Class B Machines in Atlanta: What the City Code Says

Georgia's rules apply in Atlanta: a Class B location license for your business, up to nine Class B machines per location (GLC), the 50% rule and non-cash prizes. See Georgia COAM rules.

State law lets a local government lower the limit to six (O.C.G.A. § 50-27-86). We searched the Atlanta code and found no ordinance that does (Atlanta code).

Atlanta spans Fulton and DeKalb counties. Inside city limits, the city code applies. If you're outside them, check your county or your own city instead. To sketch where machines could go, use the planner.

Sec. 14-9 defines a game center as "any place or premises on which there is provided coin-operated or fee-paid mechanical, electronic or other similar devices primarily manufactured for amusement and entertainment purposes" (Sec. 14-9(a)).

That definition sets no minimum number of machines, and it doesn't mention Class B or COAMs. "Primarily" describes how a device was made, not what the business mainly does. So, read literally, it could reach a business with even one amusement device.

We haven't found any extra city requirement for a bar, restaurant or store with a few Class B machines, beyond the state location license and the city business license. Sec. 14-9 covers game centers. Confirm with the APD License and Permit Unit before you install.

Where the section applies, it requires this (Sec. 14-9):

• A permit. You apply in writing to the police department. The License Review Board holds a hearing and makes a recommendation, and the mayor has 60 days to decide. The city's planning bureau notifies the district and at-large councilmembers and the NPU chair.
• School distance. No permit within 300 yards of a public school or schoolgrounds in residentially zoned districts, or within 300 feet of public schoolgrounds if your business is in a commercially zoned district.
• School hours. No school-age child can be on the premises during school hours while school is in session. A violation can cost you the permit.

The city's fee schedule lists "Game room" at $150 among license applications that go to the License Review Board (Sec. 30-28). It doesn't say that's the same thing as a game center, so confirm the fee when you ask.

The code says: "No retail dealer in distilled spirits by the package shall permit on the premises any slot machines or mechanical music boxes or pinball machines of any kind or any coin-operated machines or any machines operated for amusement purposes" (Sec. 10-221).

In 2016, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed a conviction under a Clarkston ordinance that barred certain package alcohol retailers from having coin-operated amusement devices. It held that the state's COAM laws preempted the ordinance, at least as applied to COAMs as the state defines them (Gebrekidan v. City of Clarkston). That may limit a local rule like Atlanta's as applied to COAMs. See COAMs and your liquor license.

If you run a package liquor store, confirm with the city or an attorney before you act either way.

It might. Businesses in the city need an occupation tax certificate from the Office of Revenue (Sec. 30-65). Until 2025, Sec. 30-63 listed "owners or operators of businesses where bona fide coin operated amusement machines are available for commercial use and play by the public" among the professions it covered (Ordinance 2025-35).

That list is no longer in the section as published, which now says it "applies to practitioners of professions" (Sec. 30-63). We can't tell you how that treats a business with machines. Ask the Office of Revenue whether hosting machines changes your certificate or your tax.