You May Want to Know About These Two Bills
I want to let you know about a couple of bills filed at the Capitol in Little Rock this week that may concern many Arkansans.
The first bill is Senate Bill 745. It amends Arkansas’ so-called “Chuck-E-Cheese Law” by increasing the maximum value of each prize a person may claim for playing coin-operated games.
You’re probably familiar with businesses like Chuck-E-Cheese that allow children to win tickets by playing coin-operated games like skee ball; the tickets can be redeemed for toys or other prizes.
In the mid-1990’s the Arkansas legislature passed a law intended to let family-oriented businesses like Chuck-E-Cheese offer small prizes for these games without allowing full-fledged casinos in Arkansas. To do so, the legislature capped the maximum value of each prize the business offers at $12.50.
Currently, family-oriented businesses like Chuck-E-Cheese may let people play coin-operated games for prizes, provided that the prizes are worth no more than $12.50. S.B. 745 raises that maximum value from $12.50 to $850.