Sussex Could Have Happened in Cali

Slot machines in Sussex could soon be an extinct species, since recent regulations have been passed to limit the number and type of machines allowed in the arcades. Similar to the recent debate that has been going on with California and their definition of bingo machines versus slot machines, the most recent issue in Sussex brings up the fact that only lower payout machines are allowed in the arcades, and regardless of how big the arcade is, they are now limited to only four slot machines in the entire facility.

The arcade owners are protesting since they have spent years and years and thousands of dollars on improvements and machines for their parlors, only to have this recent legislation passed. The way things are now, gambling business is now going to outside sources, from horserace betting and table games, since those industries don’t have the same strict regulations that now plague the world of slots.

As I said, this dismal state would have been very possible if the state of California had ruled that bingo machines should be considered Vegas style slot machines, since there are limits to where and how many of those kinds of machines are allowed. Indian gaming casinos are the major businesses that would have been affected, since they would have had to remove all excess slots so that they’d still be in compliance with the law, and therefore remove all the machines that had been perfectly acceptable just hours before. If the state hadn’t realized the potentially horrible repercussions that the ruling would have had on Native American economy, they would have passed the slots limit law and the situation would be what Essex is unfortunately experiencing right now.

Back to July 2008 Archive.