ROSEBURG, Ore. - For the second time around, the idea of bringing social gaming to Roseburg has been brought up to the City Council, and it's looking like it might be a possibility this time.
Social gaming is essentially a gambling experience where there are no house odds or abilities to lose money to the facility. It's a structured game, but a social one.
Eli Hanna is the owner of the Club House in Sutherlin, a social gaming business. This is the second time that he's brought the idea of social gaming to the City Council. He said he thinks Roseburg could benefit from it, and he thinks more people are responding positively than last time.
”If you don’t know anything about poker or you don’t play, you think it’s a dark dungeon room where people go and gamble and break laws or something," Hanna said.
His business is able to exist because of an ordinance in Sutherlin. Roseburg would be basing their own ordinance off of this one and a few others.
Roseburg City Manager, Lance Colley, said one thing the council will definitely not budge on is not allowing alcohol to be sold at these businesses. Sutherlin's ordinance includes that rule.
”The ones that don’t allow alcohol sales have experienced very little issues," said Colley.
The issue was discussed further at a Roseburg City Council meeting on Monday night. It's undetermined when a decision will be made yet.