Found this article. Probably why we are a bit weak this morning....
GO PACK GO!
-Scott
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Texas & Southwest
summaries
Slots hurting charity bingo,
state panel told
12/10/97
By George Kuempel / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN - The proliferation of Las Vegas-style
gambling machines is taking a big chunk out of
charitable bingo proceeds, a task force on illegal
gambling was told Tuesday.
Mike Pitcock, chief of enforcement for the Texas
Lottery Commission, said the machines - which
look and play like casino slots - are forcing some
charitable groups to give up bingo.
"One lady said that if something isn't done about
the machines, bingo is on the way out," Mr.
Pitcock testified.
Gov. George W. Bush appointed the panel to
recommend legislation to crack down on the
machines after his own proposal to curb them was
killed in an end-of-session filibuster last year.
The panel will report to the governor by May 1. It
is made up of legislators, prosecutors, gambling
foes and representatives of the state lottery and
Texas Department of Public Safety.
The lottery commission, which oversees the game,
prohibits any other types of gambling in halls where
charity bingo is being played.
Mr. Pitcock said bingo hall operators are
circumventing state law by installing the machines in
special rooms inside or adjacent to the halls to
attract bingo players.
As a result, bingo proceeds have fallen 20 percent
to 30 percent and some charities are talking about
giving up the games, he said.
The charitable groups that rent the halls get none of
the money from the gambling machines. And if they
complain, they are told to take their games
elsewhere, Mr. Pitcock said.
The machines, he said, are so profitable that some
lottery retailers are moving out merchandise to
make room more of them.
Under the law, so-called eight liners, video poker
and other gambling machines can offer only
noncash prizes of $5 or 10 times the cost of the
play, whichever is less.
But witnesses told the panel Tuesday that many
operators are slipping winners cash under the
counter or paying out in gift certificates worth
hundreds of dollars.
W. Clay Abbott, Lubbock County deputy criminal
district attorney, said a special task force has been
set up to try to halt the flood of machines into West
Texas.
Since May, nine businesses advertising themselves
as casinos have opened in Lubbock, Mr. Abbott
said. Nearby Leveland, with a population of only
20,000, has three such casinos.
One Lubbock casino, the Golden Bonanza, has 75
to 80 machines, Mr. Abbott said. Each machine
can bring in $1,500 a week, he said.
"The big trend in West Texas is opening small
casinos," he said. Waitresses serve players tea, soft
drinks and popcorn, making it "very much a
casino-type atmosphere."
"This is out of control, and we need to do
something immediately," Mr. Abbott said.
Drew Durham, deputy state attorney general for
criminal justice, said the state should pool its
resources and attack the problem now rather than
wait for the Legislature to reconvene in 1999.
He proposed a special task force be created and
made up of two seasoned prosecutors, four
investigators and a financial expert and assigned full
time to putting illegal operators out of business.
DPS lawyer David Boatright said state law has
made it difficult to pull the plug on the illegal
machines.
"Texas gambling laws are complicated, confused
and ambiguous. These are anathema to
prosecutors." he said. |
