Lubbock County Commissioners approve game room ordinance

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lubbock County Commissioners passed new regulations for game rooms.

The motion to approve a new ordinance passed three to two at a meeting Monday morning. Lubbock County Judge Curtis Parrish and Precinct 3 Commissioner Gilbert Flores voted not to pass.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: KCBD Investigates: Stricter rules could be on the way for Lubbock County game rooms

Precinct 2 Commissioner Jason Corley originally proposed limiting game room permits to one for every 30,000 residents in Lubbock County.

Judge Parrish argues, since game rooms can only operate in unincorporated territory, it should only count residents within that area. That population comes out to just over 34,000.

With the approval of Judge Parrish’s amendment, the county will only permit one game room starting January 1, 2025.

“My goal through all of this was to make sure that we got to a place where we’re going to make it hard for these folks to operate in Lubbock County,“ Parrish said. ”I did not want to see any game rooms at all, but the law says that we have to have some sort of an ordinance, so that’s what we passed today.”

Each of Lubbock’s current game rooms, now more than 80 of them, will have to apply for that one permit.

As part of another amendment, it will be located in Corley’s precinct two, southeast Lubbock County.

The ordinance would limit the number of game room permits in Lubbock County, the hours of operation and require background checks for owners and employees.

The plan would also create a team of officers that regularly check to make sure game rooms are complying with the law.