Lubbock County leaders decline to revisit game room order
The Lubbock County Commissioners Court on Tuesday declined to revisit an order cracking down on game rooms, severely restricting their operations in the county. That came a week after a shooting targeting a game room killed one and injured three others the same day commissioners opted to table discussion on the order until fall.
During the special work session Tuesday afternoon, commissioners heard public comments on the proposed order, which lays out new requirements for legally operating a game room in Lubbock County and caps the number of game rooms that will be permitted in the county.
The Commissioners Court, however, did not discuss the game room proposal, voting 3-2 not to remove the item from the table. The court opted during a March 13 to table debate on the ordinance until September, when budget discussions are in progress.
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The proposed order, sponsored by Precinct 2 Commissioner Jason Corley and authored by Lubbock attorney Ben Garcia, would require game rooms to obtain a permit from the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office to legally operate in the county. Operating a game room in the county without a permit would be subject to a fine of up to $10,000 per day, and illicit game room operators could be charged with a class A misdemeanor under the order.
It would also cap the total number of game rooms allowed in the county to one per every 30,000 residents and regulate where they can be located.
Corley says the game rooms, besides facilitating illegal gambling, lead to other crimes like drug trafficking, prostitution and human trafficking.
"The gambling is the least of my concerns," Corley said during the March 13 meeting when commissioners initially considered the order.
Sheriff Kelly Rowe told commissioners during that meeting he does not believe regulation would deter bad actors and said the sheriff's office does not have the resources to enforce the order. He said there were "higher priorities" for law enforcement than game room enforcement.
"These issues of prostitution, human trafficking and all that … we're not seeing it out there," Rowe told the court March 13. "We're not seeing what is being stated is happening."
Just about four hours after that initial meeting last week, 49-year-old Jamie Lee Pruett allegedly opened fire in a south Lubbock County game room, killing 32-year-old Christian Rios and critically wounding another person there. Pruett also shot two other people at other locations during the serial shooting, sheriff's office officials said.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock County leaders decline to revisit game room order
