Movetowipeout gamingmachines

February 1986

GAMING machines could soon become a thing of the past in Bray’s famed seafront strip of amusement arcades. For the Workers’ party are bidding to have them banned under the same legislation by which members of Dublin corporation recently closed down the city’s slot machines.

Cllr Dermot Tobin said that the three Workers’ Party members of Bray Urban Council would be moving a resolution at next week’s meeting to ‘adopt Part III of the Gaming and Lotteries Act, 1953’. He said that this legislation rescinds the entitlements of the courts to grant licences to slot machine operators when they are applied for each year.

He explained that the effect would be to stop operators renewing their licences as they expire over the coming year, while those currently seeking renewals would not have any licences at all. According to Cllr Tobin his party are making this move because they consider that the law currently governing gaming machines is ‘unenforceable’.

Asked if he did not consider this would result in serious job losses in arcades, Cllr Tobin said that his party did not accept that this was the case.

‘ This move would only affect gambling machines and the arcades would still be able to operate video machines, snooker tables and non-gambling type amusement,’ he said.

Meanwhile at this week’s meeting of the council, gardaí replied to a recent resolution from the council calling on them to enforce the law on illegal gaming machine operators.

A letter from the local superintendent noted that prosecutions had recently taken place against gaming machines operated illegally and added that future breaches of the act would be prosecuted.