Gambling news from http://www.decaturdaily.com/
Police expect to make more gambling arrests
Five years after Morgan County District Attorney Bob Burrell shut down video gaming machines, they have resurged in convenience stores and other businesses in the area.
Although law enforcement agencies know about the resurgence, they're moving cautiously because of pending court rulings as to whether certain machines are considered gambling devices.
In the past, arcade owners said the Chuck E. Cheese law, which allows children to win prizes from machines, also applies to other machines for adults to win prizes.
Burrell said most cases involving the machines are misdemeanors and his prior involvement came when law enforcement officers made cases. Burrell provided a special prosecutor in Decatur Municipal Court in a case involving the machines after he had deemed them illegal.
Decatur Deputy Police Chief Ken Collier said his department plans to deal with proprietors who have machines in their businesses that they know are gambling machines.
"I don't have an exact figure, but I know it's a significant number," Collier said.
"There are appeals on some of those that were seized, and some people may think they have found a loophole, but we don't think they have," Collier said. "I anticipate that we'll be making some arrests pretty quick."
Inside a trailer park office on Modaus Road Southwest, video game machines line the walls. There were no players at midmorning on a recent day.
At a Citgo service station, three machines are in front of the store and two in the back.
Playing for phone time
A woman came in and took a seat at one of the machines called Phone Time.
She said it was her first time to play, however, she was doing so because she heard of others winning money from playing.
The store attendant said players win phone minutes up to $4.
A neighboring Shell station has the machines, also. The store attendant said players receive phone time.
"We understand that there has been a proliferation of the machines here and throughout the state," said Collier. "We feel like the majority of the machines are pure gambling, and we're looking at it with an eye toward prosecution."
Assistant District Attorney Stacy Adams said the "Chuck E. Cheese" law is a shield for many owners of the machines. The law allows businesses to have certain types of gaming machines that are for amusement. Examples would be a pinball machine or one that has gifts such as stuffed animals.
The county's sales tax director, Ed Sims, said the operation at the trailer park on Modaus Road pays taxes.
"They registered with the sales tax office to submit taxes on their machines," Sims said. "That comes down to law enforcement to make cases. The business owners have to buy decals for each machine. They are buying them under the guise that they're for entertainment, and until somebody proves different we'll collect the tax."
Operate with cards
The owner of the mobile home park, said her "sweepstakes" machines operate with cards, not money. She would not answer whether she sold the cards to patrons. She said she decided to get machines after seeing them in many convenience stores and other areas that are not businesses.
Sims said court rulings in some counties were in favor of machine owners and ordered them to be released from law enforcement custody.
That has not been the case in Morgan County. A circuit judge ruled against a business in 2003 and ordered police to destroy machines they confiscated from the business. The confiscation came after Burrell deemed the machines illegal in 2001.Money removed from the machines went to the state General Fund, according to records.
"People don't need to spend a lot of money in them," said Collier. "They're probably going to see us coming. We want to make sure we're on good ground. We don't want to make a move and seize machines and then have to give them back. We need a very clear, distinct law that deals with this."
|
|
World Casino Directory 
Gambling Forums 
