Commissioner Mike Dalby offered an amendment during the meeting to confine game room operating hours to Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. It passed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDangerous things occur inside these game rooms. I took an oath to protect the citizens of Lubbock County. I certainly\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want them in a game room outside of operating hours,\u201d Dalby said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson said, \u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0going to cut our workforce in half. And\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0going to hurt a lot of people. I know that the clients \u2013 the customers themselves \u2013 are\u00a0pretty unhappy,\u201d Thompson said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ordinance\u00a0highlights (including recent update):\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Game room permit is\u00a0required\u00a0<\/p>\n
Separate employee permit is\u00a0required, including background checks\u00a0<\/p>\n
Game rooms may\u00a0operate\u00a0only Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Exterior doors must remain unlocked during operating hours\u00a0<\/p>\n
Exterior doors must remain locked when the business is closed\u00a0<\/p>\n
A peace officer must be present during hours of operation\u00a0<\/p>\n
Only one game room per 30,000 people in unincorporated areas of the county\u00a0<\/p>\n
The one game room can only\u00a0be located in\u00a0Precinct 2 (Southeast Lubbock County)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, businesses\u00a0operating\u00a0before the ordinance could apply under grandfather status\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grandfather status is lost if the location or ownership changes or if there is a criminal conviction\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018By their very essence\u2019 illegal\u00a0<\/p>\n
The presumption by commissioners and the sheriff\u00a0is\u00a0the game rooms are operating illegally.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
County Judge Curtis Parrish said Monday, \u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0been very vocal about being against game rooms.\u00a0It\u2019d\u00a0be nice to have an amendment here that would say, \u2018We\u2019re going to dig a big hole and just shove them all in.\u2019 That would be my amendment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sheriff Kelly Rowe spoke to LubbockLights.com two days after the meeting, saying, \u201cThese places, by their very essence, are illegal.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0struggled since the first discussions of an ordinance of\u00a0basically trying\u00a0to legalize an otherwise criminal enterprise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Charge filed\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson was charged on February 20 with a class A misdemeanor \u2013 specifically a November violation of the county\u2019s game room ordinance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0Thompson\u2019s first\u00a0misdemeanor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2016, officers seized more than $10,000 in a raid of his Senator\u2019s Game Room in the 5300 block of South Q Drive, west of Interstate 27.\u00a0 A judge later ruled the state could keep that money and not return it to Thompson.\u00a0Thompson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to one day in jail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His attorney said Thompson developed a non-cash system after the 2016 case.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Thompson said the sheriff\u00a0has\u00a0done this wrong from the start. He claimed his business, El\u00a0Fronteriso, respects the law \u2013 even if his competitors do not.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
His business has 4,000 customers, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that there\u2019s a significant portion of Lubbock that are not scumbags and like to come play,\u201d Thompson said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
What can a game room give out?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson and Rowe\u00a0agreed\u00a0a payout cannot be worth more than $5 per win.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Thompson said you can add up wins for bigger prizes, \u201c\u2026 as long as the ratio never goes over $5 per game played for the fair market value of the item awarded as a prize.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo cash. You can never pay cash for prizes,\u201d Thompson said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s game room gives out tiny silver bars, he said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rowe said game rooms in general are giving out big prizes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019ve got a $5 limit on a payout, a new car or a new cafe-style motorcycle is going to exceed that,\u201d Rowe said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson hired a private investigator to find out if most game rooms are illegally paying cash. They are, according to his PI\u2019s report.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Private investigation\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson hired a private investigator to visit 10 game rooms.\u00a0In one location, there was no payout \u2013 just losses.\u00a0The total cash\u00a0payouts were\u00a0more than $1,000.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Location 1
No payout (loss) \u2013 September 26
$80 payout \u2013 October 2
$70 payout \u2013 October 25<\/p>\n
Location 2
No payout (loss) \u2013 September 26<\/p>\n
Location 3
No payout (loss) \u2013 October 2
$80 payout \u2013 October 9<\/p>\n
Location 4
$185 payout \u2013 October 9
No payout (loss) \u2013 October 25
$120 payout \u2013 November 1<\/p>\n
Location 5
No payout (loss) \u2013 October 16
$160 payout \u2013 November 1<\/p>\n
Location 6
$120 payout \u2013 October 16<\/p>\n
Location 7
No payout, loss (Investigator) \u2013 October 16
$75 payout (accompanying player) \u2013 October 16<\/p>\n
Location 8
$50 payout \u2013 October 16
No payout (loss) <\/p>\n
Location 9
No payout, loss (investigator) \u2013 October 25
$90 payout (accompanying player) \u2013 October 25<\/p>\n
Location 10
$30 payout \u2013 October 25<\/p>\n
