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The states with well
recorded Law: (attached documents below)
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- California
o
Sacramento:
1951-1953 Frank L. and Mary Goirdzno
o
Sacramento: 1951-1954
Mike & Rose Paganucci
o
Sacramento:
1951-1954 Victor & Tomasina Paganucci
o
The State of
California: 1951-1953 Salvatore J. & Frances Campagna
o
The State of
California: 1951-1953 Dwight F. & Nell M. Towne
o
The State of
California: 1951-1953 Alfred G. and Julia E. Edelmann
o
The State of
California: 1951-1953 Dick Jay and Beulah E. Harrison
o
The State of
California: 1951-1953 Mathew G. & Sophie Janes
o
The State of
California: 1951-1954 Joe and Dorothy Tessler
o
The State of
California: 1951-1954 Quinton Lain
o
The State of
California: 1951-1955 Plaintiff’s Attorneys: Berg & Guntner Fleharty
(200 Bingos)
o
The State of
California: 1951-1955 Plantiff’s Attorney Archibald M. Mull, Jr. (Tax
Code 18594)
o
The State of California:
1951-1955 Marion/Victoria. John, Lu M. John, & Ed and Xatheryn Lee
o
The State of
California: 1951-1955 William J. and Grace M. Schnackel
o
The State of
California: 1952-1954 Alexander F. & Josephine Zaboski
o
The State of
California: 1952-1955 Melvin R. & Reve L. Bond
o
The State of
California: 1953-1956 Michael & Nelly Gombs
o
The State of
California: 1956 Irving and Sylvia Goldslatt
·
Check out the name of
the attorney for the appellants in most of these cases
- New Jersey
- New York
- Philadelphia
- South Dakota
o
Hutchinson County: 1975
Jay Tapken State Attorney
o
1969 – The Honorable Joel M. Pritchard & the
Honorable R. Ted Bottiger
LaGuardia:
Pinball took a break during
World War II, with very few games produced. The ones that were produced
were simply conversions of existing games, merely re-themed existing
games, usually in a war theme. However, during this time was a day
considered one of the darkest in the history of pinball. New York City
had decided that pinball, being a game of chance instead of a game of
skill, decided to ban it as a method of gambling and on January 21, 1942, New York’s City Council
banned pinball machines. The Mayor at
the time, Fiorello H. LaGuardia "celebrated" this ban by
smashing huge numbers of machines in front of crowds gathered at the East
River. Playing to the cameras, he first had the steel balls removed so they could be recycled
for the war effort prior to dumping the tables into the river.
[From
the MUG] Some of the early pinball games gave out winnings which made it
a form of gambling and was therefore said to be unhealthy for kids. LaGuardia considered
pinball machines a tool of the mob and started working in 1941 to get them outlawed. To
show how anti-pinball
he was, he was often displayed in public personally taking a sledgehammer
to the pins. In all, LaGuardia's campaign destroyed an estimated 11,000
machines.
NYC Police Commissioner
William O’Brien is shown here smashing a pinball machine in a 1949 photo.
Someone has photos of
LaGuardia in action somewhere, here is a reference to a Dave & Bob
from The Mom’n’Pop Coin Shop. “In 1941 there was a moral backlash against the pinball
industry. In one highly publicized incident the then-mayor of New York,
Mayor LaGuardia, put thousands of confiscated games on a barge, smashed
them, and dumped them all in the East River. This was a black day in the
memories of pinball machine hobbyists. Dave and Bob have a picture
showing Mayor LaGuardia on a barge taking a sledgehammer to those
beautiful games, and they say that the picture touches a painful chord in
every collector’s heart. The mayor destroyed a lot of wonderful machines
and sent a lot of beautiful artwork to the bottom of the river. He
probably thought he was doing the work of the Lord, but the wanton
destruction of such beautiful and irreplaceable objects was the work of a
Philistine in the opinion of most collectors.”
Here’s a clip of LaGuardia getting busy on a pile of
slots:
http://www.gettyimages.com/search/detail.aspx?id=2018-703&esource=feed_google_video
The Johnson Act:
Dark clouds formed on the
horizon in 1951 when The Johnson Act was passed by Congress. The Act
prohibited interstate shipment of gambling devices except to those states
where they were legal, and this left only Nevada and some townships in
Eastern Maryland on the map. The Johnson Act did not only refer to slot
machines but to other gambling machines like payout pinball games as
well. The prohibition sent shockwaves through the industry. Bally
Manufacturing as the most diversified coin machine maker weathered the
storm best. In 1963, Bally introduced the first truly new slot machine
since the Liberty Bell.17
Bally's new Money Honey revolutionized the payout system through
the "bottomless" payout reserve, known as the hopper mechanism.
