Texas Counties May License and Zone Game Rooms

Chapter 234, Subchapter E of the Local Government Code gives every Texas county's commissioners court, not just border or urban counties, authority to regulate "game rooms," defined in Section 234.131 as any for-profit business with six or more amusement redemption machines or other electronic, electromechanical, or mechanical devices that pay out a prize or thing of value determined wholly or partly by chance. Under Section 234.133, the commissioners court may confine game rooms to specified zones, ban them within a set distance of any school, church, or residential neighborhood, and cap how many can operate in a given area.

Section 234.134 lets the county require both owners/operators and rank-and-file employees to hold a license or permit, renewed periodically. Section 234.1341 sets the owner/operator application at a $1,000 fee and requires the assumed-name certificate, fingerprints, a criminal-history check, and the property owner's contact information. Section 234.1342 sets the employee application fee at $50 and bars issuing a permit to anyone previously convicted of a Class B misdemeanor or higher; the county must forward fingerprints to the Department of Public Safety. Section 234.135 caps any license or renewal fee at $1,000, tied to the county's actual processing and investigation costs.

Section 234.136 lets a peace officer or county employee inspect any premises to count machines and check compliance; refusing entry is itself a violation. Enforcement runs through Section 234.137 (civil penalty up to $10,000 per day, plus attorney's fees and court costs, recoverable by district-court injunction) and Section 234.138 (intentional or knowing operation in violation of a county regulation is a Class A misdemeanor). Section 234.140 makes clear that holding a county permit is not a defense to prosecution under the Penal Code's gambling chapter, Chapter 47, a licensed game room can still be raided if its machines pay out cash or store credit rather than merchandise.

Operating a game room without the county-required license, inside a zone the commissioners court has closed off, or blocking a compliance inspection triggers a civil suit for up to $10,000 per violation-day plus the county's attorney's fees and costs under Section 234.137. Intentionally or knowingly running an unlicensed or non-compliant game room is separately a Class A misdemeanor under Section 234.138, punishable by up to a year in county jail and a $4,000 fine. A district or county attorney may also seek an injunction shutting the location down.