Thursday, September 21, 2023–5:34 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
A draft Floyd County ordinance regarding gaming machines has been tabled for now, but officials would like to see a discussion about requiring business licenses in the county.
Coin-operated amusement machines, like the ones you see in some area convenience stores, are regulated by the Georgia Lottery Corporation, and local governments are limited in the amount of control they have over them.
Floyd County Public Safety Services Director John Blalock told the county’s public safety committee on Thursday that the presumed illegality of cash payouts was the main reason why a local ordinance was being looked at. However, the state now allows the store to pay out with a debit card in addition to store credits.
The cards cannot be used outside the United States, cannot be used to get cash, and cannot be used to purchase alcohol, tobacco, or firearms.
“I believe that is going to take the place of cash payouts,” Blalock said. “It kind of nullifies the reason we were going to do the local ordinance in the first place unless we want to do a local ordinance that sets distance buffers, requires security cameras, and makes them put the machines out into the open. Those are the only things that we can do right now, and there is a state law that governs what we can do as locals.”
Major Jeff Jones with the Floyd County Police Department agreed with Blalock’s assessment.
“Initially I was all for the ordinance,” he said. “But these pilot cards are a game changer. A lot in this ordinance is already regulated by state law. I wouldn’t be opposed to tabling it at this time. Hopefully, we can come up with some other regulations that have a little more teeth.”
County Commissioner Scotty Hancock said it may be time to have a conversation about having business licenses in the county.
“That’s the only way we can regulate any of this stuff,” he said. “It’s getting to the point where it’s getting out of hand. I support the lottery 100 percent as far as what they use the funds for, but these things are tearing at the fabric of our community.”
Commissioner Rhonda Wallace supports having business licenses in the county from a public safety standpoint.
“Especially for the fire department,” she said. “It’d be helpful to them to know what kind of materials are in whatever building. But when we talked about it before, of course, we had a different makeup on the county commission and there was no way we could ever get that passed.”
Floyd County Manager Jamie McCord suggested the issue of business licenses could coincide with the update of the Unified Land Development Code and map change.
“Where everything is reset at ground zero, and everybody has an opportunity to explain what they are doing and why they are doing it,” he said. “Then when you get to the zoning corrected with the map change, you start with the licenses going forward. I’m with you. I don’t want to charge anything exorbitant. This is not a money grab, but you have to charge enough to do the inspections and the people doing the work.
Hancock said that he would like to see a committee formed to look further into the issue.