Officials with the Elk Grove, Ill., Park District, which operates the golf course, have considered adding five video gambling machines to the property for more than a year as a way to raise additional revenue. If approved by the Illinois Gaming Board, the district could take in an additional $50,000-$75,000 a year, receiving 35 cents of every dollar made.
Fox Run Golf Links in Elk Grove Village, Ill., could become one of the first publicly owned golf courses in the state to have video gambling machines if approved by the Illinois Gaming Board, the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald reported.
Officials with the Elk Grove Park District, which has operated the golf course since 1983, have been looking into that possibility for more than a year as a way to raise additional revenue, the Daily Herald reported.
Plans call for five video gambling machines to be located within the Fox Den bar and grill in a dedicated area off to the side, according to Mike Brotman, the park district’s executive director.
The park district’s application is pending with the gaming board, Brotman said, which still needs to send Cook County sheriff’s deputies to inspect the facility before issuing a license. Once the district’s gaming license is approved, it could take another 30 to 45 days to install the machines and get them operating, the Daily Herald reported.
Park board commissioners and district staff members have interviewed several video gambling vendors, and the board is expected to vote on a contract with one of them, Gold Rush Amusements, during its November 14 meeting, the Daily Herald reported.
Officials estimate the park district could reap between $50,000 and $75,000 a year from the video gambling machines. The district will receive 35 cents of every dollar made. The vendor and the state will each receive 30 cents, and the village will receive 5 cents, the Daily Herald reported.
The park board is committed to keeping any revenue generated from the video gambling machines in the golf course operations budget, Brotman said.
While the financial performance of Fox Run is better than most publicly owned golf courses, Brotman said it hasn’t done as well as it used to. That’s partly because a recently completed $2 million golf course renovation project has left at least a portion of the course unavailable for use since 2011, the Daily Herald reported.
“Not being open two years previous—all 18 holes, all season—we’ve turned some deficits,” Brotman said. “So I think this will help us make sure we continue to keep the latest and greatest equipment, and rotating vehicles out.”
Other park districts in the suburbs that operate golf courses “are waiting to see how we do this,” Brotman said.
The park district has not yet determined the hours of operation for the Fox Run gambling terminals. State law allows them to be used during the same hours an establishment’s liquor license permits alcohol sales, the Daily Herald reported.
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