Carroll Roy Bond’s Oct. 29 sentence on three counts of illegal slot machine possession and operation may not seem like a lot when you consider he was charged with 110 counts.
But the prosecutor on the case says the result was just right. (more…)
He was an interested party, and he was supporting a friend in court on a traffic charge.
Those are the reasons offered by John Vontran to explain why he was present during Carroll “Roy” Bond’s illegal slot machine trial yesterday. (more…)
In The Graduate, Mr. McQuire imparted one word of advice to Ben: Plastics.
“There’s a great future in plastics,” McQuire says.
If that conversation were held today, McQuire might use two words: Vending machines. (more…)
Comptroller Peter Franchot is vowing increased pressure on merchants who have video poker machines in their establishments, especially if those shops are in Baltimore city and county.
“The city and the county have turned a blind eye,” Franchot said. “With a wink and a nod they have allowed these devices to continue to be used.”
In Baltimore County, merchants can buy a license for a video poker machine for $180 and have a maximum of four devices. Franchot said a two-decades old Court of Appeals ruling makes such devices automatically illegal and that jurisdictions should not be issuing licenses.
The Democratic first-term comptroller said the mere possession of the machines will be enough to draw some unwanted attention of his office.
“If one of my enforcement officers walks in and gets the sniffles, it won’t take much for the shop owner to catch the flu,” Franchot said.
About 7,200 letters were sent out warning shop owners of the coming enforcement wave and that “Liquor licenses may be in jeopardy simply because of the possession of these machines,” Franchot said. Enforcement officers who find the machines will report those locations to both the local liquor board and to the police and local prosecutors.
About two weeks ago Franchot, an outspoken anti-slots advocate, announced his intention to target video poker machines in businesses across the state, especially those that sell alcohol. He estimates that there are as many as 7,200 such locations. The city and the county have more machines than any jurisdiction despite a 1985 Court of Appeals ruling that stated the machines are de facto illegal gambling devices.
That ruling does not require that authorities see any money change hands in the form of payouts, Franchot said, adding the machines are still illegal even if they have “for amusement purposes only” signs attached to them.
The new enforcement actions are already under way, he said.
