MACON, Georgia — Dozens of business owners in Macon-Bibb County will face trial for operating too many coin-operated amusement machines or COAMs.

Last week, law enforcement officers searched for violators in Macon-Bibb County.

"In just a few days, we found so many illegal machines in our community, and we are dealing with them. This is surprising," said JT Ricketson, director of the Macon-Bibb County Law Enforcement Department.

Although Georgia law allows 9 B-class game consoles in each location, Macon-Bibb’s statute limits the number to 6.

In just two days, law enforcement officers visited all 163 Macon locations licensed through the Georgia Lottery Company. The reference was written for 143 additional machines in 70 locations.

This means that nearly 43% of permitted locations in the county violated the law.

The discovery came after the Mayor of Leicester Miller dispatched law enforcement to ensure that local convenience stores comply with stricter surveillance camera regulations related to alcohol licenses.

When Ricketson noticed the additional machines, they carried out inspections across the county and visited every store within a few days.

Miller told the Collaborative News Center that the news spread quickly in the business world.

"We noticed that once we got to some shops, left there and went to other shops, suddenly the shopkeeper put the bags on them. They were moving them, unplugging them, so I think it’s obvious that they know that apart from the law Besides, what they have is not only allowed, but it is up to the court to decide," Miller said.

At the committee meeting on Tuesday night, Wendy Evans submitted public comments on coin-operated amusement machines.

"Please remove gambling machines from all Macon-Bibb businesses. They ruin families like drugs," her email comment said.

Georgia State law allows the use of these machines. Since 2013, these machines have been supervised by the Georgia Lottery Company and executed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Virgil Watkins led a crusade and criticized the existence of machines in poorer communities. He set up a committee last year to investigate this issue.

"Part of the reason is that our poorest people are those who want to make money quickly," Watkins said at a recent Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Committee working meeting on convenience stores. "They are as close as possible to our most vulnerable citizens."

He described the smell of cigarette smoke in shops overnight when people played with machines.

"People are enjoying a good time, just like you are on the Las Vegas Strip. This is bad for our community," Watkins said

The P&Z commissioners were frustrated by the number of new store applications they saw and suspended new applications for 90 days, which may be extended by the end of next month.

"In order to generate more revenue, more locations must be created," Watkins said, as the reason for the excessive number of applications for stores.

To combat the food desert, Watkins led the Macon-Bibb County Commission to ban alcohol licenses for so-called "secondary markets", which had gaming machines but did not sell fuel or fresh meat and vegetables.

Macon-Bibb County does not receive any proceeds from gambling machines, but the Georgia Lottery Commission collects a maximum of 10% of the proceeds, and the rest is divided equally between the location operator and the main license holder who owns the machine.

Georgia law also stipulates that stores cannot make most of the profits from COAMS.

Cash payments are illegal, but Watkins estimates that nearly two dozen stores are breaking the law.

In 2018, District Attorney David Cooke announced a raid on several businesses, resulting in 41 people and 61 business entities being named in suspected statewide conspiracies.

P&Z attorney Pope Langstaff is now studying Georgia law to determine whether Macon-Bibb County can adjust the distance between COAM locations and make other code changes that may restrict locations.

The operator cited last week may face a fine of $1,000 for each additional machine found during the inspection. The date of the hearing is being determined by the municipal court.

Citizen News Senior Researcher Liz Fabian is responsible for the Macon-Bibb County government entity and can be contacted at fabian_lj@mercer.edu or 478-301-2976.

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