Video gambling machines double in Texas in 2 years
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___Video slot machines have been called the "crack cocaine" of compulsive gambling. And in far too many Texas counties, nobody is waging this particular war on drugs, according to a longtime Texas Baptist gambling opponent.
___The Texas Department of Public Safety and officials in the video gambling industry estimate Texas now has 40,000 to 45,000 video slot machines operating--more than double the number in the state two years ago.
___"The rapid expansion of these machines in convenience stores around the state essentially has brought unregulated mini-casinos into neighborhoods, giving compulsive gamblers easy access to a 'fix,'" said Weston Ware, legislative consultant with the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission and chairman of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.
___Increasingly, the video slot machines also have given birth to freestanding gambling parlors, where game-room operators offer anywhere from two dozen to 100 video gambling machines, in flagrant violation of state law. And each machine, which typically costs an operator less than $2,500, can bring in $400 a day.
___The rapid expansion of video gambling in Texas recently was the focus of extensive coverage in the Dallas Morning News, which reported Dallas County has become a haven for gambling proprietors due to lack of enforcement of state anti-gambling laws.
___Dallas County prosecutors countered that they are unable to obtain convictions because state laws are too vague.
___In 1998, the Texas Attorney General ruled that video slot machines, often called "eight-liners," are illegal gambling devices. They also have been defined as illegal by officials in the Department of Public Safety Special Crimes Division and by the Governor's Task Force on Illegal Gambling in Texas, on which Ware served.
___The video gambling industry, however, has continued to promote the machines throughout the state, claiming they operate under the 1995 "fuzzy animal exemption" in Texas law. The exemption permits the operation of amusement machines that award inexpensive trinkets, such as stuffed animals, as prizes.
___During the 1999 Texas legislative session, the Senate approved a bill designed to close loopholes that have allowed the continued operation of illegal video slot machines in some Texas counties. The bill would have clarified the state penal code definition for "gambling devices," drawing a distinction between games of chance and amusement games in which skill is the main requirement to win.
___The legislation, which became loaded down with "carve-outs" benefiting bingo halls, lottery retailers, pari-mutuel tracks and Indian tribes, was reported favorably out of the House Jurisprudence Committee but died in the House Calendars Committee in the last session.
___Some law enforcement officials have complained that they lack the resources and personnel to crack down on eight-liners because their operation is a low-priority misdemeanor.
___Ware noted that both the Christian Life Commission and Texans Against Gambling have supported efforts to clarify the penal code and to make the operation of illegal gambling devices a state jail felony.
___However, he said the Attorney General's office has demonstrated its willingness to assist local law enforcement in shutting down eight-liner operators. The Attorney General's gambling task force has helped 17 counties around the state seize at least 1,200 slot machines and win more than 40 convictions.
___The problem, according to Ware, is that while the law is being enforced in some counties, it is being ignored in others. As a result, gambling operators just move their casino-style parlors into nearby jurisdictions where they feel safe.
___"It is time for the people of Texas to ask their elected and appointed officials either to enforce the law or get another job," Ware said. "To claim that prosecution of illegal gambling operators is 'too difficult' is unworthy of people who have been placed in positions of trust to uphold the laws of this state."
___Ware noted that some lawmakers in Austin are seeking to water down, rather than strengthen, existing laws regarding video gambling. HB 2479, authored by Debra Danburg, D-Houston, would legalize "eight-liner" video gambling devices that pay off in redemption tickets.
___"When illegal gambling machines are legitimized, either through legislative action or prosecutorial inaction, Texas moves farther down the same road that Louisiana has traveled toward open casinos," Ware said.
___The legislative move to legalize eight-liners is one of three key strategies that casino promoters are pursuing in Austin, he noted. The others are the legitimizing of Indian casinos and the authorizing of slot machines at pari-mutuel horseracing tracks.
___"Right now, we're sitting on a three-legged stool, and if they knock any of the three legs out from under us, we'll fall," he said. "If any of these measures pass, we are in immediate peril of seeing a major proliferation of open gambling in our state."
___Note: Texas state senators may be addressed by name by writing to P.O. Box 12068-Capitol Station, Austin 78711. Representatives may be addressed by name by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin 78768-2910.
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