Video gambling coming to the Polar Dome at Santa’s Village

Video gaming is coming to the Polar Dome at Santa’s Village in East Dundee.

Village trustees this month unanimously approved a license allowing six video gambling terminals in the Alpine Room, a restaurant and bar located inside the Polar Dome ice rink.

“We just feel like it would correlate pretty well with the adults who come in,” Santa’s Village President Jason Sierpien said.

The Polar Dome ice rink reopened at the start of 2025 after sitting closed for 20 years. Sierpien said the ice rink now hosts adult and youth hockey leagues, ice skating lessons and open skate times.

“The numbers are picking up and it’s doing quite well,” he said.

He expects to add the video gambling terminals sometime in January.

Te Alpine Room is only open during the Polar Dome’s skating season from just after Labor Day through mid-April, Sierpien said. Access to the video gambling terminals will only be allowed when the Alpine Room is open.

Santa’s Village amusement park opens in May and closes at the end of October.

East Dundee trustees earlier this month also lifted a requirement that limited the number of video gambling terminals based on an establishment’s square footage. Restaurants and other establishments can now apply for up to six terminals regardless of its size.

Sierpien said he hopes to add a lazy river in the coming years to the water park at Santa’s Village.