Owners of convenience stores and restaurants featuring coin-operated amusement machines (COAMs) would be able to sell gift cards to players under legislation the Georgia House of Representatives passed Monday.

The use of gift cards would go a long way toward cleaning up the industry by discouraging the illegal cash payouts that have long plagued COAMs, said Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, chairman of the House Regulated Industries Committee and House Bill 544’s chief sponsor.

Powell’s bill, which the House passed 110-54, also includes regulations aimed at ensuring fair competition among the companies that own the machines and the retail businesses that house them, prohibiting machine owners from offering inducements to retailers to house their machines and imposing late fees when license holders fail to renew their licenses.