State v. Lake Geneva Lanes, Inc.
| Decision Date | 20 December 1963 |
| Citation | 22 Wis.2d 151,125 N.W.2d 622 |
| Parties | STATE of Wisconsin, Respondent, v. LAKE GENEVA LANES, INC., et al., Appellants. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
John Morrissy, Lake Geneva, for appellants.
George Thompson, Atty. Gen., William A. Platz, Asst. Atty. Gen., Madison, William L. Seymour, Dist. Atty., Walworth County, Elkhorn, for respondent.
The question for our determination is whether a pinball machine which provides free plays as a reward to a player as a result of luck (plus some skill) is a 'gambling machine' under sec. 945.01(3), Stats.
The trial judge concluded that it was a gambling machine, and we agree. The legislative pronouncements together with the rulings heretofore made by this court make it clear that the reward of a free game is 'something of value,' as a matter of law. State v. Jaskie (1944), 245 Wis. 398, 14 N.W.2d 148; Milwaukee v. Burns (1937), 225 Wis. 296, 274 N.W. 273; Milwaukee v. Johnson (1927), 192 Wis. 585, 213 N.W. 335.
We recognize that other courts throughout the nation have considered this problem and have not been uniform in their conclusions. Many courts have held that a free play is a thing of value. State v. Bally Beach Club Pinball Machine (1956), 119 Vt. 123, 119 A.2d 876; Steely v. Commonwealth (1942), 291 Ky. 554, 164 S.W.2d 977; Giomi v. Chase (1942), 47 N.M. 22, 132 P.2d 715; Broaddus v. State (1941), 141 Tex.Cr.R. 512, 150 S.W.2d 247. To the contrary, however, there are a number of courts which have reached the conclusion that a free play is not a thing of value. People v. One Mechanical Device (1957), 11 Ill.2d 151, 142 N.E.2d 98; Crystal Amusement Corp. v. Northrop (1955), 19 Conn.Sup. 498, 118 A.2d 467; State v. Betti (1945), 23 N.J.Misc. 169, 42 A.2d 640; In re Wigton (1943), 151 Pa.Super. 337, 30 A.2d 352.
The instant case is but a refinement of the Burns Case, supra, where the reward offered by the machine was in the form of tokens which could only be used to replay the machine. Whether the reward is a token or an automatic free play, we consider that the player gets the same gain and that in each case it is an item of value. As a result of his luck, he is enabled to play another game without the deposit of cash, and this is a thing of value under the statute and our previous decisions.
The appellant seeks to distinguish the machine in the instant case from those involved in previous cases by pointing out that the present machine does not contain a 'knock-off' device. This refers to a device on the machine by which the free games can be removed. The fact that the machine cannot be cleared of the free play unless one actually engages in the additional game may serve to reduce the machine's aptitude for commercial gambling. However, it does not relieve it of its inherent flaw. This reasoning applies equally to the absence of any meter in the instant machine which may be designed to tabulate the number of free plays won by the various players. Appellant urges that the Jaskie Case, supra, turned upon the fact that the machine in that case was metered; we reject such interpretation.
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State v. One Hundred and Fifty-Eight Gaming Devices
...("property" ); Hightower v. State, 156 S.W.2d 327, 328 (Tex.Civ.App.1941) ("anything of value" ); State v. Lake Geneva Lanes, Inc., 22 Wis.2d 151, 125 N.W.2d 622 (1963) ("something of value" ). None of these cases indicated whether the particular devices in question contained features indic......
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City of Milwaukee v. Milwaukee Amusement, Inc.
...score, which has been won by chance on the preceding game, is a 'valuable thing.' This court in the recent case of State v. Lake Geneva Lanes (1963), Wis., 125 N.W.2d 622, held that the award of a free game or replay as a result of a score obtained largely by chance on a pinball machine is ......
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