INFORMATION ON SHARP IMAGE GAMING - part 1
It has been difficult to find any information about SIGI. I've been looking around for any mention of this company. It certainly appears they exist. They have done quite a bit of work with Indian Reservations, not always with ease.
First, I found a reference to Sharp Image at an '98 Gaming Expo cite
ullo.com
At another site showing SIGI as a future exhibitor at a S. American Gambling convention, I found some real data. I have not tried the phone numbers myself.
Sharp Image Gaming, Inc.
9164 JOrdan Avenue
Catsworth, CA 91311
USA
Tel: (818) 3418900 Fax: (818) 3418908
Sharp Image Gaming Inc.
Sharp Image Gaming Inc. is a full service equipment manufacturer and supplier, providing video slot, pull tab and pari-mutual machines, fiber optic signage, progressive systems, accounting and central systems. The company designs, finances and manages casino contruction and operation.
I found these old articles at mtdemocrat.com
They mention Sharp Image in a sorted tale about operations on an Indian reserve. It's some of the earliest stuff I found, but I don't think it's indicative of their full operations.
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6/4/97
Slot machine hearing under way
by MARK COOVELIS, Staff writer
"I guess we could put a nickel in and see if it works." Visiting Judge Allen Fields, referring to confiscated slot machine
A court hearing began yesterday morning to determine whether El Dorado County authorities will have to return 95 slot
machines to the operators of the Crystal Mountain Casino.
El Dorado County sheriff's detectives seized the allegedly illegal gaming devices late last year. But ever since the raid on a
Diamond Springs warehouse, casino officials have maintained that the machines are "used cabinets and face plates," not
operable slot machines.
Attorneys for Sharp Image Gaming Inc., the company that claims ownership of the machines and machine parts, has asked the
court to order District Attorney Gary Lacy to give the machines back.
Observing a slot machine in his courtroom yesterday, visiting Judge Allen Fields quipped, "I guess we could put a nickel in and
see if it works."
However, it will take more than a nickel and little luck to determine whether the machines in question are legal.
"The law states that it's illegal to possess or transport slot machines or machines that can be readily converted into gaming
devices," Lacy said. "Whether these machines can be readily converted is the gray area we're investigating," he added.
At the beginning of yesterday's hearing, visiting Judge Fields ruled that the district attorney has the burden of proof to show that
the machines are illegal gambling devices.
But first, Sharp Image must prove that they own the machines, Judge Field said.
Sharp Image vice president Mark Nizdal testified that his company contracted with the Shingle Springs Rancheria to build and
operate the Crystal Mountain Casino. Sharp Image is registered with the United States Department of Justice and authorized to
manufacture and store gaming machines, Nizdal said.
He told the judge that his company financed the construction of the casino and provided the rancheria with slot machines.
However, the items seized by the authorities do not fall within the definition of "gaming machines" because the technology
necessary to make them operate as such was purposely left out by Sharp Image, Nizdal said.
"Our intent was not to have operating machines anywhere out of our control" such as in a warehouse on Missouri Flat Road,
Nizdal said.
He called the collection of machines seized at the warehouse a "bone yard" of spare parts. He said his company planned to use
the parts to support the 400 operable machines that were in the casino at the time of the warehouse raid.
To Nizdal's knowledge, none of the machines in the warehouse was fitted with the electronic circuit boards necessary to make
them work. Nor did he believe there were any spare circuit boards stored at the warehouse. The boards are the most expensive
and sensitive components of the machines, he said.
Deputy district attorney Steven Russo asked Nizdal if he had been surprised to learn that sheriff's detectives found five circuit
boards among with the 95 machines seized.
"I was shocked," Nizdal said.
An FBI expert on gaming devices was scheduled to testify yesterday afternoon.
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TO EXPLAIN THIS, I FOUND THE FOLLOWING:
Sheriff seizes Indian 'slots
By MATT JOYCE, Staff writer
El Dorado County sheriff's detectives hit the jackpot Thursday morning, seizing 95 allegedly illegal slot machines from a
warehouse in the Missouri Flat area.
At the scene, Jerry Kohler, fiscal administrator for the Shingle Springs Indian Rancheria that is trying to open its Crystal
Mountain Casino, said "They're ours," when asked who owns the machines.
The electronic "slot machines" were in a building owned by Wayne Queen, a member of the Shingle Springs Rancheria gaming
commission. Queen had no comment about the seizure.
Officials from the rancheria, including tribal police and Kohler, were on hand as detectives loaded the electronic gaming devices
into a U-Haul truck.
