{"id":172970,"date":"2026-02-20T14:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/172970\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:56:12","slug":"county-ups-ante-on-game-room-regulations-with-proposed-clamp-down-on-grandfathering-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/172970\/","title":{"rendered":"County ups ante on game room regulations with proposed\u00a0clamp down on grandfathering protections\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

In August, LubbockLights.com covered an in-house\u00a0dispute\u00a0among Lubbock County officials\u00a0over\u00a0a\u00a0game room ordinance.\u00a0Commissioner Jason Corley and Sheriff Kelly Rowe agreed game rooms\u00a0were cauldrons for crime.\u00a0The disagreement was how to\u00a0regulate them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On\u00a0Monday,\u00a0the Commissioners Court will consider an update to the current ordinance which first went into effect\u00a0May 1\u00a0last\u00a0year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The issue originally came up for debate in late 2024 amid reports of shootings,\u00a0robberies\u00a0and\u00a0assaults\u00a0at game rooms.\u00a0The ordinance itself cited human trafficking and illegal gambling\u00a0at game rooms\u00a0near residential areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Only\u00a0one\u00a0game room is allowed per 30,000 people\u00a0in the unincorporated areas of the county, which\u00a0works out\u00a0to\u00a0a single\u00a0permitted location.\u00a0Existing operators could only continue under grandfathering provisions.\u00a0In\u00a0August,\u00a0the county had 45 game rooms\u00a0\u2013\u00a0nearly all\u00a0of them\u00a0grandfathered.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If passed the changes will:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Strengthen current enforcement\u00a0<\/p>\n

Narrow qualifications for grandfathering existing game rooms\u00a0<\/p>\n

Change the appeal process\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current ordinance already puts\u00a0a list\u00a0of requirements in place, which we covered here<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To clear up and strengthen enforcement, the Tax Assessor\u2019s Office is the\u00a0exclusive final\u00a0authority\u00a0on game-room licensing.\u00a0The\u00a0assessor\u00a0was already the permit administrator,\u00a0but there\u2019s\u00a0new\u00a0clarifying language in the proposal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u00a0other representative from the county can override the exclusive\u00a0authority of the Permit Office. Any decision or opinion offered by a\u00a0person or entity that is not the Permit Office shall have no force or\u00a0effect,\u201d\u00a0the proposal said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Immediate suspensions are already possible,\u00a0but the proposal adds new language\u00a0for\u00a0anyone\u00a0\u201cacting on behalf of\u00a0a\u00a0game room.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the current ordinance,\u00a0a game room can be grandfathered if it\u00a0remains\u00a0in continuous operation at the same location. But the proposal adds one more thing. It must remain under the same ownership. Adding\u00a0another owner or even changing the name strips away grandfather protection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The successful suspension or revocation of a game room permit also strips away grandfather protection if the proposal is approved.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyone needing a grandfathered permit\u00a0must show up\u00a0in\u00a0person to apply.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0appeal\u00a0process, if approved, will change.\u00a0Instead of going to a Justice of the Peace (acting as\u00a0an\u00a0appeal officer), the issue goes to a board.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHearings will be conducted by a Game Room Hearing Board\u00a0consisting of residents of Lubbock County appointed by each county commissioner, the county judge, the county\u00a0sheriff\u00a0and the county tax assessor collector. A Board member shall not be an owner, employee, agent, or other representative of a game room\u00a0\u2026\u00a0,\u201d the proposal said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If approved, the changes take effect on February 23 \u2013 the same day as the\u00a0commissioners\u00a0meeting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Related posts\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In August, LubbockLights.com covered an in-house\u00a0dispute\u00a0among Lubbock County officials\u00a0over\u00a0a\u00a0game room ordinance.\u00a0Commissioner Jason Corley and Sheriff Kelly Rowe agreed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-172970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}