HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Susan Matthews owns Sportsman Restaurant & Lounge on Williamsburg Road in eastern Henrico County, Virginia.
Matthews said she planned to comply with state law and remove the now illegal skill games from her business.
"I’m probably going to cry. Because the last time they turned them off, it affected my business terribly," Matthews said about the machines which are part video game and part slot machine."They were off for six months. My sales went to half in the first month, the second month it was about 40 percent because you know, some people started coming back, but still, the six months that we were out, it was 30 to 50% difference in my sales, because people weren’t coming in at all.”
As a business owner, Matthews takes some of the money customers put into the machines and credits the machines for some people choosing to buy food and drink at her restaurant.
"A lot of our customers have been lately, just coming in for the entertainment of games," she said. "This is our livelihood. We need these games. COVID lost so much to us, anyway, that we need these games to continue to pay our bills, pay our rent."
A ban on electronic skill games in Virginia went back into effect in October after the state Supreme Court vacated an injunction that allowed thousands of the betting machines to remain in operation. The injunction was issued by a lower court in an ongoing lawsuit that argues the ban is a violation of free speech.
On Monday, Greensville County Circuit Court granted Attorney General Jason Miyares' motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Hermie Sadler of Sadler Brothers Oil Company, which said the ban was "unconstitutional, over-broad and violated the rights of business owners and their customer's First Amendment rights."
A statement from Sadler's attorney, Bill Stanely, said in part: "Today's court decision upends hundreds of years of Virginia law and customary practice that distinguished between legal skills games, where a player could win a game every time based upon their ability and skill, and illegal games of chance, where a player had no ability to control the outcome."
This week, Matthews learned she'd finally have to remove the games.
The Virginia General Assembly passed legislation outlawing skill games in 2020, but former Gov. Ralph Northam delayed it for a year to help the state raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts.
The ban then took effect in 2021, but a lawsuit resulted in an injunction that allowed games already registered with the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to continue until the issue was resolved.
“The problem is the police don’t have a way of looking at the machines to tell which ones are skill games," Eric Howard, Vice President of C and L Amusements, said. "So when we did the taxes, we got these big yellow stickers on the machines, so ours were identified as being registered with the state, and our games were legal to run.”
Howard said his business will also take a hit.
"There's so many people that you have transition out of. I've got 13 employees. I don't really know what to do with them," Howard said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies have issued warnings to business owners to remove the machines or face fines.
The following cities and counties will have a skills games ban that will be enforced in 2024:
Petersburg: Went into effect November 16, 2023 - immediately after the case was dismissed.
Richmond: January 1
Fluvanna County: January 31
Commonwealth attorneys across the commonwealth will be responsible for enforcement.
In Richmond, Chief Rick Edwards said in a statement: "Due to the recent confusion – we feel it is appropriate to provide the public in Richmond with a reasonable period of time for education and to alert everyone that these machines are again banned. Once that reasonable period expires – the public will be subject to penalties just like with any other violation of the law. For the skill games – that could be civil and criminal penalties, including fines, the seizure of property and even jail time. Should there be probable cause to charge someone, the RPD will work, as usual, in consultation with the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney on how best to proceed."
Both Chesterfield Police and Henrico Police are also working to determine a plan for enforcement, allowing for a grace period until then.
“We’re not saying that we don’t want to pay our part," Matthews said. " We just want to keep our games.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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