Pre Reveal Slots
Posted : admin On 4/1/2022Some Florida business thought that they could skirt gambling laws with pre-reveal slot machines. But a Circuit Court Judge has ruled that unlicensed pre-reveal slots are illegal.
Let’s discuss why these slot machines were deemed illegal and what led to the judge’s decision.
Seminole Tribe was Behind the Case
The Seminole Tribe has exclusive rights to slot machines and house-banked card games in Florida (minus 2 counties).
Purveyors of so-called pre-reveal gaming machines argued before a Florida appeals court Tuesday that the devices should not be covered by a state law restricting slot machines, in a case that. By operation of Ohio law, “pre-reveal” and “no-chance” games are slot machines. The four constitutionally created casinos in Ohio are the only entities authorized by law to operate slot machines.
In exchange, the tribe gives a percentage of their slots revenue to the state. But this deal was put into jeopardy by businesses that began offering pre-reveal slots.
As the name implies, pre-reveal slot machines let players preview what the next game result will be before betting. But the gamble is that they don’t know what the outcome will be of the future games after this.
Essentially, knowing the result of the next game helps these games avoid the gambling distinction. But given that you don’t know the result of other future spins, these machines obviously constitute gambling.
Many bars and restaurants were using these machines to get around state laws. But the Seminole Tribe’s casinos were threatened, and they wanted to stop these games as quickly as possible.
“Nobody leaves a winning game on the machine, so you always start with a losing game,” said lawyer Barry Richard, who was representing the tribe.
“And you’re playing a losing game even though you know it. Why do you do that? You do it because you want the chance of winning the next game and you don’t know the result of the next game. That’s a slot machine.”
Tribe Threatened to Pull their Revenue-Sharing Deal
According to WCTV, Gator Coin II manufactures the pre-reveal machines used in Florida. And they challenged the court on grounds that these games aren’t gambling.
Judge John Cooper originally sided with Gator Coin II. But then he reversed his decision when the tribe appealed.
“The tribe is entitled to have no competition, even from one machine,” Richard sad. “They’re paying over 250 million dollars a year. That’s twice as much as the casino taxes from all of the parimutuels put together.”
In actuality, this case comes down to money. Florida stands to make far more from the Seminole Tribe’s casinos than they do from pre-reveal machines littered throughout bars and gas stations.
Latest Headlines
Siding with state regulators, an appeals court Thursday ruled that controversial electronic games played in bars and other establishments are illegal slot machines.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal upheld a circuit judge’s decision that what are known as “pre-reveal” games violate laws preventing slot machines in most of Florida. The panel’s 10-page ruling found, in part, that the games meet the definition of slot machines because they include an element of chance.
The ruling backed the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, which prompted the long-running dispute by ordering two businesses to remove the machines. That move drew legal challenges from Blue Sky Games, which developed the games, and Jacksonville-based Gator Coin, which leased the games to businesses.
Supporters of the games, which also are known as Version 67, have contended that the machines are legal because they include a “preview” feature that advises players of the outcome of the games.
But regulators and other critics have argued the preview feature doesn’t matter because the “random number generator” used to create the games equates to the definition of slot machines, which are games of “chance,” under state law.
Also, a key issue has been whether the slot-machine law applies to playing a single game or a series of games. While the outcome of the first “pre-reveal” game is known in advance, a player at the outset does not know the results of subsequent games.
Pre Reveal Slots Online
The ruling Thursday, quoting a section of state law, said the determination of whether the games are illegal slot machines “turns on whether the user may receive something of value ‘by reason of any element of chance or any other outcome unpredictable by the user.’ The element of chance or unpredictability must be inherent in the machine itself.”
“We hold that the trial court was correct in determining that Version 67 is a slot machine because the element of chance is inherent in it given that it has a preset win/loss ratio … and that the game outcomes are determined by the machine by chance, via an RNG (random number generator), and there is nothing the user can do to affect the outcomes,” said the ruling, written by appeals-court Judge Joseph Lewis and joined by judges James Wolf and Stephanie Ray. “Furthermore, Version 67 is a slot machine for the additional and independent reason that also inherent in it is an outcome unpredictable by the user. While it is true that the user is advised of the outcome of the game at hand ahead of time through the preview feature, the user cannot predict that outcome until it is randomly generated and then displayed by the machine. Nor can the user predict the outcome of Game 2 while playing Game 1.”
The games have drawn attention in the gambling industry and in the Legislature, which this year debated a proposal to outlaw the machines. The legislative proposal did not pass.
The appeals court upheld a decision last year by Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper, who originally sided with Blue Sky Games and Gator Coin but then reversed himself. The reversal came after the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which became involved in the case, asked Cooper to reconsider his initial decision. The tribe operates casinos that include slot machines.
The ruling Thursday described Version 67 as “profitable game that depicts traditional slot machine symbols, such as reels; it takes $1 to $20 bills; and the amount of return to the player varies by the amount of money played. Version 67 has a mandatory preview feature that displays the outcome of the game selected before the insertion of any money and before the play button appears.”
“When the first game is played, the outcome of the next game is automatically generated by the RNG and is stored in memory, and that outcome is displayed when the player presses preview for the next game,” the ruling said. “There is nothing a player can do to change the outcome that is randomly generated by the machine from among millions of potential outcomes.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Comments
Pre-reveal Slot Machines
- Pensacola Ed on September 1st, 2018 8:47 am
I guess the State wants the Government to be the only organization that can legally rip you off.
- Real deal on September 1st, 2018 1:12 am
They Have the “element of chance ” and a preview of possible outcome !! So what about the stuffed animal grab machines .same principle behind them as well as a lotto ticket
- Rodney on August 31st, 2018 11:08 am
How is it that this type of gaming is illegal but we have a statewide lottery, bingo halls all over, and dog racing with poker rooms? What is the difference between a slot machine and any of these “games”?