State Loses Case: Gaming Machines Legal
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Three gaming machines won, and the state
lost.
The state Supreme Court ruled today that three of 26 machines
that a prosecutor had asked to confiscate were NOT illegal under
Arkansas law.
The high court upheld a ruling by a Sebastian County circuit
judge. The judge decided that 23 of the machines could properly be
seized by a prosecutor, but three of the machines did not meet a
three-way test to determine if they were gambling machines.
At the trial, an expert for the state testified that gambling
consists of three elements: money is paid to play, there`s an
element of chance and players can be rewarded if they win.
The three machines the state could not seize had no mechanism
for payouts.
The Supreme Court noted that two of the machines offered strip
poker as a game that could be played, and the state argued that
seeing a picture of a naked person was a "visual reward." But the
court did not accept that argument.
Posted by Mike Hellgren
