HITCHCOCK — City commissioners took the first step in revamping the city’s almost nonexistent ordinances regulating game rooms on Monday.
In a 5-0 vote, commissioners established a moratorium on all new permits for 8-liners and the opening of new game rooms for up to a year.
The city already has about 670 of the video slot machine-style games that have been permitted. Under the moratorium passed Monday night, those 8-liners will remain, but businesses already with permits cannot add any more and no new businesses will be permitted.
The moratorium will remain in place as commissioners devise a comprehensive game room and 8-liner ordinance.
The city has gained a reputation for being a haven for what many, including several law enforcement officials, allege are little more than illegal gambling dens hiding behind vague state laws that regulate game rooms and 8-liners.
Enforcement of the moratorium will be the responsibility of City Secretary Rose Marie Theiler, who has been charged with issuing the permits to the existing game room operators.
The city charges an annual fee of $100 per machine as part of its amusements ordinance, which is the only ordinance on the books regulating the businesses that have earned a stretch of state Highway 6 in the city the nickname "the Little Strip."
As each business comes in to renew its permits, Theiler will check each business in person to make sure each establishment does not exceed the number of games it currently is permitted for.
Any business that goes over its allotment faces up to a $500-a-day fine once the new ordinance becomes law.
Checking on the businesses after being issued a renewed permit, however, may prove tough. Interim Police Chief Clay Kennely sought a more comprehensive inspection or enforcement provision, but commissioners did not provide for that.
Commissioner Lee Stephenson, who has been leading the charge on changing the city’s approach to game rooms, said the moratorium only "keeps the status quo" as commissioners work to create more stringent regulations for game rooms.
The new ordinance would not take affect until Monday, when commissioners meet one more time for a required second vote on the moratorium.
Only two non-city officials attended the commission meeting Monday night.
By contrast, the Golden Rush game room less than half a mile north of city hall was crowded with 16 cars in its parking lot.
Hitchcock native David Sauceda spoke in favor of the city’s efforts to regulate game rooms.
"I asked them to do the right thing for the city and its image," Sauceda said. "Hitchcock used to be known as a speed trap. Now do we want to be known for this?"
Sauceda said he worried the city was gaining a negative reputation with so many game rooms in operation.
The Hitchcock vote came two days after four men were charged in a brazen daytime robbery of a game room in Bacliff.
The suspects led sheriff’s deputies on a wild chase reaching 110 miles an hour while tossing bags of money out of the getaway car, authorities said.
The city’s first workshop to create a new game room ordinance is scheduled for late January.
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