Entertainment & Amusement · 6 min read · Last updated
Hamilton draws the arcade line by machine count. Put four or more amusement machines in a room open to the public and you need this licence; keep it to three and the machines are treated as accessory to whatever your main business is. The count is the first thing to get right, because everything else follows from it.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “ARCADE, PINBALL MACHINE PARLOUR - Four (4) or more machines. One (1) to three (3) machines are considered accessory to a principal business. A coin-operated billiard table is not an Amusement Machine.”
Who needs this licence?
You need this licence if you operate four or more amusement machines on premises the public can use. One to three machines are considered accessory to a principal business, so a pizza place with a couple of cabinets in the corner is not a licensed parlour. The by-law also settles a question that comes up constantly in mixed venues: a coin-operated billiard table is not an amusement machine. If you have four cabinets and two coin-operated pool tables, the cabinets put you in this class and the tables are dealt with under the billiards and bagatelle table rules, which have their own separate licence and their own separate threshold. Counting the tables toward your machine total, or assuming the arcade licence covers them, are both ways to end up under-licensed.
What documents do you need?
Start with the ordinary licensing set: the completed business licence application form, a business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year, a Zoning Verification Certificate, and proof of liability insurance meeting the checklist's minimum in accordance with the Amusement Devices Act.
Then the item that surprises arcade operators: a certificate of inspection approved by the Medical Officer of Health under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. It is on the checklist for this class, and unlike the fire and parking inspections it is a document you bring to the application rather than something the City arranges once your file is open. Requesting it late is the most common cause of delay on an arcade file.
Finally, a completed Certificate of Compliance application form, which sets up the compliance inspection of the premises.
Zoning and premises requirements
An arcade is a public assembly use in a retail-shaped space, and that combination is exactly what a Zoning Verification Certificate exists to test. The certificate confirms in writing that the use is permitted at your address.
If the same category of business was licensed at that address within the past year, you may be able to file a zoning addendum instead of a full certificate. The City's fee schedule shows verification and addendum on a single line, so ask which one your address qualifies for.
Where the premises are on City-owned property, the zoning check is done internally rather than by you.
One practical note: parking requirements are set through zoning, and a parking inspection is part of this licence. If your unit came with fewer spaces than the use demands, you will learn it here.
Inspections and approvals
After your application is received, the Licensing team circulates inspection requests. You do not schedule them yourself.
The fire inspection is the significant one for an arcade. Cabinets are heavy, they cluster along walls, and they are almost always on extension circuits. The inspection looks at exits, exit signage, aisle widths and electrical arrangements in a room designed to hold a crowd of standing people.
The parking inspection checks that the site supplies the parking the use requires.
The Certificate of Compliance inspection reviews the premises against the compliance requirements and repeats over time, described as bi-annual where the location is permanent.
How much does it cost?
An arcade application is one of the fuller fee stacks in this schedule: a processing fee, the annual licence fee, a fire inspection fee and a parking inspection fee, with zoning verification or the addendum charged separately when it applies.
HST is added to the processing fee and to both inspection fees. The licence fee itself carries no HST.
The Certificate of Compliance is quoted from the City's separate compliance fee structure rather than being bundled into the licence total.
Amounts sit in the City's fee schedule, set by Council and confirmed by Licensing & By-law Services during your application. Because renewals vary depending on which inspection cycle falls due, ask for both the application total and a picture of what a typical renewal year looks like.
How to apply
Count your machines and confirm you are actually in this class. Four or more puts you here; coin-operated billiard tables do not count toward the total.
Request the certificate of inspection from the Medical Officer of Health early, and get your Zoning Verification Certificate in parallel. Those two are the long poles.
Assemble the rest: business registration dated within the year, insurance certificate, and the Certificate of Compliance application form.
File the completed business licence application with the checklist and pay the applicable fees. Licensing circulates the fire and parking inspection requests, and the compliance inspection follows. Expect to make small fire-code fixes between inspection and approval, and leave time in your opening schedule for them.
Renewals and staying compliant
Arcade licences renew each year with Declaration B completed as part of the package.
The inspections run on staggered cycles rather than annually. The Certificate of Compliance inspection comes around every two years, and the fire inspection every three. That means your renewal cost is not the same every year: some years it is the licence fee alone, some years it is the licence fee plus one inspection.
Machine count matters at renewal too. If you have added cabinets, or dropped below four, tell Licensing rather than letting the inspector find the discrepancy.
A licence allowed to lapse is reinstated rather than simply renewed, and reinstatement carries its own fee plus HST.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Your bar has three arcade cabinets and two coin-operated billiard tables. What does that mean for licensing?
One to three machines are accessory to the principal business, and the by-law states that a coin-operated billiard table is not an amusement machine.
2. Which item on the arcade checklist do you have to obtain yourself rather than wait for the City to circulate?
The health certificate is listed as an application document you supply, while the fire, parking and compliance inspections are circulated by the Licensing team after the application is received.
3. At renewal, how often does the fire inspection come around for an arcade or pinball machine parlour?
The renewal schedule for this class puts the fire inspection on a three-year cycle and the Certificate of Compliance inspection on a two-year cycle.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.