United States v. Three (3) Trade Boosters, Civ. A. No. 5097.

• Decision Date: 18 October 1955
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 5097.
• Citation: 135 F. Supp. 24
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. THREE (3) TRADE BOOSTERS: Subassembly and Essential Part of a Gambling Device.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania

135 F. Supp. 24

UNITED STATES of America v. THREE (3) TRADE BOOSTERS: Subassembly and Essential Part of a Gambling Device.

Civ. A. No. 5097.

United States District Court M. D. Pennsylvania.

October 18, 1955.

J. Julius Levy, U. S. Atty., Edwin M. Kosik, Asst. U. S. Atty., Scranton, Pa., for plaintiff.

Charles W. Kalp, Samuel S. Brown, Lewisburg, Pa., for defendant.

WATSON, District Judge.

The United States of America filed a Libel of Information praying for the seizure and condemnation of three Trade Boosters under the provisions of Public Law 906, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, Sec. 7, 15 U.S.C.A. § 1177.¹ The Trade Boosters were seized at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, by Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation acting under authority of the Attorney General.

Frank J. Zaydell, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, answered the Libel of Information alleging ownership of the machines. Claimant Zaydell alleged that the Trade Booster devices were not gambling devices as defined in 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 1171-1177, and more specifically, 15 U.S. C.A. § 1171(a) (1), (a) (2), (a) (3) and § 1172,² and requested that the Warrant of Seizure and Monition heretofore issued in this case be quashed; and prayed that the Three (3) Trade Boosters, the subject of said warrant, be returned to claimant, Frank J. Zaydell. The request that the Warrant of Seizure and Monition be quashed was subsequently withdrawn. The case was tried before this Court without a jury. From the evidence and the stipulation filed by counsel, the Court makes the following

Findings of Fact

1. The Trade Booster devices were designed and built by the H. C. Evans Company, Chicago, Illinois, for Taylor and Company, Chicago, Illinois.

2. The Three (3) Trade Boosters were introduced into interstate commerce in Chicago, Illinois, and were transported from Chicago to Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

3. The Three (3) Trade Boosters were purchased by Frank J. Zaydell, Claimant, and shipped by Taylor and Company from Chicago, Illinois, to claimant's place of business in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

4. H. C. Evans Company was registered with the Attorney General under

Public Law 906 as a manufacturer and dealer in gambling devices.³

5. The Trade Boosters are electrically operated devices, and each consists of a steel cabinet, containing various electrical circuits. There are also three meters inside each cabinet, the function of which is to register the number of games played, the number of games won and the number of "jackpots" won.

6. The Trade Boosters permitted slot machines to be operated by remote control after the slot machines had been altered by having the coin slots and certain other parts removed.

7. Trade Boosters numebered B-211, B-114, and B-203 were sold by Frank J. Zaydell to the Wheel Inn in Roaring Branch, Pennsylvania. These Trade Boosters were used to operate slot machines from which the coin slots and certain other parts had been removed.

8. The operation of the Trade Boosters was explained by the partner and office manager of the Taylor Company to an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He explained "* * * that after a Trade Booster was shipped to the consignee or customer that electrical connections were made between the Trade Booster and the slot machine, after the payout equipment was removed from the slot machine; that after it was placed on location the owner would designate it either a five cent play, ten cent play, twenty-five cent play, or fifty cent play; that when a customer approached the machine he would inquire of the bartender as to what play it was. He illustrated in this fashion, that if it was a ten cent play machine the customer would pay the bartender one dollar, at which time the bartender would press a button which would register ten plays on the cabinet control box located at the bar as well as the register located at the slot machine where the jackpot is ordinarily located, and if the customer pulled the lever or handle on the machine, the plays would either be depleted or added to if the customer had a winner, and if the customer had a winner he would be paid in free games or the amount in cash, and he illustrated that if he was ten games ahead he would be paid one dollar. He explained that the pay-out mechanism was removed from the machine, that the coin insert was plugged off, and also the pay-out was plugged off from the front — from the casting on the front of the slot machine."

9. The advertising and descriptive literature received by Zaydell from the Taylor Company referred only to the attachment of a Trade Booster to a slot machine.

10. Slot machines to which Trade Boosters were attached were used for gambling purposes at the Wheel Inn at Roaring Branch, Pennsylvania.

11. The Trade Boosters were designed and manufactured for the purpose of permitting the operation of slot gambling machines from which the coin slots and certain other parts had been removed.

12. The Trade Booster is essential to the operation of the slot machine in the said altered condition.

13. Winning combinations on the machines resulted solely from the application of an element of chance, and winnings recorded on the machines installed in the Wheel Inn, Roaring Branch, Pennsylvania, were paid off in cash.

14. Frank J. Zaydell made no sales of Trade Boosters for any purpose other than that of attaching them to altered slot machines.

Discussion

The machines to which the Trade Boosters were designed to be attached were slot machines before being altered, and as such, were clearly gambling devices. These slot machines were modified or altered by removing the apparatus which allowed them to be operated by inserting a coin in the proper receptacle or "slot". The tubes which delivered winnings were also removed.

A slot machine is not a gambling device merely because it has slots — it is a gambling device because it is designed and manufactured to be used as such. A device manufactured and designed to be used as a gambling device continues to be a gambling device within the contemplation of the law even though, in fact, the device is never used for gambling purposes.

Therefore, we are confronted with the question whether the character of a device changes from that of a gambling device to that of a nongambling device after it has been altered by removing from it those features which permit it to be operated by the insertion of a coin, and replacing such features with a device which allows it to be operated in some other manner. The Court believes not.

The function of the Trade Booster is to permit the operation of the altered slot machine by remote control, and to the extent to which coins and coin slots were essential to the operation of the device prior to its alteration the Trade Booster is essential to its operation in its present state. The use for which the slot machine was originally designed and manufactured has not been changed in any manner by the alterations made to the device. The Court is aware that the slot machines to which the Trade Boosters were attached are not involved in this action. We are here concerned with the Trade Boosters in their role as subassemblies or essential parts of...