Is It
Bingo, Or A Slot Machine?
A new
casino competitor is coming to America: the bingo casino.
Bingo is
already being played on video screens. These gaming devices
are about to become virtually indistinguishable from video
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These
revolutionary new games come from the minds of inventors,
and their lawyers. The legal fights are usually over the
definition of "bingo."
The door
was opened by Congress, when it passed the Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act ("IGRA"). The Wisconsin Legislature once
defined "bingo" so narrowly, that it had to be played on
paper cards with a grid of 25 squares and a winning pattern
of five across. Congress went to the other extreme, defining
bingo as a game of chance played for prizes, which is won by
the first person covering any predetermined pattern on his
or her card. "Electronic, computer, or other technologic
aids" are expressly allowed, as are other games "including,
if played in the same location, pull-tabs, punch boards, tip
jars, instant bingo, and other games similar to bingo."
Federal
courts over the past few years have upheld the right of
tribes to offer bingo played on linked video machines,
allowing players to play on electronic cards. There is no
requirement that there be a bingo blower, so the game has
been greatly speeded up by computerized random number
generators.
The
National Indian Gaming Commission ("NIGC") has gotten the
message and recently issued new regulations, redefining what
is allowed in the way of electronic aids. The regulators may
not have intended it, but they have just authorized tribes,
without compacts, to have unlimited numbers of bingo slot
machines.
This is not
an exaggeration. MTS Games of Tulsa and Multimedia Games of
Austin are already producing and placing with tribes Class
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marked bingo card, but also as three reels with traditional
slot machine symbols.
For an
operator without a compact, the difference between a gaming
device being classified as Class II, as opposed to Class
III, is usually the difference between being legal and
committing a serious federal felony.
Under the
IGRA, a tribe may operate any game which is Class II,
without having to get permission from the state where the
tribe is located. There are some restrictions, such as the
state must allow some form of Class II gaming. Since Class
II includes bingo, this is usually not a problem.
Class III
gaming includes the most profitable, and dangerous, forms of
gambling, specifically including slot machines and
"electronic and electromechanical facsimiles." Before a
tribe may legally offer Class III gaming, it must first
enter into a compact with the state where the tribe is
located. The state has to sign the compact only if state law
permits someone to operate that form of gambling.
It is
difficult to get Class III games, particularly slot
machines, legally onto tribal land, since most states
pretend to not have gaming devices, and do not want untaxed
tribal casinos within their borders.
Putting
slot machines onto a reservation without a compact is a
felony, as some operators who have been sent to prison have
learned.
The federal
law prohibiting gaming devices on Indian land is commonly
called the Johnson Act. Because it was originally passed to
outlaw three-reel slot machines, at first it required a
gaming device to have a reel. Operators quickly figured out
ways to get around the law, so Congress amended the Johnson
Act. However, Congress went overboard the other way, writing
a statute which encompasses almost anything connected with
gambling.
The Johnson
Act now defines "gambling device" as including not only
traditional slot machines, but also "any other machine or
mechanical device (including, but not limited to, roulette
wheels and similar devices) designed and manufactured
primarily for use in connection with gambling..."
You do not
have to be a Harvard Law School graduate to see there is a
problem here. Although the law was designed to go after slot
machines, it now expressly includes roulette wheels. If a
roulette wheel is a "gambling device," prohibited on Indian
land under the Johnson Act, how about a bingo ball blower?
Almost no
one believes Congress intended to outlaw bingo blowers, and
therefore bingo itself, from Indian reservations, and no
court has found bingo equipment to be a gambling device
under the Johnson Act. Still, the Johnson Act is still the
law, and it says that all gambling devices are prohibited
from Indian land.
Congress
recognized part of the problem when it wrote the IGRA. Class
III gaming, including slot machines, is expressly exempt
from the Johnson Act, if it is conducted legally under a
tribal-state compact.
But what
about Class II? The IGRA is silent about whether the Johnson
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The NIGC
originally took the logical position that Congress must have
intended that the Johnson Act did apply to Class II gaming.
So, the NIGC issued regulations stating that electronic aids
could not be used in connection with bingo, if this meant
playing a game on an electronic or electromechanical
facsimile, defined as a gambling device under the Johnson
Act.
Somewhat
surprisingly, the courts disagreed. Judges focused almost
entirely on the question of whether a game played with
electronic devices was still bingo, and basically ignored
whether the machines would be illegal under the Johnson Act.
The NIGC
has now rewritten its regulations to meet these court
decisions. The definitions for electronic aids, facsimiles
and "other games similar to bingo" have been greatly
broadened, to allow bingo to be played in virtually any
form, so long as the player is not playing against the
house.
Even some
house-banked games are allowed, under some conditions. A
paper pull-tab vending machine, such as Lucky Tab II, can
play exactly like a slot machine, so long as the machine
spits out a piece of paper, which technically determines
whether the player has won or lost. Linked bingo video
devices, such as MegaMania, can require players to put in an
additional 25 cents to see three more balls and pay a set
amount if a player covers two, three or four corners, so
long as a regular bingo game is being played at the same
time.
One
little-noticed provision of the new NIGC regs may take bingo
the final step to becoming a slot machine game. bingo bingo
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accompanying the new rules, the NIGC points out that, "A
manual component to the game is not necessary."
Bingo
players do not have to call out, "Bingo!" or even press a
"Win" button. All they have to do is put their money in and
start the game, which could be done by pulling a handle. The
bingo machine will tell them whether they have won by
showing symbols, such as three reels, and will then pay
winners automatically.