By Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Maryland State Comptroller Peter Franchot announced yesterday that his agents will investigate all establishments that hold a liquor license and allow patrons to play any sort of gaming device that could be used for gambling.

Critics say the comptroller is overstepping his authority with the initiative, and a Maryland assistant attorney general said that the broad description of potential gambling devices could include video games, dart boards and coins. Such objects are "only illegal when used illegally," said Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Rowe.

Franchot (D) says he sent letters to the 7,200 liquor license holders in Maryland that state "in very clear language" to get rid of gaming machines if "you do not want to jeopardize your liquor license."

"We're coming after them," he said in an interview. "We're coming after these machines."

Franchot says he is specifically targeting the hundreds of video poker machines in bars in Baltimore County and in the city of Baltimore. Those machines allow patrons to insert money, play a card or memory game and win extra rounds of the game. State authorities have said such machines are legal because no money is paid for wins. But Franchot said he thinks the machines have the potential to be used illegally. For example, a bartender could pay a player for the games he or she wins, then restart the machine for the next player.

Franchot said local law enforcement officers have not done their job regulating such machines, so he has instructed his agents to conduct investigations during routine visits to bars and other establishments. These agents will also conduct undercover investigations and act on tips from residents. In total, about two dozen employees from the comptroller's office will work on the crackdown, said David Weaver, Franchot's chief of staff.

Any evidence collected during these investigations will be turned over to local liquor boards, gaming regulators or law enforcement officials. Although the comptroller's office works closely with many of these local entities on other issues, there has not yet been extensive collaboration for this crackdown, Weaver said.

Lobbyist Bruce Bereano, whose client Frank Moran distributes gaming devices in Maryland, said that liquor and gaming licenses are issued and enforced on the local level, and that the comptroller is overstepping his authority with this crackdown.

"The comptroller's office is not the enforcement body," he said. "I don't understand, respectfully, the basis of the authority he is using here."

This year, General Assembly legislators voted to outlaw video bingo machines in St. Mary's County. Although Franchot joined legislators in opposing those machines, he criticized them for not also outlawing video poker machines, which could also be used illegally.

The machines in St. Mary's County look like slot machines but operate differently. They had been allowed in county bars and restaurants through a loophole in the law that allows such machines if all profits go to a nonprofit organization. Many of those machines will continue to operate until the law takes effect July 1.