Thompson shared that information with county officials but said they took no action.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Unfair and unjustified\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s attorney,\u00a0Ben\u00a0Garcia, said, \u201cMy client is trying to compete with other rooms that are being allowed to break the law. How are we supposed to compete with the competitors who are being allowed by the sheriff\u2019s office to pay cash?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have targeted my client because\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0got the biggest business in town, even though\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0the only one who has shown respect for the law and a desire to do this legally.\u00a0\u2026\u00a0But\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just unfair and unjustified when\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0the only ones who are trying to do it legally,\u201d Garcia said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rowe denied\u00a0singling\u00a0anyone out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody is getting the same amount of time, same\u00a0amount\u00a0of visits and stops.\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0be\u00a0very cautious\u00a0of falling into, the whole \u2018picked on\u2019 thing,\u201d\u00a0Rowe said of his officers checking out the game rooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Is the ordinance working?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Historically, the Sheriff\u2019s Department could file a misdemeanor charge for gambling. Rowe said\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0not much to work with.\u00a0The ordinance, which first took effect on last May 1, in his opinion, has\u00a0not been a magic bullet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe enforcement on this has been\u00a0\u2013\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a civil deal.\u00a0We have not received a single civil fine yet\u00a0for any\u00a0various number\u00a0of\u00a0reasons. \u2026\u00a0I think\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0at about fifty-fifty on\u00a0permit removals, from what I was told,\u201d Rowe said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meaning \u2013 his officers have been successful about half the time when requesting\u00a0game room permits\u00a0be\u00a0revoked.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Commissioner Jason Corley, who proposed the original ordinance, said\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0working.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust making people register their business and having some reasonable requirements to have them\u00a0register\u00a0to have those businesses and some reasonable guidelines to\u00a0operate\u00a0them. That was all it took to go from 100 illegal game rooms down to about 31 is where\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0at\u00a0today,\u201d Corley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thirty one\u00a0is not disputed. But before 2025, the county did not officially track game room\u00a0numbers\u00a0so not everyone agrees it was 100.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0seen a game room shooting.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0not seeing\u00a0the violence.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0not seeing all the problems that we had before,\u201d Corley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rowe disagreed.\u00a0Calls for robbery, domestic violence and the like were running about one call per game room per year before the ordinance took effect. That\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0changed,\u00a0he\u00a0said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked if the ordinance is working, Rowe at first said, \u201cI don\u2019t really think so.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But as he thought about a little bit, Rowe then said, \u201cThere are certainly some areas that\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0receiving reports that this has potentially\u00a0assisted.\u00a0\u2026\u00a0My guys that have been out checking compliance and enforcement, as I was told this morning in fact, that\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0received a lot of\u00a0\u2018thank\u00a0yous\u2019\u00a0from folks,\u201d\u00a0Rowe said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Corley wonders if the ordinance will continue working now that commissioners approved changes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy concerns are about some of these changes on whether or not they will see\u00a0a\u00a0legal challenge,\u201d\u00a0Corley said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you go to court, now\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0going to be having a court case about what is reasonable. So,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0concerned we might be pushing our luck there,\u201d\u00a0Corley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The biggest challenge will be hours of operation, Corley said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to restrict these activities, but we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want to get the county sued either. \u2026 My concern would be that they throw out the whole ordinance. Then what?\u201d Corley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lawsuit threat\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson and Garcia said\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0working on a lawsuit. Thompson was in favor of the original 2025\u00a0ordinance,\u00a0and Garcia said he had a hand in helping to write it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson said, \u201cI think the biggest thing that the original ordinance did is make people spend money on security.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
There had been other shootings and incidents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Garcia said, \u201cThose\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0the\u00a0employees,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0not the owners.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0not customers. Those are people that are outside trying to commit a\u00a0robbery for the most part.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson\u00a0mentioned the case of\u00a0Jamie Lee Pruett\u00a0who\u00a0was accused of shooting four people, one fatally, all in\u00a0different locations\u00a0in 2023. It just so\u00a0happened\u00a0one of the victims was\u00a0at\u00a0a game room.\u00a0\u00a0Pruett\u00a0remains\u00a0jailed while his criminal charges are pending.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thompson and Garcia both felt like the recent changes went too far.\u00a0The idea behind the original ordinance was to make it as simple as a food inspection or a building inspection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Garcia said,\u00a0\u201cInstead of just walking in with a clipboard like I designed this thing, they\u2019re walking in in tactical gear with the\u00a0SWAT\u00a0team and long guns.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moreover,\u00a0Garcia thought\u00a0the county violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government body is required to give written notice of the subject of each meeting held by the government body,\u201d\u00a0Garcia said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Changes were listed on the public agenda, but not hours of operation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
As of\u00a0Friday\u00a0at noon, the lawsuit had not been filed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n
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