If it looks like a slot machine, and sounds like a slot machine, is it a slot machine? That is the question facing Jacksonville leaders.  The city does not allow slot machines, and yet they seem to be everywhere. There are roughly twenty of so establishments that have places for residents to try their luck at winning. Some of the places, such as the Goldrush Game Room, really look and sound like a Las Vegas Casino, and players can play the “slot machines” for gift cards.  

The residents think the new gaming rooms are fun, and don’t think of them as actual gambling, but they are. Especially since the gift cards that the slot machines put out can be used anywhere – the same as cash.  The city council has decided enough is enough, and is considering passing a law that would outlaw the gaming rooms and the slot machines. They say it is gambling, no matter what kind of package you put it in.  The owners and operators of the slot machines say that it isn’t gambling; they claim that the games are skill based, not chance. "Well, I mean it's just like the lottery; you spend money on the lottery and that's gambling to us," said Goldrush General Manager Robert Bishop.  

The council’s main concern is those that are spending money they don’t have, and they want to basically protect them from themselves. The patrons of the establishments say that what they spend on the slot machines is their business, and for the council to keep out of it. The state will have the final determination in whether or not they stay open, so for now they will. However, if the city council chooses to pass the law banning the slot machines, they will have to close up shop.

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