Editor’s note: Transcript provided by CoverGov.
Grapevine City Council revised a city ordinance to outlaw eight-liners and other gambling devices, with fines of up to $500 violation.
In a unanimous vote at its Feb. 3 meeting, the City Council changed city code to prohibit eight-liners and other gambling devices.
Eight-liner machines are electronic devices that resemble slot machines. On these devices, the player wins by matching symbols in one of eight lines. Texas law forbids gambling devices from awarding cash prizes.
“Eight-liners and similar gambling devices have been deemed unconstitutional and illegal by the applicable courts, and the adoption of this ordinance would prohibit their existence in the city with the goal being to eliminate the illegal gambling devices,” Grapevine City Attorney Matthew Boyle told City Council members.
Grapevine police now have the ability to cite operators of illegal devices, with fines of up to $500 per Class C violation, Boyle said.
“You could cite them as many times as they continue to violate the ordinance,” Boyle added.
Offenders would be cited in order to stop, but the ordinance does not provide for the seizure of gambling devices. Boyle said the Tarrant County Task Force has that ability.
The ordinance exempts amusement and video games that are otherwise permitted.
“My strong suspicion is if you find intransigent folks that are refusing to comply with citation-based enforcement, that will serve as an easy triggering point for the police department to get the Tarrant County Task Force involved and encourage them to come do what they have the legal authority to do, which is to seize those machines,” Boyle told council members.
In other action Feb. 3, the City Council:
Approved the purchase of a dual-purpose apprehension and bomb K-9, to include the training for the dog and handler team. The Grapevine Police K-9 Unit is part of the Patrol Section within the Uniform Operations Division.
In just one year, Thor, a Belgian Malinois, has been deployed over 100 times and contributed to over 50 arrests, according to a May 2025 post on the Grapevine Police Department official Instagram account. Thor’s handler is officer Allen Lappe.
Approved purchase of first responder mental health services from RGI Readiness Group for the Grapevine Fire Department.
To learn more about how the transcript that informed this report was created, visit covergov.com.
Eric Zarate is a freelance journalist. If you believe anything in this account is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
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