Judges: DUSTIN McDANIEL, Attorney General
Filed Date: 9/25/2007
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
The Honorable R. Gunner DeLay Prosecuting Attorney, Twelfth Judicial District Sebastian County Courthouse 35 South 6th Street Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901
Dear Mr. DeLay:
I am writing in response to your request for an opinion on the following:
*Page 2I am writing you to request your opinion with regard to the legality of certain "quarter machines," which have been placed in various convenience stores within this jurisdiction. Basically, these machines have rows of quarters in them on a ledge that moves forward and back. A person attempts to drop quarters into the machine and on to the back of the moving ledge in an attempt to push the other quarters, or other prizes, into drop chutes near the front where you can recover whatever gets pushed in. The player deposits a quarter in a slot which can be moved from side to side, so as to aim, and there is also a push-button control that changes the timing of the forward and back movement of the ledge. Obviously, if the timing is correct, then individual quarters, as well as rolls of quarters, or rolls of quarters wrapped with $10, $20, or in some cases, $50 bills, may fall into the drop chutes where they can be retrieved as prizes.
The following questions have arisen:
1. Are these "quarter machines" to be considered "gaming devices" which are prohibited by Arkansas's Anti-Gambling Statute, A.C.A. §
5-66-101 , et seq.?
2. Even if these devices are not "gaming devices," are they impermissible lotteries, which are prohibited by Article
19 , Section14 of the Arkansas Constitution?
Further correspondence with this office has raised the additional question of whether these devices fall within the so-called "Chuck E. Cheese" law that authorizes amusement devices. I will address the applicability of the amusement device exception to the prohibition on gambling devices in response to Question One.
Question One: Are these "quarter machines" to be considered "gamingdevices" which are prohibited by Arkansas's Anti-Gambling Statute,A.C.A. §
In my opinion, while I am unable to determine whether the "quarter machines" described in your request would be considered gambling devicesper se, they appear to meet the requirements of gambling devices by actual use. Furthermore, in my opinion, the exemption to the prohibition on gambling devices for amusement devices does not apply to "quarter machines" as described in your request for an opinion.
Initially, it may be helpful to establish the legal definition of "gambling" or "gaming" applicable under Arkansas jurisprudence. As described by one of my predecessor's in Op. Att'y Gen.
The Arkansas Code does not define the terms "gambling" or "gaming." The Arkansas Supreme Court, however, has defined gambling as "the risking of money between two or more persons, on a contest or chance of any kind, where one must be the loser and the other gainer." Sharp v. State,
350 Ark. 529 ,534 ,88 S.W.3d 848 (2002) (quoting Portis v. State,27 Ark. 360 (1872)). Furthermore, the court has treated the two terms as interchangeable. Id.
Every person who shall set up, keep, or exhibit any gaming table or gambling device, commonly called A.B.C., E.O., roulette, rouge et noir, or any faro bank, or any other gaming table or gambling device, or bank of the like or similar kind, or of any other description although not herein named, be the name or denominations what it may, adapted, devised, or designed for the purpose of playing any game of chance, or at which any money or property may be won or lost, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor . . .[.]
Id.1
Generally speaking, a "gambling device" and, by extension of the synonymous definition of "gaming" adopted by the court, a "gaming table," is "an invention to determine the question as to who wins and who loses, that risk their money on a contest or chance of any kind."Portis v. State,
Per se gambling device
If something is a gambling device per se, the "mere possession of it is punishable" under this provision. State v. 26 Gaming Machines,
To be a prohibited gaming device, the device must be one that is adapted or designed for the purpose of playing a game of chance at which money or property may be won or lost. [Pre-Paid Solutions, Inc. v. City of Little Rock,
343 Ark. 317 ,34 S.W.3d 360 (2001) (citation omitted)]. Where the machine is played to win or lose by hazard of chance, it is a gaming device. Pre-Paid Solution, supra [(citation omitted)].
