Blackjack's Liquor License Controversy
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Fri Jan 16, 2026
Suburban strip club with sordid past wins back liquor license over objections by some locals
The fight over whether a South Elgin area strip club can reclaim a coveted liquor license appears to be over, with Kane County Board members who sit on the local Liquor Control Commission recently granting the business permission to start selling alcohol despite pushback from residents and a sordid history with the club.
That lays the groundwork for Blackjacks Gentlemen’s Club to bring in a lot more cash and customers, with 81-year-old owner Ann Marie Buttitta also saying she’s going to be quickly hiring another 15 or so people.
The change is likely to bring in more tax revenue for local government, too.
But that was of little solace to residents who spoke out at Wednesday’s public meeting before the license was approved — and at two meetings last year at which the license attempt was rejected — raising concerns about whether there will be increased crime, and the trustworthiness of the club operator.
“It did not work out the first time,” Sugar Grove resident Brian Anderson said.
The club’s previous liquor license was revoked amid the 2012 prosecution of the establishment’s father-and-son operators at the time, Dominic and Anthony Buttitta.
They were charged by federal authorities with tax fraud and running an illegal sports gambling ring. Among other things, the men were accused of collecting $3.7 million in “house fees” from dancers at the club over a number of years, and hiding the payments from the IRS.
The men landed in prison and continued to run Blackjacks from behind bars — with a net profit of $1 million a year, according to published accounts.
A real estate company run by the men, A & D L.L.C., still owns the property in unincorporated Kane County, but they do not own the club, which remains at the same address with the same name. Rather, the owner is Elgin Entertainment Holdings Inc., owned by Ann Marie Buttitta, according to records and interviews.
She identified Anthony as her son — who serves as a “marketing consultant” to the club — and Dominic as her ex-husband who she insists plays no direct role in the business.
Anderson said in his public remarks that the business’ change in leadership could be compared to “moving a few chess pieces.”
Regardless, the liquor panel voted 3-1 to award the license, bringing an end, at least for now, to the turmoil that’s surrounded the effort.
At public meetings in June and August, the liquor commission refused to grant Blackjacks a license, with one of the members at the time, Dale Berman, raising moral objections to the nature of the club.
“I do see a problem with having females in some method of undress, either performing or available,” Berman, who was one of five Kane County Board members on the panel, said at the time.
Berman voted against the license last year and the effort failed on a 2-2 tie. The chairwoman of the panel, Corinne Pierog, abstained from voting after questions were raised about her taking campaign money from A & D.
Buttitta’s attorney Brittany Pedersen raised the possibility of suing the county, as exotic dancing is generally regarded as legally protected under the First Amendment, and Blackjacks apparently had met all the legal requirements for a license.
Berman died in October and Pierog — who is also chairwoman of the County Board — appointed County Board Member Alex Arroyo to the liquor commission in Berman’s place. On Wednesday, he voted in favor of the license.
Pierog described the criticism about her taking campaign contributions from A & D as a “tempest in a teapot,” and said she’s glad that Blackjacks will no longer be allowed to admit patrons as young as 18.
A liquor license means nobody under 21 is allowed — and that strippers can no longer be totally nude.
Ann Marie Buttitta said she won’t be taking advantage of another potential perk associated with liquor licenses: the ability to apply for a video gambling license that could bring in even more money.
“We think the right thing happened today,” Pedersen said after the meeting.
Anne Marie Buttitta said, “They should have never turned us down.”
Anderson thinks otherwise, saying a liquor license “isn’t a given, it’s a privilege.”
TLDR; Blackjacks gets their liquor license, they state they will not install gambling at the club and they will "no longer be totally nude".
When Ann Marie Buttitta spoke to Kane County’s liquor commission this year while seeking permission to start selling alcohol at Blackjacks, she pushed back against concerns from residents that she ultimately was also planning to apply for a state license to get video gambling machines in the Elgin area strip club.
“There is not one gentleman’s club in the state of Illinois” that’s “been able to get a gaming license,” Buttitta said. “Everyone knows why would you go spend all this money to try to get a gaming license if you’re not going to get one — common sense.”
Turns out, other strip clubs in northern Illinois are making lots of cents on video gambling, with at least five of the establishments licensed by the Illinois Gaming Board — several of which have reaped over $1 million from the devices, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis.
Club 390 in Chicago Heights is among them, with its gambling machines making $3.4 million in net terminal income since the business was licensed by gambling regulators a decade ago, including about $400,000 so far this year as of August, according to gaming board records.
During that period, the state government collected nearly $1 million in taxes from Club 390’s devices, while the local municipal government collected more than $170,000, records show.
The Sun-Times also found:
The Just Enuff Cabaret in Rockford reported nearly $3 million in net terminal income from its video gambling devices since 2013. Uncle Paulie’s Bar in unincorporated Glen Ellyn, where performers wear “pasties and pantyhose” but aren’t nude, reported more than $1 million in net terminal income since it was licensed for video gambling several years back. The HighHeels Gentlemen’s Club in north central Illinois reported more than $800,000 in net terminal income since 2013. The Gold Room Chicago strip club in Stone Park reported more than $700,000 in net terminal income since 2022.
Critics believe those kinds of revenues are playing a role in Blackjacks’ liquor license push, as the gaming board only permits video gambling at that kind of business if it first has a liquor license from another governmental agency.
“You’ve already got the naked women, now you’re going to get liquor, and the poker machines go hand in hand with the liquor, why would you want a liquor license without the poker machines?” said Steve Serafin, a candidate for Kane County Board who spoke against the Blackjacks liquor application in the summer before it was denied by the county’s liquor commission.
“I don’t think the gambling should be mixed with the alcohol,” Serafin said, noting the previous operators of Blackjacks — Buttitta’s relatives — were once caught up in a federal investigation that included tax fraud and an illicit gambling operation. “Leave your venue the way it is.”
Buttitta’s attorney Brittany Pedersen says her client “didn’t intend to mislead” during her remarks to the liquor commission and “has no desire” to pursue video gambling for Blackjacks should the club ultimately land a liquor license.
Pedersen says her client has “started the process of reapplying” for one — which, if approved, would likely bring in more revenues and taxes.
Another strip club owner who asked not to be named said even with a liquor license, there’s no guarantee gambling regulators would license video poker machines and the like. Indeed, a downstate strip club was rejected for a gambling license within the last few years, records show.
Blackjacks lost its ability to sell alcohol around the time of the 2012 prosecution of Dominic Buttitta and his son Anthony Buttitta. A company affiliated with the men still owns the Blackjacks property, but the club itself is owned by a company helmed by Ann Marie Buttitta.
As Blackjacks tries again for a liquor license it may have a better chance of success depending on who is appointed to fill a vacancy on the liquor commission and the Kane County Board that was left by the recent death of member Dale Berman. He was one of two “no” votes on the license.
The chairwoman of the Kane County Board and of the liquor commission, Corinne Pierog, abstained from voting amid criticism she had accepted campaign contributions from the Buttitta company that owns the strip club property. She has declined to say whether she’s planning to return that money, and says through a spokesperson she hasn’t “made any appointment decisions regarding the liquor commission.”