which would also have five gambling stations, would specialize in southern and Cajun cuisine later in the day but would serve traditional American breakfasts.

Intended as an adult haven, it would have a 21-and-older age restriction.

"It comes across as a family sort of restaurant, but it's not," Bartlett Trustee Michael Camerer remarked.

Nevertheless, parking was the only concern expressed by the board. Community Development Director Jim Plonczynski said the 17 spaces allocated in the center's 47 were deemed sufficient.

Craig said she's also talked to the neighboring business operators, who have expressed no objections and whose own peak hours weren't expected to create a competition for parking.

In addition to a liquor license, Craig needs the village to remove a 23-year-old prohibition on its books against the site's being used as a restaurant.

Craig said that if everything still ahead goes smoothly, she would hope to be open in early September.

Plonczynski said that sounded ambitious to him but that it seemed realistic for both proposed businesses to be open in the fall.