Beaumont — Next Tuesday, the Beaumont City Council is set to vote on whether to ban gaming machines.
If council members outlaw these games of chance, the city attorney says store owners will be given a 90 to 120 day grace period.
A ban would impact 66 stores in Beaumont.
One of those store owners, along with the attorney representing them, is telling their side of the story to KFDM.
Shawn Nizamani is only 32 years old, but the business owner is a veteran of the convenience store industry, having worked in it since Nizamani was just a teenager.
He owns four stores, three in Houston and one in Beaumont–the West End Food Mart.
But these game machines inside are putting Nizamani’s store and 65 other stores with the similar machines in financial jeopardy.
That’s because the Beaumont City Council is considering banning them.
“A lot of these small business owners, they’re not going to be able to survive,” said Nizamani. “It provides a small supplemental income that helps us state afloat.”
Scott Renick is the attorney representing the 66 stores that would be negatively impacted if the city bans the game machines. He says not only will the small business owners suffer, so will Beaumont’s economy.
“What is the need to remove approximately $600,000 in tax revenue from Beaumont,” said Renick. “There’s no answer that is given by the city. We’ve repeatedly asked and no one will explain.”
Renick says the store owners through their investment in the city just 18 month ago have shown their commitment to following the rules, and have met the city’s demand to enhance security and safety.
“Per store front, this costs each business $20,000 to $40,000,” said Renick. “These businesses complied with, these provide the salary of one or two clerks a year. This is not the backbone, but an important revenue stream for each business.”
Nizamani says he has to jump through more hoops in Beaumont, including paying higher fees, than he has to with his stores in Houston, also being forced to address requirements that he’s already met for his state license.
“I have all my state licenses. I get them issued every year. The State of Texas doesn’t have an issue with it. I have all the way back to 2020, they’re still issuing out permits, they’re still issuing out state decals, they don’t have an issue with it, City of Beaumont sent me a letter about banning it. They didn’t give us an explanation why.”
Renick also says there’s really no public outcry against the machines from citizens, but banning them likely will upset people.
Paula Lara is one of them. She’s a regular game machine player at Nizamani’s store.
“Every day I come over here to play these machines, and I want to keep them up and running,” said Lara. “I don’t see there’s any issue. I’m one of the voters to keep them up and going.”
Some council members have raised concerns about the machines attracting criminal activity. They want a complete shutdown.
“They bring things that aren’t good and we’re trying to better this community,” said At-Large Councilman Mike Williams. “We want to to be a safe place. We want Beaumont to be a place where you don’t come here to break the law.”
Whether there’s a direct connection is a question that Beaumont Police Chief Tim Ocnaschek is asked about a lot.
“Our opinion’s been asked, like you asked,” said Chief Ocnaschek. “Can we attribute these crime stats directly to these game rooms? We’ve answered that as best we can.”
Chief Ocnaschek says making a correlation is difficult. He says calls range from hundreds at some locations to none at others.
“Whether I can say for sure that it’s happening, I can’t take the stats like that. Not with an unreasonable amount of man hours. I think the indications are there that it happens.”
Texas’ Second Court of Appeals ruled that gaming machines are unconstitutional, and that decision is what seems to be driving Beaumont City Council to want to ban them here.
Renick disagrees with their assumption.
“It has no binding in what happens in Beaumont, Texas,” said Renick. “The Texas Supreme Court did not hear that case and the voters of Texas have not voted on whether to ban these games. It has no binding authority. Beaumont doesn’t have to do anything because of something that happened in Fort Worth.”
Nizamani says he has plans to expand his business, but he fears a Beaumont ban will drive away investment plans.
“We’re not going to stay in Beaumont,” said Nizamani. “It’s just going to take money out of the city.”
“These are people that live here,” said Renick. “They are part of this community and they are investing in the city. The State of Texas may be open for business, but I’m not sure the city of Beaumont is.”
In Vidor, city council has voted to ban gaming machines.
In Orange, Mayor Larry Spears says council had considered a ban but decided to hold back.
Mayor Spears says as long as the State of Texas is still issuing permits, it didn’t seem right to ban the machines locally.
