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Fort Worth to ban game rooms after 9-year legal battle, Texas Supreme Court decision

Fort Worth City Council members watch a presentation during a work session meeting May 21, 2024, at City Hall.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Fort Worth City Council members watch a presentation during a work session meeting May 21, 2024, at City Hall.

After a nearly decade-long legal battle, Fort Worth officials are poised to ban game rooms across the city by the end of 2024.

Since 2015, the city has been involved in litigation over its attempts to regulate and prohibit game rooms. In June, the Texas Supreme Court denied a game room operator’s request to rehear the case, enabling city officials to make good on their plan to prohibit the controversial rooms.

Game rooms, or stores that feature six or more game machines, are found in gas stations and convenience stores across the city. The game machines, which city officials sought to classify as illegal gambling devices, are commonly referred to as eight-liners. Critics, including in Fort Worth’s Northside, say game rooms attract crime to neighborhoods.

Chris Mosley, senior assistant attorney for the city, told City Council members during an Oct. 8 work session meeting that game rooms are “going to go.”

The game room debacle ignited in Fort Worth in 2014, when City Council members adopted two ordinances to restrict game rooms to areas zoned for industrial use and at least 1,000 feet from a school, place of worship or residential area. After the ordinances took effect in January 2015, game rooms owners filed lawsuits against the city, alleging that eight-liners are legal in Texas under what’s known as the “fuzzy animal” exception.

Although gambling is usually deemed illegal across the state, the “fuzzy animal” exception allows operators to award noncash prizes that are worth less than $5, according to Texas state law.

In March 2022, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled that eight-liner machines were not exempt from regulation under the “fuzzy animal” exception because they are considered “lotteries,” or games of chance. The game room owners involved in the lawsuit sought the Texas Supreme Court’s input on that ruling, and in December 2023, the court denied further review of the case.

Game room operators requested a rehearing on the denial, but the court ultimately disposed of the request in June, according to court documents.

In order to proceed with formally banning game rooms, City Council must revisit and amend zoning and licensing ordinances. The council is expected to consider a code amendment Oct. 15 and a zoning amendment Dec. 10.

In the meantime, the city will notify owners of stores with game rooms that they have to get rid of their eight-liners. Mosley said the city’s legal department is also working with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office in case they have to prosecute owners who refuse to remove their game rooms.

Council member Jared Williams thanked Mosley and the city’s legal department for their continued work to eradicate game rooms in Fort Worth.

“This is a big win for our neighborhoods,” Williams said.

Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or @bycecilialenzen

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.