Police to investigate gaming machines

Press, 17 June 1986, Page 9

Police to investigate gaming machines

The Christchurch police have warned of a “blitz” on illegal gaming machines.

The head of the Christchurch C. 1.8., Detective Superintendent lan Holyoake, said yesterday that the police were investigating complaints about the machines.

They included poker machines and penny-fall machines which dispensed as a prize more money than was paid into them. Such machines were illegal under the Gaming and Lotteries Act.

Mr Holyoake said that the police were likely to seize the machines and prosecutions might result. Charges might be laid against the owners or managers of the machines, and those who had them on their premises for use by the public.

The police had heard of illegal gaming machines in hotels, clubs, and dairies and had become “increasingly concerned.” Meanwhile, the police have lodged an appeal against a District Court

deecision in Christchurch which has upset a crackdown on illegal gaming machines.

In his decision, Judge Frampton dismissed four charges of managing illegal games of chance against Patrick David Sloan, of the Dog House takeaway bar. The Judge ruled that the four machines in question were games of chance, but that the conditions of use were that they were not to be played except as prizes for winning scores on other machines.