In the Irish Courts
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836703100407 |
| Published date | 01 October 1967 |
| Date | 01 October 1967 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Irish Courts
HOW
A SLOT MACHINE IS "SUCCESSFULLY OPERATED"
Irish Amusements Ltd. v, Keane
S
E CT ION
10
of
the
Gaming and Lotteries Act,
1956
declares
illegal
"any
slot machine designed to deliver, when success-
fully operated, any money prize or token or other article which
the
promoter
...
undertakes or is willing to exchange for money
or money's worth".
It
seems clear
that
an applicant to
the
District Court,
under
s.
15
of
the
Act, for a certificate author-
ising
the
issue of a licence permitting gaming on
the
applicant's
premises cannot include within
the
application amachine
which contravenes s.
10.
In
Irish Amusements Ltd. v. Keane
(1966, I.R. 42), in which
the
company, as proprietors of an
amusement arcade or fun fair, made such an application, a
Superintendent of Police objected to one of
the
machines
listed
and
described in
the
application as a
"Pontoon"
machine,
on
the
ground
that
it was a slot machine of
the
type prohibited
by s.
10.
The
machine was a metal cylinder, its mechanism
housed within
the
cylinder being said by its proprietor to be
"operated on a system of electronics". Representations of
playing cards were spread round its face in three concentric
rings.
When
the
proprietor set it in motion by electricity
the
inner rings revolved,
the
outer ring remaining stationary. A
player made his stake by inserting a coin in a slot opposite a
card in
the
outer ring.
The
inner rings rotated and when they
came to rest, two cards in
the
innermost ring lit
up
and were
the
promoter's cards;
the
player's selected card and
the
one in
the
middle ring nearest to it were
then
the
player's cards; and,
if they were numerically more
than
the
promoter's cards,
the
machine automatically returned his stake
and
paid his win-
nings.
The
operation of
the
machine was
thus
purely mech-
anical, being controlled entirely by
the
electrical system in-
stalled within
the
machine, so
that
the
player
had
no control
over
the
starting, stopping or operating of
the
machine and
could do nothing to influence
the
results of its operation.
273
To continue reading
Request your trial