HOUSTON -- On the northeast side of Houston, it was not a lucky day for the owner of the Lucky 8 Game Room. 

For the second time in a week, members of HPD's Differential Response Team descended on the place Friday.  They are armed with a new ordinance that allows them to shut down or seal eight-liners for infractions as simple as not properly displaying city tax stamps on the machines.

What used to be a $10 civil penalty is now $250 per machine.

“The Lucky 8 owner went down and paid more than $27,000 to unseal his machines. Then he went back into operation and made no changes as to why we sealed them in the first place. So we are sealing them again. He's looking at another $27,000,” said Lt. Atkins of the Houston Police Department.

More than 100 eight liners were sealed at the Lucky 8. Houston police sealed nearly 3,700 machines across the city.

“The total bill for all sealed machines is over $911,000,” said Atkins.  

Some of the owners are not wasting any time paying up. In just five days, the city has already collected approximately $164,000 in fines. This is a pretty hefty amount, considering it took them all of last year to collect the same amount.

The reason for the change in ordinance is due to the increase in violence and robberies that have been occurring in local game rooms.

Now, what could take the vice squad months to accomplish through undercover investigations, the Differential Response Team can accomplish in weeks.  Plus, the fines take a big bite out of an industry that generates in excess of a million dollars a day in Houston alone.

“People are losing their life savings in these places,” said Atkins.