Sheriff's Lt. Mark Getchel said the Sheriff's Department acted on a tip from the state Department of Justice. The DOJ
apparently received information about the machines from anonymous sources, he said.
"CHUMASH NATIVE AMERICAN GOLD" reads the cover plate over this video gaming machine,
one of 95 suspected "slot machines" seized by the Sheriff's Department yesterday at a warehouse near
Missouri Flat.
Democrat photo by Michael Raffety
After obtaining a search warrant Thursday morning, detectives seized the machines from the warehouse
located in an industrial row at the end of Stage Court. Dozens of slot machines and electronic gaming
equipment packed the large building.
Getchel said the department will store the slot machines and continue to investigate the case. Eventually, the case will go to the
District Attorney's office for consideration.
Under California law, detectives said possession of slot machines or parts of the gaming devices is illegal. The misdemeanor
offense carries a maximum penalty of $1,000 or six months in jail. No arrests were made Thursday.
Although there are some 400 of the video slot machines inside the casino on rancheria property in Shingle Springs, possession
of those machines comes under different guidelines because the rancheria is a sovereign nation and not entirely subject to the
laws of the land outside its boundaries.
Kohler maintained that the slot machines seized yesterday were "empty cases" and not illegal.
"We came to seize gaming devices and we got what we were looking for," Getchel said.
El Dorado County Supervisor Mark Nielsen said the bust could have adverse affects on the future of the controversial Indian
casino.
"This has got to be an embarrassment to the rest of the gaming industry," he said after learning of the seizure.
Nielsen called the idea that the machines were legal "empty cases," "insipid sophistry."
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NOW SOMETHING ELSE.
Casino gives back its slot machines
by JENNIFER DONOVAN, Staff writer
"We don't want them anymore." - Casino PR director Dick Moody, about returning 400 slot machines
Sometime at the end of February, the Crystal Mountain Casino in Shingle Springs reportedly returned all of its slot machines
and blackjack tables to the distributor that provided them almost a year ago.
More than 400 machines and a dozen blackjack tables were returned to Sharpe Image Gaming Inc. in Chatsworth, according
to Crystal Mountain Casino public relations director Dick Moody.
"We don't want them anymore," Moody said about returning the equipment. Moody was vague on any other details of the
return.
Sharpe Image officials could not be reached by press time.
Tribal Fiscal Administrator Jerry Kohler said Sharpe Image was never paid for the machines, and said he did not know any
other facts about the machines' return. The machines are reportedly worth at least $5,000 each.
After a second closure of the casino in November, the devices have sat collecting dust inside the casino. Due to confusion over
whether the video gaming machines are illegal in the state, the casino shut down to await negotiations for a gaming compact with
Gov. Pete Wilson.
In order to operate Class III gaming, which includes slot machines and blackjack, an Indian casino must negotiate a state
gaming compact with Wilson. Because of Wilson's prior refusal to enter into talks with tribes, many proceeded with gaming
without the compact.
Wilson is talking with the Pala Band of Indians in San Diego County in an attempt to negotiate a compact for legal gambling on
its reservation. The Shingle Springs tribe is hoping to be next on Wilson's list for negotiating. Indian tribes can operate any game
on tribal lands that is legal off the reservation. With the banning of Keno in California last year, many similar games on tribal
casinos were dubbed illegal. Recently, a California senator introduced a constitutional amendment to reintroduce Keno to the
state.
Moody said that if the Crystal Mountain Casino opens again, it will be for Class II gaming. Class II gaming includes bingo, pull
tabs and certain card games.
Tribal representatives and their lawyers will return to court Monday to discuss the seizure of 95 machines by El Dorado County
sheriff's officers last December; the machines were located in a warehouse off tribal property. The tribe has asked to have the
machines returned because they claim the machines are not illegal because they are not operational.
When asked why the tribe needed the seized machines when the rest were returned, Moody did not provide an answer.
In other related news, a coalition of California Indian tribes asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a broader interpretation of what
kind of gambling should be allowed on Indian reservations.
The Supreme Court delayed a decision on the matter until the U.S. Solicitor General's office submits an outline of the
government's position on the matter. The solicitor general is a Justice Department official who represents the U.S. in cases at the
high court.
Late last year, a San Francisco-based federal appeals court agreed that California officials only need to negotiate for certain
types of gambling.
The tribes appealed to the Supreme Court, asking for a broader interpretation of the law.
No date was set for when the court might make a ruling on the matter.
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ANOTHER.
