Gambling machines: Use 'em or lose 'em

Idled night club could lose 'grandfathered' status

By RICHARD HANNERS / Whitefish Pilot

The status of the Flana-gan's Central Station building was brought up during the Feb. 19 Whitefish City Council meeting.

Steve Elm told the council that prospective buyers of the former night club were concerned about licensing for gaming machines there.

Businesses wishing to install new gambling machines are restricted to the casino district on the U.S. Highway 93 strip from 15th to 18th streets. If the gambling machines outside the district are not used for six months, they could lose their "grandfather" provision.

Elm said the interested buyers were reputable businessmen, and getting the building occupied with a new business would eliminate "an empty eyesore" on Central Avenue.

City attorney John Phelps, who told the council he spoke with the buyers' attorney, said the city's gambling ordinance was working to slowly eliminate gambling downtown through attrition.

He said the site started with 20 electronic gambling machines under the name Julio's Coaches Corner, but as new owner Jim Flanagan maintained fewer machines there, the allowable number of machines dropped to six.

Phelps said the deal could fall through without the gambling machines. The six-month time period will expire around the end of March. After that, whoever is the owner of the building could apply for a conditional-use permit to bring back gambling. The rule applies to poker tables, too, he noted.

Flanagan, who began operating Flanagan's Central Station in January 2005, faced losing his liquor license after his business racked up six alcohol violations over a three-year period.

The Department of Revenue's Liquor Control Division reached a settlement last fall in which Flanagan was fined $4,250. According to the department, Flanagan had until Oct. 1 to find a buyer for the liquor license. Flanagan left Whitefish shortly afterwards to start a new business in Missoula.

Whitefish attorney Chad Wold, who has represented Flanagan in the past, told the Pilot that Flanagan still owns the building on Central Avenue. He also suggested the city was interfering in the sale of the building.