CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Nueces County Sheriff's Office went before county commissioners during Wednesday's regularly scheduled session to talk about tightening ordinances regarding game rooms.
Nueces County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy David Cook said that while the ordinance has helped set clear parameters regarding game room operations, there are still areas he feels could use more attention.
"They were being slow about providing documents and things, it made it difficult, you know, to operate, they can continue to make money," Cook said.
He said that while game rooms operating without a permit isn't as common as it used to be in Nueces County, he wants to make sure to keep it that way.
"People are going to be renewing their permits and we don't want people to spend six months in the process of renewing their permit and I don't want that process to go longer than 90 days," he said.
By keeping the ordinance as tight as possible, Cook said it helps out in others areas, such as preventing illegal gambling.
"If they don't have a permit we can shut them down for simply not having a permit," he said.
If a game room owner does have a permit, Cook said that it still provides a window of opportunity.
"If they make an illegal payout, and we determine they are making an illegal payout, we can shut them down on illegal gambling charges," he said.
Nueces County Precinct 3 Commissioner John Marez said that since game rooms are community problem, they require community feedback.
"My solution was to have a committee created that would represent all four precincts of Nueces County to be able to have feedback," Marez said.
While no decision was officially made in commissioners court Wednesday, he said that they hope to reconvene on the issue.
"Until or unless it's ruled illegal we need good regulations in order to guide potential business owners," Marez said.
Cook said that since January 2023, his department has seen 33 game room applications and only seven have been approved for permits.