4/28/97
Casino opens; judge's ruling may close it
by MARK COOVELIS, Staff writer
SHINGLE SPRINGS - As shouts of "Bingo!" rang through the Crystal Mountain Casino during Friday evening's grand
opening, Grassy Run homeowners were shouting for joy over a ruling by a federal judge that may close the casino's doors for a
third time.
Less than an hour before the first bingo number was called, U.S. District Judge David F. Levy ruled that the Miwok Band of
Shingle Springs has no right to use the roads through the up-scale neighborhood without the permission of the homeowners
association.
And it's a safe bet Grassy Run residents won't give that permission.
Democrat photo by Greg Clark
RESIDENTS WASTE NO TIME in converging upon the Crystal Mountain
Casino to take part in bingo and poker Friday night.
On Friday night, as nearly 300 bingo mavens and poker players drove the narrow, winding road from Highway 50 to the
rancheria, they passed signs handwritten by local residents saying, "Dangerous roads ahead" and "This commercial enterprise
does not belong in a residential area."
Ever since Sharp Image Gaming Inc. pitched the white, 20,000 square-foot tent beside the highway last fall, homeowners in the
Grassy Run subdivision have claimed that the access roads are private. Casino officials maintain that the roads are public
because public monies are used for their upkeep.
"The fact that the private landowners in the Grassy Run subdivision created a community services district and accepted public
monies is not enough to fairly infer an intent to dedicate the roads to public use," Judge Levi said in the order.
Crystal Mountain Casino officials declined to comment on Judge Levy's ruling Saturday afternoon because they had not yet
seen a copy of it.
"All I can say is, if they order us closed, we'll file appeals to attain a stay until the access issue can be resolved," said Larry
Miles, executive director of the rancheria gaming commission.
However, Grassy Run district president Penny LeDoux said Saturday that the U.S. District Court's summary judgment is not
subject to appeal at this time.
"We plan to send a letter early in the week to the National Indian Gaming Commission asking them to order the casino closed,"
she said.
Patrons and many employees of the bingo and card palace did not seem to be aware of the latest hand dealt to the rancheria
Friday evening.
Bingo players filled two dozen long tables, while a poker game slowly formed at the far end of the hall. By 11 p.m. some 25
card players sat around the green felt tables.
"We're delighted with the turn-out, considering we didn't have much advertising," said casino official Rockie Kennedy, over the
melodic voice of the bingo caller.
"B-six," she sang out.
"Bingo!" shouted a middle-aged man with a mustache.
"Hold your papers for a possible bingo. Are there any more bingos? We have one winner. That bingo pays $500," she said.
"I came to see what all the fuss has been about," the winner, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "It's more fun than I
thought it would be," he added, waving his $100 bills.
"People have been dying for us to open. They've been calling us for months," Kennedy said.
Like many other casino employees - from the shuttle bus drivers to the bingo runners - Kennedy spoke enthusiastically about his
hopes for a thriving casino in the future.
"We'll open a full-service restaurant and a motel, like they have over there in Jackson," he said. "We'll have Monday Night
Football on a big screen T.V., music, closed circuit horse racing - an all-around recreational facility," he added.
The casino currently employs approximately 65 people. Kennedy expects that number to climb to more than 120 soon.
Many of those employees have been waiting to come to work for months. The casino opened for the first time as a
Nevada-style gaming hall to great fanfare in October 1996 only to close a short time later. A second grand opening a month
later also came to nothing when the casino shut down again to deal with 39 health and safety problems, including adequate
evacuation routes, qualified security protection, suitable water and sewage facilities and fire services.
In December, the El Dorado County Sheriff's detectives seized 90 electronic slot machines belonging to the casino from a
private warehouse in Diamond Springs. The District Attorney contends that the machines are illegal to possess. While that case
is still pending in Superior Court, a May 1 deadline was set by the federal government to remove all slot machines from Indian
casinos. Crystal Mountain Casino officials removed more than 400 more video gaming machines and decided to open Friday
without them.
Public relations manager Dick Moody said that the tribal gaming commission had also addressed all 39 health and safety issues
and now felt comfortable with opening the facility as a class II bingo and card parlor.
"Addressing issues does not resolve them," El Dorado County Supervisor Mark Nielsen said on Saturday. "We're going to ask
to have the casino closed until the health and safety issues can be resolved," he added.
As of Saturday night the controversial casino was still open, but no one was taking any bets on how long the games will last.
I EXPECT TO ADD MORE TO THIS SOON. |
