BILL PAGANIS DOESN’T smoke, and he’s lost his taste for gambling. But he still loves spending the evening at the off-track betting parlor in Oakbrook Terrace, an unlit cigar dangling from his lips. “I used to be a heavy smoker,” says Paganis, who owns Basilis Hair Salon in Riverside. “But I love golf, and a doctor told me a few years ago that if I didn’t quit smoking, I’d be carrying an oxygen tank around the golf course.” Paganis had to overcome another bad habit-compulsive gambling-nearly a decade ago. “Now I go to the OTB with my golfing buddies once a week,” he says. “We drink, we have a good time, and we play a few two-dollar bets. My favorite bet is the three-horse perfecta box,” he says. “It’s perfect for someone who’s not in it for the money.”
