The Illinois Gaming Board recently revoked the gaming license it had awarded in April to Giovanni’s Catering Inc., which planned to open a mini-casino in the low-income Dorchester Senior Center retirement home, owned by the Village of Dolton. A child day-care also is housed in the Dorchester, which was to be the first subsidized housing facility in Illinois with video gaming terminals.
The owners of Giovanni’s, which hosts parties, dances and other events in the Dorchester’s banquet hall, planned to construct a separate building open to residents and the public with alcohol, food and video gaming terminals.
However, under Giovanni’s special-events liquor license, the company only can serve alcohol during “organized functions for which planned attendance is 20 or more persons.” As a result, Giovanni’s does not comply with a state law that requires alcohol to be available whenever gaming machines are in operation, although the firm had told regulators it planned to offer alcohol and gaming seven days a week.
Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe acknowledged his agency should not have issued a gaming license to Giovanni’s. He said, “I wish I could tell you we catch every discrepancy that comes down the line. But we haven’t been properly staffed since this began. The state is always in a financial crunch, but our budget comes from gambling revenues. For some reason we haven’t gotten the authority to hire more people.” The agency has 286 employees although it has been approved for 350, officials said.
The gaming board issued Giovanni’s a “complaint for revocation” in late November. The caterer was given 21 days to respond, but its gaming license still can be revoked. No machines were installed because the site had to pass a final inspection. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart also is investigating the no-bid contract Dolton awarded Giovanni’s to operate the mini-casino. In October, the sheriff’s office recommended Dolton revoke Giovanni’s liquor license because of concerns that allowing the public to drink and gamble there could jeopardize the safety of the residents and the children at the day care.
Still, Loren Robinson, Giovanni’s owner, said, “I’m going to see if I can get the village to give me a different kind of liquor license.”
