The no-name business in a strip shopping center off Normandy Boulevard had something to hide behind plate glass windows covered top to bottom by sheets of black material.

On the other side of the windows, inspection photos provided by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to the city’s code compliance division showed “simulated gambling devices and arcade machines,” according to a case summary report.

Code compliance posted a cease and desist order on the door on June 28, marking the 25th time the city has shut down such operations since 2019 when City Council banned adult arcades that make money off games that resemble what’s found on a casino floor, city records show.

Those inspections and shutdown orders will continue after an attempt to legalize adult arcades came up empty this month.

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City Council member Garrett Dennis filed the legislation to legalize and regulate adult arcades. But on what was likely his last council meeting, the rest of council voted 15-1 to withdraw the bill on Aug. 23. Dennis cast the lone vote against withdrawal.

The end of the road for the bill came after General Counsel Jason Teal told council that as a matter of law, the devices are illegal.

“The issue is the bill attempts to have the city authorize something that we’re not legally allowed to authorize, which is gambling,” Teal said.

Dennis disputed that opinion.

“I don’t think it’s illegal gambling,” he told council members. “I ask you to not withdraw this bill because I think he’s wrong.”

Dennis, who resigned from council to make what was an unsuccessful run for the state House of Representatives, said after the council meeting that if such devices are illegal slot machines, the state would already have shut down adult arcades that operate openly in The Villages, the large retirement mecca.

Sumter County, where The Villages is located, approved an ordinance earlier this year that regulates such businesses by requiring them to get operating permits and undergo inspections by the sheriff’s office.

In Jacksonville, the Florida Gaming Control Commission sent a letter to officials in July saying the legalization of adult arcades could conflict with the state’s prohibition on slot machines in most of the state.

“Slot machines in Florida are generally illegal,” commission Executive Director Louis Trombetta wrote in the July 21 letter. “And slot machine gambling is not specifically allowed in Duval County.”

© David Bauerlein Black material blocks the view through windows of a storefront where the city of Jacksonville issued a cease and desist order on June 28, 2022. The order said the establishment violated a city ban on “simulated gambling” devices.

Even if council had not withdrawn Dennis’s bill, no one else spoke in favor of reversing the council’s ban.

“This isn’t something that happened 50 years ago,” City Council member Al Ferraro, who sponsored the 2019 bill, said of the debate that caused council to ban the machines.

The legislation from three years ago did not declare that “simulated gambling” machines are illegal slot machines. Instead, the ordinance said that such establishments are hot spots for crime, including armed robbery, and therefore can be cited as public nuisances. Two people died that year trying to stop crimes at those establishments in Jacksonville.

The ban caused the closure of 140 to 160 businesses that had mushroomed across the city in strip shopping centers and stand-alone buildings.

Those operations have not returned to that widespread presence, but they do still do pop up, often by being part of other businesses such as convenience stores, nightclubs and family-owned restaurants.

Dennis’s bill would have limited the number of permits for such establishments to 20 locations and put in place regulations for on-site armed security guards and security cameras.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville City Council pulls attempt to legalize ‘simulated gambling’ at adult arcades