May 23, 2006
By Jon Hanian
Boise, ID -
Most people think of casino-style gambling as happening somewhere other than the Treasure Valley. But police say, and our own independent investigation reveals, illegal video poker-style gambling is happening all over the area.
The investigation:
From February through May, we sent several people wearing hidden recording devices into bars, restaurants, and brew pubs all over the valley, searching for illegal video poker machines. They turned up in every place we visited. The existence of illegal video poker machines in those establishments was confirmed by a plainclothes police officer who went with us.
How it works:
Bartenders usually verify how much the player has won before pressing a button called a "knock-off switch" rolling the credits back for the next player. As Idaho gaming officials point out, if these games were purely for amusement, there would be no need to zero the credits for the next player.
Typically bartenders who don't know you are unlikely to pay you. That's because paying winning players is illegal. If they get caught, their bar could lose its liquor license. So to get "paid-out" you need to either be a regular or have a regular vouch for you.
Sometimes the knock-off switch is a drilled hole in the top left of the video poker machine. But some machines have two exposed screws that when grounded together with a bottle opener zero the machine. There are other variations, but machines that illegally pay-out in Idaho all have some form of "knock-off" switch.
Lottery Director Roger Simmons enforces the laws that make these kind of machines illegal and says they are popping up everywhere. "Our undercover agent got paid in 15 of the 17 places she played." The pay-out can be as discreet as the patron paying their bar tab and having the winnings slid back in the change.
But as we found out, winning in this game is the exception, not the rule. Bar owners with illegal video poker machines often rely on people like Maggie. Maggie asked that we conceal her identity. She says she was addicted to video poker machines. "I could sit there and put $500 dollars, go through that, and run get another loan."
In four years she says she lost $25,000, her husband, and nearly her home to video poker. "And the more I played, I would lose track of time. I didn't care about the money. The money wasn't the issue and I first thought it was."
Simmons says bar owners are getting hooked on the added illegal income. "One bar owner in Northern Idaho told us he couldn't stay open if he didn't have the machines."
That income is not taxed, so not only is the state losing, Simmons say patrons putting money into these machines are losing more than they are winning. That's because they are electronically programmed to rip you off. "These pay out somewhere around 25- 26 percent, so it's a sucker bet," Simmons told KBCI CBS 2 News.
Counselors say it's a growing problem. Nan Moss is a counselor at Lifeways in Ontario, Oregon. Moss helps treat people addicted to gambling. "This woman was dropping $1,000 to $1,500 every day, and that is just on video poker," Moss says.
That is why Moss calls video poker, "the crack cocaine of gambling." Because this kind of gaming is illegal in Idaho, counties don't have any statistics so it is impossible to know the seriousness of the problem.
But in Oregon, it is legal. In neighboring Malheur County, for instance, state records indicate it's far and away the most popular form of gambling, accounting for $4.6 million or more than half of all gambling sales. Those sales totaled $7.6 million from July 2004 through June 2005.
Moss says the problem is growing because the activity is no longer happening in secret. "Now it is in coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, every where."
That's why Maggie has a word of caution for players. "If you can go in there and set a time limit and you can leave, maybe you are o.k. But this is a progressive illness. It starts before you even realize you have a problem."
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