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Council advances three measures to curb game rooms and electronic gambling devices after prosecutors, communities testify
Summary
The Honolulu City Council passed readings on three related measures aimed at reducing illegal game rooms and electronic gambling devices. Prosecutors and community leaders described neighborhood harms; amendments were made to fine-tune enforcement and permitting options.
The Honolulu City Council advanced three related measures intended to reduce illegal game rooms, electronic gambling devices and associated harms in residential neighborhoods.
Council members and testifiers described game rooms as a driver of crime, youth exposure to illicit gambling near schools and community decline in several neighborhoods, including Kalihi and parts of the Leeward Coast. Multiple community members — teachers, principals and neighborhood-board representatives — and law-enforcement supporters urged action.
Gabe Huntington, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, said the bills were developed from a Game Room Task Force and that the measures give prosecutors and police an additional, non-felony tool to address devices that function as gambling machines. “This bill will allow us to…
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