I am unable to determine whether the "quarter machines" referenced in your request are gambling devices per se under A.C.A. §
Gambling device by actual use
Additionally, the court has recognized that devices adapted and actuallyused for gambling or gaming run afoul of A.C.A. §
In my opinion, under the facts you describe, even if the machines were not found to be gambling devices per se, it appears that the "quarter machines" would likely be found to be gambling devices by actual use. As noted above, gambling will occur whenever there is the risking of money on the outcome of a contest. Ansley, supra. A "gambling device" can be any invention that is used to determine the winner and loser of a contest where money or something of value is risked. Portis, supra. As described in your request, a "quarter machine" requires money to play. The money is then risked in a contest between the operator of the machine and the owner of the machine. Either the player will lose his or her *Page 6 investment of the money to the machine, and therefore to the owner, or the player will receive money from the machine. The use of an "invention" to determine the winner of a contest where money is wagered has been sufficient where there is evidence of actual wagering. See 26 GamingMachines, supra; and Bostic, supra. In my opinion, a "quarter machine" as described in your request for an opinion would likely be found to be a gambling device by actual use in Arkansas courts.
Applicability of "Check E. Cheese" Law
The Arkansas Code provides an exemption from the gambling statutes for coin-operated amusement devices; the so-called "Chuck E. Cheese" law. A.C.A. §§
(2)(A) "Any money or property", "other articles", "other valuable things", or "any representative of anything that is esteemed of value", as used in the antigambling statutes, §
5-66-101 et seq., shall not be expanded to include:(i) A free amusement feature such as the privilege of playing additional free games if a certain score is made on a pinball table or on any other amusement game described in this section; or
(ii) Toys, novelties, or representations of value redeemable for those items which are won by the player of a bona fide amusement game or device which rewards players exclusively with merchandise limited to toys, novelties, or representations of value redeemable for those items, which have a wholesale value of not more than ten (10) times the cost charged to play the game or device once or five dollars ($5.00), whichever is less.
Id. (emphasis added).
As described in your request for an opinion and in subsequent correspondence from the operator of the "quarter machines", a player of a "quarter machine" will win actual money. The exception for amusement devices from the prohibition on illegal gambling devices only applies to devices which reward players with "toys, novelties, or representations of value redeemable for those items." See A.C.A. §
(4) "Novelty" means an article of trade whose value is chiefly decorative, comic, or the like, and whose appeal is often transitory;
(6) "Toy" means a small article of little value but prized as a souvenir or for some other special reason, a trinket, a knickknack, or a bauble.
Id.
The statute clearly only allows representations of value won from am amusement device to be redeemed for toys or novelties. The definitions provided above demonstrate that money would not be considered either a "toy" or "novelty" as money is not generally decorative or prized solely for transitory or nostalgic purposes. Furthermore, A.C.A. §
(a) Nothing contained in this section and §§
26-57-401 ,26-57-402 , and26-57-404 —26-57-407 shall be deemed to legalize, authorize, license, or permit any machine commonly known as a slot machine, roscoe, or jackpot, or any machine equipped with any automatic money payoff mechanism.(b) Any person owning or possessing an amusement device described in §
26-57-402 or any person employed by or acting on behalf of the person, who gives to any other person money for a noncash prize, toy, or novelty received as a reward in playing the amusement device or for free games won on the amusement device shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
Id. (emphasis added). A lack of a pay-out mechanism or of "hoppers or chutes for monetary winning" demonstrates a likelihood that a device is an amusement device. 26 Gaming Machines, supra at 54. As described in your request and in correspondence from company operating the machines, the "quarter machines" have a chute or hopper in which monetary winnings will be retrieved by a player. In my opinion, the exemption to the gambling prohibition for amusement devices does not apply to "quarter machines" as described in your request for an opinion. *Page 8
Question Two: Even if these devices are not "gaming devices," are theyimpermissible lotteries, which are prohibited by Article
It is unnecessary to answer your second question in light of my response to Question One. I will, however, set forth the general legal standards that would be applied.
The prohibition on lotteries in Art.
Assistant Attorney General Joel DiPippa prepared the foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
DUSTIN McDANIEL Attorney General
Steed v. State , 189 Ark. 389 ( 1934 )
Pre-Paid Solutions, Inc. v. City of Little Rock , 343 Ark. 317 ( 2001 )
Sharp v. State , 350 Ark. 529 ( 2002 )
Scott v. Dunaway , 228 Ark. 943 ( 1958 )
Rankin v. Mills Novelty Co. , 182 Ark. 561 ( 1930 )
Howell v. State , 184 Ark. 109 ( 1931 )
Stanley v. State , 194 Ark. 483 ( 1937 )