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03/10/2023 10:36 AMThe Westbrook Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on Monday, March 27 over an application to put 12 sports gambling kiosks in part of the Dead Eye Saloon restaurant.
On Feb. 27, the Zoning Commission accepted an application from Walter Bartkiewicz to place 12 sports gambling kiosks inside a restaurant located at 110 Boston Post Road. Zoning Enforcement Officer Steve Hnatuk said that the applicant had been interested in adding the kiosks for some time.
Hnatuk said that under the zoning regulations, the kiosks would be classified as arcade use, and using more than three machines requires a special permit application.
Online sports gambling went live in Connecticut in 2021, and Hnatuk said state regulations are very strict. Hnatuk said the kiosks would be cash only and that the restaurant would add a separate area away from the dining area where the kiosks would be located.
“I am told the gambling kiosks are going to replace the existing dance floor area in the restaurant,” Hnatuk said. The Floor plans submitted with the application show a separate room to the left of the restaurant’s entrance. The plans depict the 12 kiosks, some high-top tables, and several TVs mounted on the walls.
“It’s not a bar area,” Bartkiewicz clarified. “It’s just going to be a room where the dance studio was with TVs and the machines,” he continued.
Bartkiewicz said that he wanted to add the kiosks because regulations state that gambling locations can’t be within 25 miles of either the Pequot Reservation or the Mohegan Reservation. He said that being between New Haven and the casinos, he thought adding the kiosks made sense.
Bartkiewicz said that the restaurant on the property, Dead Eye Saloon, is closed for the season. The restaurant is in its fourth year of operation and will reopen for the season at the end of May.
The public hearing is scheduled for Monday, March 27 at 7 p.m. in the Teresa Mulvey Municipal Bulding, 866 Boston Post Road, Westbrook.