Were Slot Machines Taken Illegally?

Judge William Joseph of Zanesville City has a new case in front of him, one in which a business is claiming that their slot machines were taken illegally. They claim that the city police seized ten machines illegally and they want them returned. Never mind that slot machine gambling is illegal – the owner wants his machines returned – pronto.

The judge needs to decide if he will allow the police to enter the slot machines into evidence, or if he will throw them out. He might allow two of the slot machines as evidence, or none. He has a prior motion in front of him that would have him throw out the machines all together but that wouldn’t help the owner’s case.

Ed Alexander, the owner of the business from which the slot machines were confiscated said that they want two of the machines to stay in as evidence and the others returned. Alexander says that if the slots are allowed to stay in as evidence, then they can prove that they are not actually slot machines, but games of skill.

Alexander was cited for operating a gambling house and police seized his slot machines. Police say that he was warned previously about operating a slot machine parlor in city limits, but chose to ignore the warning. Attorney General Jim Petro had declared the games illegal and all owners of the slot machines were to dispose of them immediately.

Alexander says that the police had no right to seize the slot machines as they are not experts on the inner workings of the machines and therefore could not have known whether or not they were slot machines or games of skill. Alexander has also been handed twelve additional counts against him for not having licenses for the machines.

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