Seattle no longer requires licensing fees for arcade games, pinball machines, pool tables and other amusements after the City Council voted 8-0 to end the decades-old rule.
According to KUOW, Seattle is just the latest jurisdiction to do this; Spokane made the same decision recently. The fees had also covered shuffleboards, riding machines like mechanical horses, dart machines and jukeboxes.
“It became clear and evident pretty quickly that there was no health, safety or welfare basis for this fee,” said Councilmember Andrew Lewis, who put forth the bill to do away with the amusement fee.
“The story with this ordinance, repealing the amusement license fee, begins with GameWorks coming back downtown – our marque arcade in the center Seattle – right after the pandemic,” Lewis said, noting that he had a conversation with the business’ owners about how to help such businesses recover.