Jason Corley and Kelly Rowe agree that game rooms in Lubbock County are a cauldron for crime.
“Are these things basically a den of scum and villainy? Absolutely!” said Rowe, Lubbock County sheriff, adding they attract violence, sex trafficking and narcotics.
But they don’t agree on a new county ordinance making it harder for game rooms to operate, meant to reduce their “adverse … effects.”
Since it took effect, the county has been denying permits for new game rooms and permits for those that don’t qualify to be grandfathered.
“It’s going excellent. We’re getting rid of a lot of the bad actors,” said Corley, Precinct 2 commissioner, (southeast Lubbock County), who sponsored the ordinance.
Rowe said it’s too early to know if the ordinance will succeed. He’s less optimistic.
“We’ll be doing nothing more than playing whack a mole,” Rowe told LubbockLights.com.
Two days before Christmas last year, county commissioners approved the ordinance, drawing a distinction between “legal game rooms and illicit game rooms.” The term “illicit” is not clearly defined.
The reasoning
Some game rooms “merely serve as a front for criminal activities, including but not limited to gambling, money laundering, and tax evasion,” according to the ordinance. It also mentioned prostitution and human trafficking.
During the debate over the measure last year, Corley pointed to high-profile crimes at game rooms including armed robberies.
“If they weren’t shooting people, we probably wouldn’t care. But the criminal activity was the main thing,” Corley said to LubbockLights.com on Thursday.
As just one example of problems, about a year ago officers arrested Rex Davis for aggravated robbery. He was accused of walking into a game room and shooting an employee. Davis, 31, took a plea deal about a week ago and agreed to a 10-year prison sentence.
Cracking down
Lubbock and Lubbock County have been cracking down on game rooms for years – sometimes raiding the businesses on charges related to gambling.
But there had been a recent “proliferation” of them.
“Lubbock County, Texas, has experienced a proliferation of game room operations that have had a negative impact on the quality of life of its residents,” according to the ordinance.
Game rooms can offer prizes up to $5. Above that, it’s illegal. And that does happen, Rowe said.
“Much like walking into a legal casino in Hobbs … It’s the same,” Rowe said.
Whatever becomes of the raids? Rowe said judges – following state law – order 8-liner machines to be auctioned, not destroyed.
“They’d come right back, buy them back for pennies on the dollar, and they’d probably be plugged in and operating in a storage unit somewhere … before midnight the same day,” Rowe said.
Game rooms (from the Texas State Law Library)
Game rooms are permitted by state law, as long as they do not contain any illegal gambling devices. State law gives counties the authority to regulate game rooms. Counties are authorized to:
- Restrict the location of game rooms to specified areas of the county, including the unincorporated area of the county;
- Prohibit a game room location within a certain distance, prescribed by the commissioners court, of a school, regular place of religious worship, or residential neighborhood; or
- Restrict the number of game rooms that may operate in a specified area of the county.
Counties are also authorized to adopt regulations that require game rooms to be licensed or permitted. They also have the authority to inspect game rooms in their area.
The ordinance
The ordinance does the following:
- Game room owners need to pass a criminal background check, as do employees.
- A game room must have a commissioned security officer on site. And the place is subject to inspection at any time by the sheriff’s office.
- Any new game room must be at least 1,000 feet away from neighborhoods, schools, playgrounds and a few other types of places.
- Game rooms must immediately report ownership changes.
- Operating hours are limited to: Sunday-Thursday: 10 a.m.-11 p.m., Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m.-2 a.m. the next morning.
- The regulation only allows one new game room in the unincorporated areas of Lubbock based on population (one for every 30,000 people). Commissioners decided it can only go in Precinct 2, Southeast Lubbock County. The measure exempts the City of Lubbock – allowing it to regulate game rooms separately.
However, there is a grandfather clause.
Game rooms operating before March 1 could apply to continue their operations.
Lucky Spot No. 2 appealed to a hearing officer on July 24 after being denied for missing a May 1 application deadline. It was among the first appeals of its kind. (The original Lucky Spot in Western Lubbock County was approved.)
LubbockLights.com called Lucky Spot. The owner declined an invitation to comment.
Because of a provision in the ordinance, it can only go in Precinct 2. None of that applies to game rooms that are grandfathered – only to a game room that started operation after March 1.
The security requirement is a big deal, according to Corley.
“They have to hire a state-certified security company. … I think that’s driving out a lot of the illegal activity. … The ones that wanted to run a shady operation are moving on,” Corley said.
Is this working?
Neal Burt, Civil Division chief, said before the ordinance, “I don’t know that we ever had a 100 percent sound factual number” of how many game rooms were operating.
Burt heard estimates of 80 to 90 last year, but the game rooms were under no obligation to report to the county until the ordinance began.
At last check, Lubbock County had 45 game rooms, said Sara Rice, who works in the county’s civil division.
Corley claims the ordinance cut the number roughly in half.
Burt said some operated with bright neon lights. Others operated unmarked in warehouses or storage units. Some operated “intermittently,” Burt said.
“So, we’ve never had an exact number of actual game rooms in the county to begin with,” said Burt.
Rowe said the real test of the ordinance is coming up.
“We haven’t seen any testing that I’m aware of the actual penalty processes. … So, it’s really hard to say this early,” Rowe said.
What stops a game room from operating without a permit and then simply changing locations overnight once the county finds out? For Rowe, that’s the question.
No local ordinance can go beyond state law, Rowe said. Enforcement of $10,000 per violation is a civil penalty, not prison time. For Rowe, that’s the problem.
“Put some teeth into what the crime is,” Rowe said.
That can only come from the Texas Legislature, not the County Commissioners Court, he said.
More appeals on the way
Earlier this week, five more businesses requested administrative hearings after a denial of their applications. That number is subject to change in the coming days.
Those appeals go to the justices of the peace, but not because they are judges.
The county must appoint one or more hearing officers.
“A lot of times it is attorneys within the community that are chosen for those,” Burt said.
Not this time. Here’s why.
“But in order to get paid, people have to go through orientation and get on the county payroll,” Burt said.
Instead of hiring local attorneys as new employees, the county named the four justices of the peace, who are already on the payroll. They act as administrative officers (not judges) when considering the game room appeals. It’s quicker (no hiring process) and less expensive.
