Senate Bill No. 281
(By Senator Dugan, By Request)
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[Introduced March 11, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article ten, chapter
sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing the
possession or display of slot machines that were
manufactured over twenty-five years ago and have been
rendered inoperable.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article ten, chapter sixty-one of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY.
§61-10-1. Keeping or exhibiting gaming table, machine, or
device; penalty; seizure of table, machine or
device; forfeiture of money used in such gaming.
Any person who shall keep or exhibit keeps or exhibits a
gaming table, commonly called A.B.C. or E.O. table, or faro bank,
or keno table, or any slot machine, multiple coin console
machine, multiple coin console slot machine or device in the
nature of a slot machine, or any other gaming table or device of
like kind, under any denomination, or which has no name, whether
the game, table, bank, machine or device be played with cards,
dice or otherwise, or shall be is a partner, or concerned in
interest, in keeping or exhibiting such table, bank, machine or
gaming device of any character, shall be is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be confined in jail not
less than two nor more than twelve months and be fined not less
than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars. Any such
table, faro bank, machine or gaming device, and all money staked
or exhibited to allure persons to bet at such the table, or upon
such the gaming device, may be seized by order of a court, or
under the warrant of a justice, and the money so seized shall be
forfeited to the county and paid into the treasury of the county
in which such seizure is made, and the table, faro bank, machine
or gaming device shall be completely destroyed.: Provided,
however, That the The provisions of this section shall do not
extend to coin-operated nonpayout machines with free play feature
or to automatic weighing, measuring, musical and vending machines which are so constructed as to give a certain uniform and fair
return in value or services for each coin deposited therein and
in which there is no element of chance or to slot machines that
were manufactured over twenty-five years ago and that have been
rendered inoperable.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the
possession and display of slot machines that were manufactured
over twenty-five years ago and have been rendered inoperable.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.