This motor- operated payout mechanism vastly enlarged the coin capacity
of a slot machine to 3,000 dimes (10 cents) or a similar or lesser number
for other denominations depending on coin size; coins could be paid out
at a rate of six coins per second.18
The days of limited-capacity coin tubes and hand-paid jackpots of 50,
100, and 200 coins were over. From now on, wins of up to 500 coins
(nickels, dimes, quarters) would be paid automatically rather than by
attendant. The ingenious idea of the hopper was a sensor device that
constantly "felt" the level of coins in the payout reserve, and
it made sure that deposited coins would be diverted into the hopper when
the level of coins in the hopper fell below a pre-determined level.19
The hopper mechanism raised the comfort and convenience of slot machine
play considerably.
The IRS:
A pinball machine which is
so equipped that it is especially adapted for gambling purposes is
considered to be a coin-operated gaming device per se, and evidence of
actual payoffs is not necessary in order to hold applicable thereto the
$250 special tax imposed on coin-operated gaming devices by section
4461(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Section 4461 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954
imposes a special tax to be paid by every person who maintains for use or
permits the use of, on any place or premises occupied by him, a coin-operated
amusement or gaming device. This tax is imposed at the rate of ten
dollars a year in the case of a device defined in paragraph (1) of
section 4462(a) and $250 a year in the case of a device defined in
paragraph (2) of section 4462(a). The definition set forth in paragraph
(1) of section 4462(a) of the Code includes any machine which is an
amusement machine operated by means of the insertion of a coin, token, or
similar object, but not including any device defined in paragraph (2) of
this subsection. The definition set forth in paragraph (2) of section
4462(a) of the Code includes any machine which is a so-called `slot'
machine which operates by means of the insertion of a coin, token, or
similar object and which, by application of the element of chance, may
deliver, or entitle a person playing or operating the machine to receive,
cash, premiums, merchandise, or tokens.
The Korpan Decision:
John F. Davis argued the
cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Solicitor General
Rankin, Assistant Attorney General Olney, Beatrice Rosenberg and Robert
G. Maysack.Robert A. Sprecher argued the cause for respondent. With him
on the brief were Simon Herr and Frank A. Karaba. MR. JUSTICE BLACK
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The respondent, Walter
Korpan, was indicted in a Federal District Court in Illinois for
willfully failing to pay the $250 per device tax imposed by 26 U.S.C.
(Supp. IV) 4461 on any person who maintains for use any gaming device.
For purposes of this tax, 26
U.S.C. (Supp. IV) 4462 (a) defines gaming devices as: "so-called
`slot' machines which operate by means of insertion of a coin . . . and which, by application [354
U.S. 271, 272] of the element of chance, may deliver, or entitle the person playing . . . the
machine to receive cash, premiums, merchandise, or tokens."1 [354
U.S. 271, 273] The evidence at the trial showed that Korpan maintained on
his premises a number of coin-operated gambling machines. These machines
were played by inserting a coin into the machine through a slot. The
player was then able to shoot several balls onto a playing surface which
was interspersed with pockets or holes. If he succeeded in getting balls
into certain holes he received a varying number of free games. He had the
option of either playing the free games or of cashing them in at a
designated rate. By inserting extra coins the player could sometimes
secure additional balls or increased "odds" (in other words,
increase the number of free games he could win). The machines were equipped
with electrical devices which over a period of time controlled the number
of free games won.
You tell me?
From a United ABC:
Australian Law:
Legislation in Australia
prohibits the possession, the sale, exchange or attempted sale, without a
license (issued by the governing body for gaming in their home state) of
the following: A
gaming or an amusement device that is designed for the playing of a game
of chance, or a game that is partly a game of chance and partly a game
requiring skill.
This includes devices capable of the paying out of
money or tokens or for registering a right to an amount of money or
money's worth to be paid. The
legislation extends to and includes any subsidiary equipment or component
of a gaming device. Common items that fall within this category include
Poker and Bingo Pinball Machines and accordingly these items will not be
permitted for sale on AussieROO.
For information concerning
the definition of a gaming device and license requirements please consult
the following organizations:
NSW: Department of Gaming and Racing
ACT: ACT Revenue Office
QLD: The Office of Gaming Regulation
SA: The office of the Liquor and
Gambling Commissioner
TAS: The Tasmanian Gaming
Commission
VIC: The Victorian Casino Gaming Authority
WA: Racing Gaming & Liquor
Western Australia
NT: Northern Territory Treasury
The FBI:
%Article furgerson79:_b_i_n_g_o_gambl_devic@Article{furgerson79:_b_i_n_g_o_gambl_devic,
author = "Furgerson, Ronald
Mayo",
title = "B-I-N-G-O Gambling
Devices",
journal = "FBI Law Enforcement
Bulletin",
key = "FBI Law Enforcement
Bulletin",
year = 1979,
volume = 48,
number = 4,
month = "April",
pages = "16--21",
annote = "Teach police how to distinguish Bingo machines
from regular Pinballs."
