Code Section

50028.  

(a) The legislative body of any county, city, or city and county, whether general law or chartered, may adopt, by ordinance, such rules and regulations as it deems necessary, which require any coin-operated viewing machine to have permanently attached thereto a tally counter that will count each coin, and accumulate that count or the accumulated amount of money, deposited in the coin-operated viewing machine. The tally counter shall be resistant to tampering, and shall not be capable of being reset to a lower number, and shall display the count in such a manner that the accumulated total is readily visible near the coin insertion slot or opening. For purposes of this section, “coin-operated viewing machine” means any projector, machine, television, or other device that displays for viewing motion pictures, projection slides, filmstrips, photographic pictures, video recordings, or drawings, and that is operated by the viewer, or for the viewer, by means of inserting a coin into the device, an attachment thereto, an enclosure surrounding the device, or any other device electrically or mechanically connected thereto. For purposes of this section, “coin” means any physical object, including, but not limited to, a piece of metal issued by the federal government as money. “Coin-operated viewing machine” does not include an electronic video game of skill wherein the image is created, generated, or synthesized electronically, or coin-operated television receivers that display commercial or public service broadcasts.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any county ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be enforceable within the incorporated, as well as the unincorporated, area of the county, whether general law or chartered, unless a city ordinance in direct conflict with that county ordinance has been adopted, in which case the county ordinance shall be enforceable in the area of the county outside the city.

(c) (1) Any person who violates the provisions of the ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each machine and each day in which a violation occurs.

(2) In determining the amount of the penalty, the court shall take into consideration all relevant circumstances, including, but not limited to, the frequency of inspection, the cashflow through the machine, the amount of revenue derived by other machines in the vicinity, prior revenues generated, the nature and persistence of the violation, and prior violations by the same person or establishment.

(d) No peace officer, as defined in Section 830 of the Penal Code, shall check tally counters, provided, however, that an ordinance adopted pursuant to this section may provide for checking of tally counters by a person or persons employed by the adopting county, city, or city and county, other than a peace officer, on a predetermined schedule.

(e) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to limit, or otherwise affect, any other power of a county, city, or city and county to license, tax, or regulate business or commercial enterprises or property within their jurisdiction, but shall be in addition to those powers.