BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) – Adult arcades in Manatee County may have more restrictions in the future.
The Manatee County Commission on Tuesday directed the county attorney’s office to help draft a local ordinance regulating gaming, based on Marion County codes prohibiting simulated gambling devices.
“It’s become a challenge for Manatee County because of the high rate of crime the violent crime that these businesses attract,” Manatee County Commissioner Tal Siddique said Tuesday.
In August, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office raided an arcade on Cortez Road after receiving a tip and conducting undercover visits that confirmed illegal gambling via electronic slot/gambling gaming machines.
The sheriff’s office said 55 full-size arcade-style slot machines, 27 computers, and other electronic equipment used for illegal gaming were seized, along with more than $160,000 in illegal proceeds.
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Saddique said Tuesday that the challenge is at the state level. With only 18 Florida Gaming Commission law-enforcement officers, it’s often up to local authorities to conduct investigations. “Frankly, they just can’t keep up. It’s like playing Whack-a-Mole.”
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office says a number of violent disturbances have been reported in these arcades in the past seven years.
The sheriff office says 56 calls were made from these establishments, most for assault and burglary cases.
“What we have seen in Manatee County is proliferation of businesses that label themselves as arcades, Internet, cafés, social clubs, and other businesses, even bars,” Siddique said. The gaming machines inside, “try to get in that gray area where they try to classify themselves as games of skill or they say they’re not slot machine machines which are regulated by the state,” he said, “but it takes very quick investigation by a sheriff’s deputy to indicate that these are in fact, illegal gambling machines.”
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