Misc Law: (From
JonPurpleHaze)
I
used to go to a pin and pool hall in the 70's that had Bingo Machines in
a dark corner of the hall. One day (late 70's) a sheriff that was up for re-election showed up at the Hall with
a bunch of people, including a tv news crew. They were filming the entire
sad events and they proceeded to take the Bingo Machines into the parking
lot and smashed them up with axes..
Misc Law: (Judge Nealon)
A
Life of Law 06/28/2005
Admired for His Brilliant Legal Mind and Commitment
to Justice, Senior Judge William J. Nealon Inspires Many In and Out of
the Courtroom. A life of law. Senior U.S. District Judge William J.
Nealon has presided over thousands of cases during his 45 years on the
bench. Here are is one of his most significant decisions:
In 1964, Judge Nealon made a
precedent-setting ruling that pinball machines seized in a raid on a
Scranton restaurant were gambling devices. The ruling, the first of its
kind, was affirmed by the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, and was the
first case of its kind in federal court testing the legality of a machine
that used a bingo procedure to award free games.
Judge Nealon found that the so-called “money machines” were “designed so
that their play may deliver or entitle the people playing to receive cash
or merchandise.”
“The machines were paying off,” Judge Nealon said, recalling the case.
Misc Law: (From Phil
Bogema)
Hi Danny,
Here's an interesting link
you may already have, but I think it is worth bringing to your attention
just in case. This was a state of Washington case law opinion on the
legality of bingos. Besides going to great detail in describing the
games, there are references to other cases in other jurisdictions which
may be interesting to pursue as well.
http://www.wa.gov/ago/opinions/1969/opinion_1969_009.html
By the way, speaking of the
law and legal filings, from the late
70's until the mid 80's I worked at
Standard and Poor's. I used to read annual reports and other
distributions to shareholders of companies I followed all day long. One
of them was Bally. Form 10K, filed annually with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, was always good entertainment when it came to Bally.
I remember reading about how much money they made from selling the bingos,
and, if I recall correctly, how many units were sold. This was in the
description of the company in the Items at the front of the 10K, not in
the financial statements. These documents always referred to the bingos
as "in-line" machines. I never saw the company use the word
bingo.
Regards,
Phil Bogema
Misc Law: (From Johnny
Henry)
Hi Cindy..Pinball machines
were a regular habit with me when growing up..I remember a type of
pinball machine that had no flippers and worked like a bingo game where
by getting five in row you'd win free games. These free games could be
used to increase the odds or cashed in for money. If memory serves it
cost 5 cents per play. These were illegal in Oklahoma but like liquor by
the drink (also illegal in Okla. at the time) people ignored the law..but
somewhere along the way the usual crowd of "do-gooders" managed
to get rid of them. Are these pinball machines still around anywhere and
are they still illegal?.. Enjoyed the site and the memories..Johnny Henry
Misc Law:
Underground
Video Gambling Industry Costing Maryland More Than $15 million Annually
In Uncollected Taxes Research also shows that in Baltimore City and Baltimore
County machine operators are underreporting their income by more than $63,000,000
a year
PREPARED
BY
Joan Jacobson
PUBLISHED
BY
The Abell Foundation
111 S. Calvert Street, Suite
2300
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
www.abell.org
While law enforcement
remained lax, the gambling machine industry flourished. Pinball machines,
first marketed about 1930, were “refined versions of the bagatelle, a
Victorian parlor game with steel balls propelled into numbered holes.
Bright flashing lights came later with the “advent of electrification.”20 The “bingo” gambling machine was introduced in the
1950s; like its predecessors it was designed as a game to throw off law
enforcement. They were “innocent appearing devices, yet designed to
relieve gamblers of their money.”21
Misc Law: (From Steve
Phillips)
Monday's (3/9) Boston Globe
had an interesting page 3 article on gambling in Galveston, Texas.
Apparently, Texas' new state-sponsored gambling law has inspired a
lot of nostalgia for Galveston's old days as a "city of sin."
Anyway, the article had a couple of great accompanying pictures of seized
gambling devices. In one picture, a cop stands poised with an axe
to chop up a Bally "Surf-Club" pinball machine seized in a 1957 gambling raid,
as a pudgy local official stands around mugging for the cameras.
Another picture shows a pile of gambling pins waiting to be
bulldozed into oblivion in 1964.
Related Law Date Details:
Reading through the attached papers is fascinating
and well worth your time; their literally teaming with pointers to other
potential sources of history and detail. For Example: Checkout the
footnotes at the bottom of this article by Rufus King:
My
First Law Related Webpage
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