Arnold has put rules in place for unregulated gaming machines within city limits, and city officials believe other Jefferson County cities may follow their lead.
City Council members voted unanimously Nov. 21 to approve three ordinances that established licensing requirements, penalties for violations and a way for unregulated gaming parlors to open in the city.
Community Development Director David Bookless said city officials felt it was necessary to create the rules and regulations because many of the machines are located inside businesses like gas stations, which do not have site layouts, traffic circulation designs and required parking for customers to be at the establishments for long periods of time.
Unregulated gaming machines are often similar to slot machines, but they are not considered gambling devices because people know if they’re going to win before placing money in the machine.
“The presence of unregulated gaming machines on a site designed to accommodate customers staying short periods of time may lead to unsafe conditions for drivers and pedestrians for reasons such as inadequate site layout, improper or unsafe traffic circulation design and an inadequate number of parking spaces being provided for customers and employees,” Bookless said. “The council wants to minimize these and other adverse effects in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
City Clerk Tammi Casey said Arnold officials are aware of four locations in the city that have a total of about 30 machines operating in the city. However, she said there could be more machines that are not in compliance with the current regulations.
Bookless said the city has received complaints about the machines in Arnold.
“I can recall about five people complaining directly to me,” he said.
Arnold officials said they have shared drafts of the ordinances council members approved Nov. 21 with other Jefferson County officials.
On Dec. 2, the Herculaneum Board of Aldermen discussed the gaming machine ordinances Arnold had just approved, Herculaneum City Administrator Dusty Hosna said.
He said at least two places in Herculaneum have gaming machines.
“They are popping up all over Jefferson County,” he said. “(Adopting rules and regulations for them) is being considered. It is getting into the hands of the alderpeople and seeing what they want to do.”
De Soto City Administrator Todd Melkus said he will present the ordinances to his City Council members and see if they want to establish any of the rules or regulations in De Soto.
“We have a number of (the machines) in our jurisdiction,” he said. “I will present it in more detail to my council and see how they want to proceed at this point. It is an ongoing situation.”
Festus City Administrator Greg Camp and Crystal City Administrator Jason Eisenbeis said their cities are not considering establishing rules and regulations for unregulated gaming machines.
Hosna also said he feels rules and regulations for unregulated gaming machines should be established at the state level.
“I am happy it is being addressed, but it has to be addressed at a bigger level than a municipal level,” he said. “My biggest concern in all of this is that if someone has a gambling addiction and lives in Herculaneum, that person can wander into a Herculaneum gas station that is not regulated. It feeds into gambling problems, and I don’t know if making them legal is the answer. There is no answer right now, so we are open to anything.”
Arnold’s rules
The first ordinance Arnold City Council members approved was defining what an unregulated gaming parlor is and creating a conditional-use permit to allow a parlor to open in Arnold.
A parlor would only be allowed in a C-2 or C-3 commercial district, and there would need to be 5 1/2 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of the building that houses the parlor.
Also, only one parlor would be allowed in a building, structure or tenant space within a shopping plaza, and a parlor would not be allowed to open within 1,000 feet of any church, school, residential use or another parlor.
Parlors would only be allowed to operate from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays and 8:30 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
The next ordinance the council approved requires the owner of an unregulated gaming machine to get a business license from Arnold in order to display and operate the machine.
The final ordinance created rules for how many machines may be inside a business, fees for the business licenses and penalties for a machine’s owner for not following the rules.
A license must be obtained annually, and businesses may have up to two machines without requiring additional licenses. However, if a person or establishment has three to 20 machines in one building, a retail liquor by the drink license from the city and state is required, and if there are more than 20 machines, an unregulated gaming parlors license is required.
An application for a license to operate an unregulated gaming machine must be submitted by April 1 every year. A license is required for each business, each machine owner and each machine.
A business will pay $500 to have the machines in its building and $250 for each machine operated in the establishment. The person who operates the machine will pay $2,000 for each location where there’s a machine.
The unregulated gaming machines must be set up in an area of the business restricted to those who are 21 or older, and a barrier must be in place to separate the machines from where underage customers may be.
An employee must be able to see who is inside the restricted area at all times to ensure only those 21 or older are playing the machines.
A sign must be posted and visible to the entrance and to every gaming machine and ATM in the business that says, “If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) or texting ‘GAMB’ to 833234.”
If someone violates the rules and regulations, he or she may be sentenced to up to 90 days in jail and fined up to $500. Each machine that is not in compliance will carry its own penalty, and the sentences will run consecutively.
“As the licensing is annual, there will be, at minimum, a yearly inspection,” Bookless said of how Arnold will enforce its rules. “However, the city will also respond to complaints or reports.”