By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MUNICIPAL DISTRICT — Pac-Man may be coming to a neighborhood near you, thanks to a City Council vote on Monday afternoon easing licensing requirements for businesses with arcade games.
The current laws restrict arcades with five or more games to certain locations, like Times Square and Coney Island. They also state that establishments with arcade games cannot be within 200 feet of schools.
“In this tough economic environment it’s important that we help small business,” City Council Deputy Majority leader Leroy Comrie said at the Council meeting.
He noted that movie theaters, laundromats and bars try to draw in customers by installing video games, and said that the city needs to enact legislation to help such businesses.
The new law stipulates that an establishment may have up to nine arcade games without a license.
