The Dave & Buster’s location at the Gateway Center shopping complex in the Brooklyn borough of New York, USA, on Saturday, March 30, 2024.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Arcade chain Dave and Buster’s The plan to allow customers to bet doesn’t win everyone over.
Software company Lucra Sports announced Tuesday that it is partnering with the entertainment chain to allow customers to bet on arcade games through the Dave & Buster’s app.
But some lawmakers foul out.
Illinois State Representative Daniel Didech, Democrat of Buffalo Grove, filed an account on Thursday designed to prohibit family entertainment centers from facilitating wagering on amusement games. It also seeks to criminalize the activity by amending the Illinois Penal Code. His bill has bipartisan support and is supported by more than two dozen other state legislators.
“It is inappropriate for family-friendly arcades to facilitate unregulated gambling on their premises. These businesses simply do not have the ability to supervise gambling activity in a safe and responsible manner,” Didech said in a statement.
Didech, who also serves as chairman of the Illinois House Gaming Committee, said he will introduce legislation this session to clarify that such conduct is illegal under Illinois law.
Didech told CNBC that he sees many problems with the idea, from a lack of protections for problem gamblers to exposing younger people to gambling. He said that while Illinois requires people to be 21 or older to play, Lucra’s service is for people 18 and older.
“None of those protections are in place at Dave & Buster’s locations. They haven’t even remotely done their due diligence,” Didech said.
Customers play an arcade car racing game at a Dave & Buster’s Entertainment location.
Timothy Fadek | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Ohio Game Control Board has also taken notice.
“The Commission has serious concerns about the proposal – including that it appears to violate Ohio law regarding the facilitation of illegal prizes for skill-based gaming machines,” a spokesperson for the Ohio Casino Control Commission told CNBC. “We are contacting Dave & Buster’s for additional information.”
Both Lucra Sports — the company that will power Dave & Buster’s app betting — and Dave & Buster’s declined to comment on the dispute.
As sports betting has exploded since it became legal in much of the country, companies are trying to cash in on the gambling craze. The idea for Dave & Buster’s is to offer customers a new form of entertainment and keep them engaged longer and ultimately spending more money.
Lucra said most of the bets on its software platform, which allows users to compete for real money in friendly competitions, average around $10 in size. But the company has not yet decided on a maximum bet amount for Dave & Buster’s.
Lucra said the deal with Dave & Buster’s isn’t subject to the same gambling regulations or taxes that sports books are, because peer-to-peer betting is considered skill-based. Lucra also said she has extensive responsible game applicable policies, such as self-exclusion or self-restriction options on the platform;
Brett Abarbanel, executive director of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said she is interested to see what safeguards, if any, will be implemented by Dave & Buster’s.
“Regardless of the legal classification of the activity as ‘non-gambling’ versus ‘gambling’, this is an activity in which participants risk something significant for an uncertain outcome. Therefore, there should be consumer protection measures for players, particularly when the target audience is shifting towards younger participants,” he said.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct filing day for Illinois State Representative Daniel Didech’s bill.