Entertainment & Amusement · 7 min read · Last updated
Places of Amusement is not one business. It is a single schedule of Hamilton's business licensing by-law that catches everything from a pinball parlour to a travelling circus, and the paperwork changes a lot depending on which sub-class you land in. This page explains how the schedule is organised so you can find your class before you start filling anything in.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. By-law 07-170, Schedule 17. Please see By-law for DEFINITION, REQUIREMENTS and RESTRICTIONS. AMUSEMENT RIDES. Separate licence may be required if food is sold.”
Who needs this licence?
If you charge the public for amusement in Hamilton, Schedule 17 of By-law 07-170 almost certainly applies to you. The schedule is administered by Licensing & By-law Services, and it is written as a set of named sub-classes rather than one general definition.
The sub-classes in the City's reference guide are:
- Amusement rides
- Arcade or pinball machine parlour, four or more machines
- Billiards and bagatelle tables, one or more tables including coin-operated tables
- Bingo parlour
- Bowling alley
- Carnival
- Proprietary club
- Circus
- Motor vehicle racetrack
- Roller skating rink
- Skateboarding and BMX facilities
- Water rides
- Other, which the guide describes as exhibition for hire or gain, exhibition of waxworks and anything not covered by the other classes, including laser tag and paintball
Two of those classes have written thresholds you can fall below. An arcade with one to three machines is treated as accessory to the principal business rather than a licensed parlour, and Section 17 2 (2) of the by-law allows up to two billiard or bagatelle tables without a licence, but only where they are incidental to a restaurant or public hall.
Selling food alongside the amusement is treated separately. The guide notes plainly that a separate licence may be required if food is sold, so a midway with concession trailers is looking at more than one file.
What documents do you need?
Every Places of Amusement sub-class starts from the same three items: the completed business licence application form, a business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year, and a Zoning Verification Certificate. The one-year rule on the registration exists so the City is licensing an entity that is still in good standing, not one that was wound up two years ago.
Proof of liability insurance meeting the checklist's minimum, in accordance with the Amusement Devices Act, is asked for across the schedule. That requirement is why the insurance line reads the same on a bowling alley file as on a carnival file even though the risks are nothing alike.
From there the checklist forks. Classes that put mechanical rides in front of the public add the provincial layer: a current permit issued under the Amusement Devices Act for the business operation, and a current permit for each individual amusement device issued by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority. Classes that occupy a site temporarily add property owner permission, the dates of the event, and a location plan of the rides. Fixed indoor premises add a Certificate of Compliance application form and, in some classes, a health certificate approved by the Medical Officer of Health.
Zoning and premises requirements
A Zoning Verification Certificate is the City's written answer to a simple question: is this use permitted at this address? For amusement uses the answer often turns on more than the building itself, because parking demand, noise and hours all sit behind the zoning category.
The reference guide adds a note that matters for events: for City-owned properties the zoning check is done internally. If your carnival, circus or ride set-up is going on a City park or lot, do not assume you have to buy your own certificate.
Where the same category of business was licensed at the address within the past year, a zoning addendum can stand in for a full certificate. The City's fee schedule lists zoning verification and the addendum on the same line, so the cost sits in the same place either way. Confirm which route applies to your address before you apply, because it is easier to add than to unwind.
Inspections and approvals
Inspections are circulated by the Licensing team after your application is received, not before. You do not book them yourself, and you should not expect the licence to move until they have been done.
Which inspections apply depends on the sub-class. A parking inspection is close to universal across the schedule, because amusement uses draw crowds and the City wants to know the site can absorb them. Fire inspections attach to the indoor assembly classes such as arcades, billiard rooms, bingo parlours, bowling alleys, roller rinks and skate parks. Health inspections attach where food and crowds meet, including carnivals, circuses, proprietary clubs and public halls.
The Certificate of Compliance inspection sits on top of most classes and repeats over time, described in the guide as bi-annual where the location is permanent. For amusement rides specifically, it is required when the rides are inside a building.
How much does it cost?
Hamilton charges Places of Amusement applications in layers rather than as one number. Most sub-classes carry a processing fee, an annual licence fee, and a fee for each inspection the class requires. Zoning verification or the addendum is a separate line again.
HST applies to some of those lines and not to others. The licence fee itself is not taxed; the processing fee and the inspection fees are.
The Certificate of Compliance is not folded into the licence total. It has its own fee structure in the City's fee schedule, and the guide points you there rather than printing a figure alongside the licence.
Council sets every amount in the City's fee schedule and the amounts change. Licensing & By-law Services will confirm the exact total for your sub-class when you apply, which is the only number worth relying on.
How to apply
Start by naming your sub-class. Everything downstream, including which inspections get booked and what the checklist asks for, follows from that one decision.
Get the zoning question answered next, because it is the item most likely to stop the file. Then assemble the class-specific documents: provincial ride permits if you run devices, property owner permission and event dates if you are temporary, a Certificate of Compliance application form if you occupy a building.
Submit the completed business licence application with the full checklist attached and pay the fees that apply to your class. Licensing then circulates the inspection requests. Work back from your opening date rather than forward from today, because inspection scheduling is the part you control least.
Renewals and staying compliant
Places of Amusement licences renew annually and the renewal package is lighter than the first application. Declaration B has to be completed each time.
The inspections do not all repeat every year. The Certificate of Compliance inspection and the fire inspection run on their own multi-year cycles, and the cycle length differs by sub-class, so a bowling alley and an arcade do not sit on the same rhythm. Check which one is due in the year you are renewing rather than assuming last year's answer still holds.
Let the licence lapse and you are into reinstatement, which carries its own fee on top of the renewal. Renewing on time is the cheapest thing on this page.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. How many amusement machines does a business need before it is treated as an arcade or pinball machine parlour rather than an accessory use?
The guide sets the parlour threshold at four or more machines and treats one to three as accessory to the principal business.
2. Your midway will include two concession trailers selling food. What does the Places of Amusement guidance say about that?
The amusement rides entry notes directly that a separate licence may be required if food is sold.
3. You are siting an amusement operation on City-owned property. What does that change about zoning?
The checklist marks the Zoning Verification Certificate as internal for City-owned properties.
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.