Three hundred liquor licensees inspected, only 6,900 to go.
Three months after state Comptroller Peter Franchot announced a crackdown on video gaming machines, inspectors have visited just a fraction of all the state’s bars and taverns. But in about 10 percent of those inspected establishments, state officials said they’ve found evidence of illegal gambling using the video machines.
“We’re not witnessing gambling, but we don’t have to, the machines are enough,” said Jeffrey Kelly, director of field enforcement for the Comptroller’s office. “There are three main factors — paying to play, a chance of winning, and reward for winning. And when we see other indicators, we’re pretty certain. In many cases we see evidence of payoff, we see ledgers.”
In a June letter to 7,200 state liquor license holders, Franchot said his enforcement agents would begin inspecting licensees for gambling violations. While bar owners maintain the devices are “for-amusement-only,” Franchot believes many are used for illegal gambling.
Kelly said of the approximately 300 license holders inspected so far, 60 have had machines. Of those, Kelly said his office is “very certain” that about 26 are being used for illegal gambling purposes.
He said most bar and tavern owners have cooperated with inspectors.
“In many instances where we’ve talked to the owners, we’ve found them to be pretty cooperative,” Kelly said. “Many are indifferent, they say that it’s not a big part of what they do.”
But the machines can make a big difference in the bottom line of some smaller operations, said Del. Joseph “Sonny” Minnick (D-Dundalk), who co-owns Minnick’s Restaurant and Lounge in Dundalk with his brother. Minnick said he removed four video machines from his bar when Franchot first announced the crackdown, but “everyone else put them back in, so we put them back in.”
“It doesn’t mean a great deal to us, but there are some small bars in Baltimore City and Baltimore County that don’t serve food, and they’ve got regular customers,” he said. “They keep those places open.”
Minnick said he pays $800 annually to Baltimore County to operate each machine. Stephan Fogleman, chairman of the Baltimore City Board of Liquor License Commissioners, said the licensing of legal machines through local authorities but inspection of their illegal use through state agencies is, “an unusual creation of law.”
“We have violated a half-dozen establishments in the last year through the vice unit,” he said. “What happens is they see people get paid, or play themselves until they get paid.”
Fogleman said violations rarely result in criminal action, but can cost the licensees between $2,000 and $15,000 in earnings from the machines.
If November’s slots referendum passes, Minnick said it’s possible legislation would be passed to ban the machines altogether. But for now, he said he doesn’t believe the Comptroller’s crusade would net many offenders.
“I’d be lying if I said people didn’t use them for other purposes,” Minnick said. “Are they widespread for that reason? I doubt it.”
