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Sugar Grove says no to video gambling at gas station

Sugar Grove officials don't want video gambling at a gas station, at least not anytime soon.

The village board, meeting as a committee of the whole Tuesday, told the owner of the BP Expresslane station at Route 47 and Cross Street it wouldn't give the station the type of liquor license that would allow it to offer video gambling.

The station already sells packaged alcohol. It wanted a license to serve alcohol on the premises, which is required to obtain a state license for video gambling for commercial enterprises. Truck stops can get such licenses if they sit on at least 3 acres and sell at least 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel a month, but the station is too small and doesn't sell enough fuel.

"We're not looking to become a bar; that's not our intent at all," said Kathy Peugh, owner of Expresslane Inc. Illinois, which owns the station.

Peugh said some of her other stations have had video gambling for about three weeks. The cashiers serve the alcohol. But in those three weeks, few of the gambling customers have bought alcohol, she said. "We're going for a different demographic," she said, citing people who don't want to sit in a bar or people who want to do a little gambling on their lunch break as examples.

Nine Expresslane Inc. Illinois gasoline station stores in Illinois have video gambling, according to the Illinois Gaming Board website. Applications are pending for another two.

But President Sean Michels and four trustees said they did not like the idea.

Only Trustee Kevin Geary was in favor. Trustee Bob Bohler was absent.

Trustee Rick Montalto said he was concerned because the station is about a block away from Kaneland John Shields Elementary School, and that kids who go to the station to buy sodas and candy would be exposed to the gambling.

Michels said he was worried about a customer becoming drunk and driving onto busy Route 47. Also, residents narrowly approved of video gambling in an advisory referendum last year, he said. "I think the public asked us to treat this with kid gloves," he said.

Geary disagreed. "This is exactly what I had argued about (in requesting the referendum). The public said 'yes,' and I think that we are being overly controlling on this issue," he said.

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