Months after agreeing to issue its first video gambling licenses, Palatine is taking a pause until next year.

The village council voted Tuesday to impose a moratorium on new gambling licenses until March 31. The council agreed to allow video gambling as of July 1.

Since April 11, the village has received 16 applications, nine of which were approved June 20. Two have since received state approval, passed final inspection and now are operating.

Of the seven remaining applications, five meet the basic criteria for gambling and are pending approval.

“Based upon the number (of applications) that we’ve had coming in, staff has wanted to look at the (village) code,” Village Manager Reid Ottesen said of the need for the moratorium. “We also want to have the opportunity to see how everything’s working and see if there are any other modifications that should be made.”

The moratorium will not prevent applications already submitted from being processed, he said.

Ottesen said the intention is to come back to the council in late January or early February with a report on how establishments are handling video gambling and to suggest possible code modifications.

“So, it’s not stopping it forever. It’s just a chance to pause and reflect, now that we’ve had tremendous interest in a number of establishments opening up,” Ottesen said.

Mayor Jim Schwantz was concerned about how much village staff time will be needed to process applications and possible conflicts with the code.

One potential conflict is the rules for video gambling prohibit a view of the machines from the outside, whereas the village’s liquor code requires being able to see into an establishment.

The moratorium shows “that we’re thinking this thing through and we’re doing it the right way,” Schwantz said.