Permit hearing set for gaming room

The Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Atlanta issued a notice of public hearing to convene at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday Oct. 27 at city hall concerning the application of a special use permit to allow “arcade sweepstakes music download” at 110 W. Hiram St. in Atlanta.

Gaming rooms have sprouted across East Texas in recent years and have been characterized as “legalized gambling”.

Moiz Budhwani, the applicant named in the public notice, was arrested in 2017 for keeping a gambling place in Titus County.

According to KLTV in April 2017, an undercover deputy was sent into the Star Mart at the intersection of Highway 49 and FM 1735 in Mount Pleasant and found it was operating “8 liners”. They were paying out cash prizes thus making the 8 liner machines illegal gambling devices and illegal to use in the State of Texas. Budhwani, the store’s co-owner was arrested for violation of the Texas Penal Code Section 47.04 Keeping a Gambling Place

Business owners in the downtown area of Atlanta have expressed their concerns about permitting such an establishment and plan to voice those concerns at the public hearing Tuesday, Oct. 27.

One business owner wrote on Facebook, “I am all for improving our town, bringing jobs, bringing businesses etc. With that said, this is not something I think our town would benefit from. Basically, they are a wanting a downtown gambling arcade. I feel like our downtown is working so hard to remodel and improve and this would be such a step in the wrong direction! If you’re free, please share the word and attend!”

According to Atlanta Police Chief Robin Betts, game rooms find loopholes and are good at evading the law.

“There are so many loopholes in it, and they’re popping up everywhere again now so we try to do it by planning and zoning to shut them down because they have to get permits to do it”, Betts said.

Prior to 1993, Section 47.01 of the Texas Penal Code clearly prohibited any game of chance that "for consideration affords the player anything of value." In 1993, the Legislature amended this statute by adding Section 47.01(4)(B). That amendment relaxed the previous standard by making legal: Any electronic, electromechanical, or mechanical contrivance designed, made, and adapted solely for bona fide amusement purposes if the contrivance rewards the player exclusively with non-cash merchandise prizes, toys, or novelties, or a representation of value redeemable for those items, that have a wholesale value available from a single play of the game or device of not more than 10 times the amount charged to play the game or device once or $5, whichever is less.

Follow the Cass County Citizens Journal-Sun on Facebook to watch the proceedings live.