Game-machine violations could threaten alcohol licenses under advancing proposal

Atlanta’s proposed amusement-machine rules would reach beyond the games themselves: specified machine-related violations could become grounds for action against a business’s license to sell alcohol.⁠[1]

The Finance/Executive Committee gave ordinance 26-O-1479 a 5-0 recommendation on November 10, ending a run of committee holds. The draft minutes list November 16 at 1 p.m. as its next step. The committee vote is a recommendation, not final enactment.⁠[1][2]

One important qualification: the minutes record a recommendation “on substitute” without explaining its wording changes. The provisions below appear in the ordinance text attached to the city’s legislative file; their exact match to the recommended substitute remains unconfirmed.⁠[1][3][4]

That posted text contains a conviction-based alcohol-license provision. It would add convictions under specified Georgia amusement-machine laws—or under the proposed city machine rules—to the grounds for adverse action against an alcohol license.⁠[1][4]

The posted proposal also contains the six-machine cap covered in our earlier report: a business could not offer the public more than six Class B machines at one location.⁠[4]

Its location rules would apply the city’s beer-and-wine package-store distance restrictions to businesses offering Class B machines. Both Class A and Class B machines would have to remain in plain view and accessible to people at the business.⁠[4]

The posted text names January 1, 2027, as the proposed effective date. That is not a compliance deadline established by this committee vote; final enactment and the precise substitute language remain unresolved in the records reviewed.⁠[1][4]