U.S. District Judge Brian Davis denied an emergency injunction for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented the city of Jacksonville from shutting down adult arcades as soon as next week.
“This case is yet another front in the battle to define the contours outlining the legality of the adult gaming industry,” Davis wrote in the denial.
The plaintiffs, owners and operators of three adult arcades in Duval County, challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance enacted by City Council and signed by Mayor Lenny Curry that declared the businesses a public nuisance and calling for their closure.
The city began delivering cease-and-desist orders to more than 150 adult arcades on Monday.
The arcade owners denied that the games provided at their businesses constitute gambling, but Davis disagreed.
“The key requirement here is that the playing of the game entitles the user to a “payoff”; it is not, as Plaintiffs would have the court believe, the playing of a video game – regardless of whether it is a game one would expect to find in a casino,” Davis wrote.
“Plaintiffs are unlikely to show that the Ordinances run afoul of the United States Constitution,” Davis concluded in the denial.
