Legal Opinion Clarifies Which Devices Are Illicit
By Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 13, 2008
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."
Frank Moran & Sons, a Baltimore-based vendor that has 80 machines in St. Mary's that use a computer chip rather than preprinted tickets, has no plans to remove its machines and will schedule a meeting with the sheriff this week, said Bruce Bereano, the company's lobbyist.
"These are all opinions," he said. "I firmly believe, and others also believe, that the machines my client has placed in St. Mary's County and elsewhere are legal."
In Prince George's County, a handful of machines run by nonprofit groups began to appear last summer, State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D) said. Soon after, he said, about a half-dozen companies contacted him to arrange presentations of how their machines worked. Ivey concluded in an Oct. 18 opinion that "none of the proposed machines -- or any device of a similar kind -- may be legally installed in Prince George's County."
In Charles County, State's Attorney Leonard C. Collins Jr. said he also has been contacted by a number of companies but has not "advised any vendor that their machines are legal." Questionable gaming machines have been an issue for years, he said, but the creation of a county permits board has "brought this problem under control."
Scott Rudge, owner of Coles Point Tavern, said he had not heard about the attorney general's opinion but will comply with the law and, if necessary, remove the 10 machines in his bar, which are owned by Frank Moran & Sons. Those machines benefit the Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad.
"I guess I'll have to see what everyone else is going to do about it," he said. "If it's true, there would be a lot of disappointed people."
Immediate removal of some of the machines would end the flow of money to a number of St. Mary's County nonprofit organizations. Alternatives for Youth and Families, which provides mental health services, has received about $26,000 since December from 15 machines at Fred's Liquors in Charlotte Hall. Without that money, the organization might have to scale back the services it offers, Executive Director Donna B. Bennett said.
"I am concerned," she said. "Are we going to be able to maintain all of these programs? Can we keep all of our group homes open?"
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