BOB MEYERS
Remember launching the City of Milton ► PAGE 34
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Support group plans packages for troops during the holidays ALPHARETTA, Ga. — An Alpharetta veterans support group plans to send goodie packages to support military service members overseas this holiday season. The Blue Star Support Group will support several hundred troops deployed in Saudi Arabia in December, according to the organization. The parcels will include items such as games, books, toiletries, snacks and holiday cards. Created about 15 years ago, the group’s mission is to support U.S. troops and veterans. They also mow grass and perform home repairs for deployed soldiers and babysit veterans’ children. In the coming weeks, the organization will collect supplies and gather to package them before mailing them to Kuwait and then Saudi Arabia. Founding member Bonnie Steadman said she participates because her family has always been patriotic. Steadman has two sons who have served in the Army, a staff sergeant and colonel. Both sons have been deployed. “I love veterans,” she said. “When you think they might lay down their life for us to live the way we do, it’s staggering. In my mind, whatever we can do to help veterans feel our gratitude, we will do it.”
HAYDEN SUMLIN/APPEN MEDIA
At a gas station in Metro Atlanta’s Central Perimeter, a woman plays one of the store’s coin-based amusement machines, which resemble Las Vegas-style slot machines. Under state law, these types of coin-based amusement machines are legal because of their skill component.
State law draws more ‘slot machines’ By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — With legal, skill-based “slot machines” popping up at convenience stores across the state, some Metro Atlantans want to know how they work. A new law passed during the 2024 legislative session expanded the kind of rewards machines could
offer players, inviting an increase of awards-based gaming in stores around town. Coin-based amusement machines, different than slot machines in Las Vegas and Native American casinos, are classified as skill-based games in state law. Instead of pressing a button and randomly winning a prize, coin-based operating machines, or COAMs, require players to make a decision
before any prize is awarded. It’s a small, but important step that avoids the language of a bet for money. State statute defines two types of coin-based amusement machines. Class A ones, like typical arcade games, kiddie rides and pool tables, do not allow players to carry over points after a play or game.
See SLOTS, Page 6
— Jon Wilcox
Caroline Nalisnick C: 404.513.9226 | Caroline@HOMEgeorgia.com
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