\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i62.tinypic.com\/vo9bfa.jpg\")
\n\tDotty\u2019s near Eastern and Serene in Henderson is shown Thursday, March 24, 2011.<\/p>\n
\n
\n\tDotty\u2019s near Eastern and Serene in Henderson is shown Thursday, March 24, 2011.<\/p>\n
\tBy Conor Shine (contact) Conor Shine
\n\tTuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 | 2 a.m.<\/p>\n
\tThe battle over how much money taverns can make from bartop slot machines is shaping up with a new ordinance set to be introduced by the Clark County Commission today.<\/p>\n
\n\tCommissioners have struggled for years to rein in slot parlors like Dotty\u2019s, which critics say operate more like mini-casinos than bars. The commission passed new regulations targeting the industry in 2011, but commission Chairman Steve Sisolak says they didn\u2019t do enough to solve the problem.<\/p>\n
\tNow Sisolak is proposing tighter regulations on slot parlors.<\/p>\n
\tCommissioners will introduce the new ordinance today and spend the next two months gathering feedback before a Dec. 2 vote.<\/p>\n
\tHere\u2019s a look at what\u2019s in the law:<\/p>\n
\tThe 50 percent threshold<\/p>\n
\tThe biggest change is a requirement that bars with slot machines make at least 50 percent of their revenue from the sale of food and drinks. Previously, the law only required that gaming revenue be \u201cincidental\u201d to the main business of selling food and drinks. But the law never defined incidental, leaving a loophole that allowed businesses to earn up to 70 percent of their revenues from slot machines.<\/p>\n
\tWho\u2019s pushing for the changes?<\/p>\n
\tSisolak has been the most vocal supporter of new slot parlor rules, but he has some powerful allies. Station Casinos, the locals casino giant, and the powerful Nevada Resort Association, the primary lobbying group for hotels and casinos, have also pushed for tighter rules in the past. Those groups argue that slot parlors, such as Dotty’s, operate more like casinos than bars by emphasizing slot machine gaming over food and drink sales. But Dotty\u2019s doesn\u2019t have the same restrictions and tax burdens faced by conventional casinos.<\/p>\n
\tWhat other changes are in the new law?<\/p>\n
\tThe new law also changes several definitions to make them more clear. For instance, to qualify as a bar with a restaurant, the establishment must serve food prepared in the kitchen. Pre-packaged or prepared meals that are reheated in an oven, like what Dotty’s serves, don\u2019t count toward the bar\u2019s 50 percent food and beverage sales threshold. Sales of cigarettes, a popular item at Dotty\u2019s, also don\u2019t qualify toward the 50 percent mark.<\/p>\n
\tFinally, bars will be required to submit detailed records to the county each year showing how much money they made from food and beverage sales compared to how much they made from gaming. Bars that don’t meet the 50 percent threshold could see their number of allowed slot machines slashed from a maximum of 15 to seven.<\/p>\n
\tAre there any exceptions?<\/p>\n
\tAny bar that operates a kitchen staffed by at least one employee for 16 hours a day is exempt from the 50 percent revenue test. This is meant to protect smaller bars that are trying to follow the law but still bring in more money from gaming than food.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe concern was if they\u2019re following the rules and have a kitchen open and then someone comes in who happens to spend $25,000 on the slot machine. It could throw the whole thing out of balance,\u201d Sisolak said.<\/p>\n
\tThe law also contains a grandfather clause that allows any bar open since 2006 or earlier to continue operating without any changes.<\/p>\n
Posted by:<\/strong> sevenout on October 8, 2014, 7:38 pm<\/p>\n \tThe government is more like an old school protection racket. As long as they are getting their cut, all is good. But start coming up a little short…. watch out for those knees.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dotty\u2019s near Eastern and Serene in Henderson is shown Thursday, March 24, 2011. By Conor Shine (contact) Conor Shine Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014 | 2 a.m. The battle over how much money taverns can make from bartop slot machines is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}But Dotty\u2019s doesn\u2019t have the same restrictions and tax burdens faced by conventional casinos.<\/p>\n