Police Ready To Seize Illegal Bingo Machines

Legal Opinion Clarifies Which Devices Are Illicit

The telephone calls to county prosecutors and gaming permit committees began about a year ago. Makers and distributors of video bingo machines wanted a single question answered: Under what circumstances, if any, would their devices be considered legal?

The machines encountered resistance in nearly every county, but in St. Mary's County, State's Attorney Richard D. Fritz (R) issued an opinion in July that gave at least one company approval to install their machines -- an opinion that was challenged by the Maryland attorney general's office this week.

Many of the devices are illegal and violate a statewide ban on slot machines, and other machines function legally but are used in illegal circumstances, according to Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Rowe. Her 10-page opinion was written in response to a request for legal clarification from Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert).

Specifically, many of the machines that have popped up over the past few months in St. Mary's bars and restaurants are illegal slot machines, the attorney general's office concluded Monday, prompting the county sheriff to plan a massive seizure of the machines beginning as early as tomorrow.

The opinion comes as state lawmakers weigh emergency legislation to ban the machines. The proposal has broad support in both chambers, and Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has said he would sign it.

"We've known that these machines are illegal. This confirms that," Miller said in an interview Tuesday, adding that a state law is needed to outlaw all types of video bingo machines.

In the opinion, Rowe wrote that machines that are loaded with preprinted tickets displaying winning or losing combinations are legal under some circumstances, even if the results are also broadcast on a video screen. But machines that rely on an internal printer and computer chip programmed with combinations are illegal because they can operate without paying out or dispensing paper tickets, Rowe wrote.

Such machines account for most of the devices in St. Mary's. Part of the proceeds from the machines have benefited nonprofit organizations, including volunteer fire departments, churches and a Catholic elementary school.

Even legal machines can be used in ways that conflict with state laws allowing nonprofit organizations in 15 counties to use gaming events and devices for fundraising. Rowe cited recent Washington Post reports in which the owners of bars and restaurants were quoted as saying they were paid a percentage of the proceeds from the instant bingo machines, and she said such arrangements could run afoul of the law.

"It is clear that the qualified organizations involved in this practice are far from its primary, much less, its exclusive beneficiaries," Rowe wrote. "It is my view that an arrangement under which a large percentage of the proceeds is paid to the premises where machines are located and not to the qualified organization violates the law and gaming conducted in this way is illegal gaming."

The letter answered several questions on points that St. Mary's Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R) said have been unclear or inconsistent in previous opinions released by the attorney general's office and county state's attorneys. A group of deputies planned to visit the 22 known venues that have the machines today and collect information about how they operate. After that information is collected, they could begin to seize machines, the sheriff said.

"The attorney general has really whittled down what all of these laws mean," Cameron said. "We can finally go in and tell people if they are or are not in compliance with the law."