Calvert machines safe ... for now

Friday, March 21, 2008

‘‘Well, we’re on top of that,” said Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans. ‘‘We’ve already checked into that, and we have not found any of the machines that are not legal based on that. ... We had a few places that had them that shouldn’t have them, and we told them to cease and desist. And for the most part, they have.”

The distinction between permitted and prohibited machines is not always clear. But one important distinction between a ‘‘pull-tab” machine and what law enforcement could consider a ‘‘slot machine” is the presence of an ‘‘element of chance” in the game play. Permitted machines are loaded with pre-printed tickets dispensed in a pre-determined order, while an illegal machine contains a computer that prints tickets according to a computation of odds.

In a letter advising Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Prince George’s) about removing the machines, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Rowe quoted the opinion from Chesapeake Amusements Inc. v. Riddle, a 2001 federal court case that established the legality of the ‘‘electronic bingo” machines at the Rod ‘N’ Reel restaurant in Chesapeake Beach.

‘‘The Court held that for a machine to be a slot machine as defined in the statute, ‘its operation must be characterized by an element of chance, as a result of which the user of the machine apparatus or device may receive or become entitled to receive a prize or reward,’” Rowe wrote. ‘‘...Because the machine in question [at the Rod ‘N’ Reel] did not dispense tickets randomly ... the court held that this test was not met. Specifically, the court held that the element of chance was in the pull-tabs, and was the same whether they were dispensed manually by a cashier or by the machine.”

Another source of confusion is changes in technology of the machines, which can make new machines difficult to classify under old definitions, Martin said.

‘‘Now the brouhaha is coming up because now the machines are changing,” Martin said. ‘‘... Now they’re coming with cartridges that aren’t actually paper tabs you can pull out and put in. Some are computer cartridges. Some [have] mainframe computers.”

Some of these issues were not addressed in Rowe’s letters, Martin said.

‘‘Some computer ones are not chance because there’s a pre-determined number of winners allocated,” Martin said. ‘‘... We’re still kind of in limbo with this, and I think most everyone is waiting to see what the legislature does with the bill they’re trying to get passed.”

Pull-tabs in Chesapeake Beach operate under an ‘‘NG” license permitting commercial use. Elsewhere in Calvert County, outside the Beaches, as well as in St. Mary’s, pull-tabs are only permitted if operated by a non-profit organization.

But Dennis Brown, chairman of the Calvert County Gambling Permit Review Committee, which advises the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners on non-profit gambling issues, is convinced abuses of the law are taking place in Calvert.

Brown has heard of cases, in Calvert and elsewhere, where businesses supposedly operating the machines to benefit a charity provide 15 to 40 percent of the proceeds to the non-profit and pocket the rest. Some businesses also charge the charities rent on space for the machines, Brown said.

In Annapolis, the Senate on a 45-2 vote approved a bill that was pushed by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Prince George’s) to explicitly ban the machines. Miller said the machines are draining lottery revenues and enriching operators more than the nonprofit beneficiaries. Legislators also said they fear the presence of the electronic games could jeopardize the passage of the November slots referendum, which would legalize slot machines at five locations in Maryland.

Meanwhile, a House committee began work on its version of the bill on Thursday. The chamber’s leading Democrats support that measure, too, and Gov. Martin O’Malley has said he will sign the bill.