Council to consider 8-liner zoning

Where should 8-liner machines be zoned in Jacksboro?

Jacksboro City Council members and staff discussed adding 8-liner machines to its zoning permitted use chart. City Manager Mike Smith said they overlooked the machines when reworking the city’s zoning ordinance last year.

A business owner asked Smith about adding 8-liner game machines recently, but they are not included in the current zoning ordinance. 

“I’d like to get the council’s guidance on which zoning area you would want to see those in,” Smith said. “We can’t prohibit them. You can restrict them by zoning, but you can’t restrict them anymore so than you would any other type of business.”

Police Chief Scott Haynes said the machines are legal as long as they are paid out correctly. The Herald-Gazette staff is aware of two businesses home to 8-liner machines in Jacksboro. Both are located in areas zoned commercial thoroughfare.

“I have that on my to-do list to send notices to some business owners that they may be not complying with law,” Haynes said. “That’s usually the first step that I would like to take is to notify them what the law is and then give them 30 days to comply. Those are lengthy investigations and it involves a lot of undercover work so hopefully we’ll get compliance out of a warning letter.”

Smith said legally an 8-liner can be used for bonafide amusement purposes and the awards must be for noncash merchandise or a voucher redeemable for a novelty item and the value of the prize is not more than 10 times the cost of a single play or $5.

To read the complete article including the council’s vote on restricting where registered sex offenders may live, see the April 13 edition of the Herald-Gazette.