60 Instant Bingo Machines Seized From Hall
Devices Are Last Among Hundreds Removed Since March, When Many Were Ruled Illegal

By Matt Zapotosky and Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 2, 2008

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.

Rowe wrote that instant bingo machines loaded with preprinted tickets displaying winning or losing combinations are legal under some circumstances. Theoretically, she wrote, the preprinted tickets could be removed from the machine and sold manually.

The same cannot be said, she wrote, of machines that contain a computer chip with preprogrammed outcomes to be printed at the time of play. Rowe concluded that those "cartridge machines" are illegal.

Breslo said yesterday that all the machines at the bingo hall used preprinted cards.

Although state law says a nonprofit organization can operate no more than five gaming devices on a daily basis, Breslo said he considers the number at the bingo hall within the law. "I am confident that on the number of machines issue, we are compliant," he said.

In some situations, St. Mary's has long permitted gaming devices if the proceeds go to a nonprofit organization. Since last year, when the devices began to appear in large numbers, some local volunteer fire departments, churches and other groups were buoyed by the funding. The bingo hall is rented mainly to local Catholic schools and churches for fundraisers.

In this year's legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that would ban all instant bingo machines. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has said he will sign the bill, which would take effect July 1.

Richard Wolf, a spokesman for the FBI in Baltimore, said Cameron's office had contacted the FBI for assistance. He said it was possible authorities in St. Mary's simply needed more manpower.