60 Instant Bingo Machines Seized From Hall

Devices Are Last Among Hundreds Removed Since March, When Many Were Ruled Illegal

Law enforcement officials seized more than 60 instant bingo machines from a St. Mary's County bingo parlor yesterday, removing the last of hundreds of such devices that began to appear in the county late last year.

Bars, restaurants and other facilities removed or unplugged the machines after the Maryland attorney general's office said in March that many of the devices, which resemble slot machines, violated state law.

ADF Bingo Hall in Mechanicsville was the only establishment where the devices had continued to operate, Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R) said. But by 1 p.m. yesterday, officials with the St. Mary's County Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the FBI had confiscated the machines and loaded them onto a tractor-trailer.

Cameron said after the opinion was issued that a mass seizure of the devices was possible. He declined to provide details yesterday about why he considers the bingo hall's machines illegal.

"There's a bigger picture here," he said. "The point is, the law is more than about the machines."

Cameron declined to say whether he was referring to the portion of the opinion that limited the number of machines at a single location.

A woman working at ADF ordered reporters off the property yesterday.

James A. Breslo, president of Diamond Game, which manufactures the machines that were used at ADF, said the owner of the hall thinks the devices are legal and had tried to contact the sheriff's office to discuss the matter. Her calls were not returned, Breslo said.

"She was waiting for them to come by so she could demonstrate how these machines were legal," Breslo said. "That never happened, and without notice, they just showed up and hauled these machines away."

Cameron denied that the woman had called his office.

In the opinion, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Rowe wrote that some of the devices violate a statewide ban against slot machines and that others might be legal but are used in ways that are not -- concentrated, for example, in greater numbers than are allowed in a bar or restaurant.

The state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, held in 2001 that instant bingo devices could be legal if their mechanism of operation does not include the element of chance, separating them from slot machines, which many are designed to resemble.