Senate Bill No. 164
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Introduced January 20, 1999;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary; and then to the
Committee on Finance.]
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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 gaming; keeping or
exhibiting gaming table, machine or device; providing for
misdemeanor penalties; prohibiting certain gaming devices or
machines; prohibiting aiding or abetting a person who keeps or
maintains certain gaming devices or machines; prohibiting
persons from knowingly allowing certain gaming devices or
machines to be kept, maintained or used on the property;
creating exceptions; providing for seizure and forfeiture; and
establishing felony penalties.
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 to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY.
§61-10-1. Keeping or exhibiting gaming table, machine, or
device; misdemeanor penalties; seizure and
forfeiture of table, machine, device and money;
aiding or abetting; using premises for gaming;
felony penalties.
(a) Any person who shall keep or exhibit 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 a partner, or concerned in interest, in
keeping or exhibiting such table, bank, machine or gaming device
of any character, shall be 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 table, or upon such 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 provisions of
this section shall not extend to coin-operated non-payout
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.
(b) Any person who for hire, gain or reward keeps, maintains
or allows the use of a gaming device or machine which confers or
accumulates the right to replay games which is exchangeable for
money, tokens or other thing of value, other than the privilege
of immediate replay, contains a method or device by which the
privilege of immediate replay may be canceled or revoked, and in
which chance rather than skill primarily determines whether the
player wins or loses is guilty of a felony.
(c) No person may aide or abet a person who for hire, gain
or reward keeps, or maintains or allows the use of a gaming device or machine which confers or accumulates the right to replay games
which is exchangeable for money, tokens or other thing of value,
other than the privilege of immediate replay, contains a method
or device by which the privilege of immediate replay may be
canceled or revoked, and in which chance rather than skill
primarily determines whether the player wins or loses is guilty
of a felony.
(d) Any person who has control or the right of control over
premises that are used with that person's knowledge for purposes
of keeping, maintaining or allowing the use of a gaming device or
machine which confers or accumulates the right to replay games
which is exchangeable for money, tokens or other thing of value,
other than the privilege of immediate replay, contains a method
or device by which the privilege of immediate replay may be
canceled or revoked, and in which chance rather than skill
primarily determines whether the player wins or loses is guilty
of a felony.
(e) Any person convicted of his or her first violation of
subsection (b),(c) or (d) of this section shall, in the
discretion of the court, either be confined in a county or
regional jail or imprisoned in a state correctional facility for
not less than one nor more than three years. Any person convicted of second and subsequent violations of subsections
(b),(c) or (d) of this section shall, upon conviction, be
imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than two
nor more than ten years.
(f) Any gaming device, other equipment, money or other
things of value possessed or used in violation of the provisions
of subsections (b),(c) or (d) of this section shall be seized and
forfeited to the county in which the seizure was made. Any
property so seized which can be used for a lawful purpose may, at
the discretion of the court, be used by the county or sold and
the proceeds paid into the county treasury. Any property seized
which can not be used for a lawful purpose shall be destroyed.
All gaming devices and other equipment seized shall be stored in
a manner to protect it from damage and loss until such time as a
court of competent jurisdiction shall order its destruction, sale
or return. Any item ordered to be returned shall be promptly
returned at no cost to the lawful owner.
(f) The provisions of subsections (b),(c),(d) and (e) do not
apply to the following:
(1) Playing an amusement device or machine which allows a
player to engage in a game which predominantly requires skill
rather than chance, confers only an immediate right of replay which is not exchangeable for something of value other than the
privilege of immediate replay, and does not contain a method or
device by which the privilege of immediate replay may be canceled
or revoked;
(2) Pari-mutuel system of wagering upon the results of any
horse or dog race as authorized by article twenty-three, chapter
nineteen of this code;
(3) The state operated lottery as authorized by article
twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of this code;
(4) Video lottery games as authorized by article twenty-two- a, chapter twenty-nine of this code;
(5) Charitable bingo and raffles as authorized by articles
twenty and twenty-one, chapter forty-seven of this code; or
(6) Automatic weighing, measuring, music 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create felony
penalties for owning or allowing use of certain gaming devices
or machines. The bill also provides for seizure and forfeiture
of money, gaming devices and other equipment used in illegal
gaming.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.