This week, the proprietors of an Opp video arcade, Spinners, each pleaded guilty in a Covington County Circuit Court proceeding to 24 counts of possession of a gambling device.
Greg Gambril, chief assistant district attorney with the 22nd Judicial Circuit, said Jessie Crumpler, 36, and Ryan Stuart, 23, entered guilty pleas for each of the 24 gambling devices that were confiscated in a June 22 raid at their business located at 802 U.S. 84 East in Opp.
"They received a sentence of 90 days on each count," Gambril said, adding the sentences would run concurrently and totaled six years. "The sentences were suspended for two years." The defendants were also ordered to pay court costs and $25 to the victim's compensation funds for each count, with a total cost for each totaling about $4,600, Gambril said.
"It would have been worse but they cooperated fully with law enforcement; and they came in and settled immediately," Gambril said. "With this case, we wanted to send a message that even though this is a misdemeanor offense, we are taking it seriously, and we will treat it seriously. We won't tolerate gambling here. They can keep it in Florida and Mississippi."
Gambril said the state will be seeking to forfeit the machines.
Crumpler and Stuart were arrested July 22 when officers with the Opp Police Department and the Covington County Drug Task Force raided their business and seized 24 gambling machines that are similar to slot machines found in many casinos. At the time of the raid, the arcade had been open for a little more than one month.
While the machines were advertised to pay out winnings in gift certificates, they required little or no skill, Gambril said. According to Alabama law, amusement-style arcade machines that pay out a prize are legal so long as they require some skill. In those instances prizes or gift certificates valued no greater than $5 are legal.
However, Gambril said, the machines seized at Spinners would be illegal at authorized casinos. "These machines would be illegal in Biloxi, (Miss.)," he said. "The Biloxi machines are monitored by a gaming commission. These are not. These are designed so that the player will lose."
Gambril explained that slot machines found in legal casinos "are done by chance." The machines found in Opp, which Gambril said are popping up all over Alabama, have predetermined results so that if a person is playing to reach a certain result, the machine will not reach it.
"Not only were they illegal because they were gambling machines, but they were illegal gambling machines," Gambril said.
SOURCE:
Andalusia Star News.
