Owners of games now have deadline

Business owners have three days to clear the machines out before they can be seized.

YOUNGSTOWN — Owners of places with so-called games of skill now banned in Ohio will be given three days to clear them out.

Attorney General Marc Dann said he would send out more than 700 letters to business owners believed to have these machines, ordering them to remove the machines or face civil penalties. Or, local law enforcement can seize the machines and prosecutors can bring charges under the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, Dann said.

The state House and Senate passed legislation banning these amusement machines that provide cash payouts or prizes worth more than $10.

The bill was signed into law Thursday by Gov. Ted Strickland.

The reaction of at least two area business owners to the state’s action was to shut down their machines.

A spokesman for Faces Lounge on West Broad Street in Newton Falls said the owner had shut the machines off.

The bartender at One Eyed Willies, on West Webb Road in Austintown, said the owners covered the machines Thursday and posted signs on them with a sarcastic “big thank you” to Strickland.

However, neither the owners nor managers of these businesses were available to comment, and it is not known if they plan to challenge the law.

Calls to many other venues Friday went unanswered.

The new law is intended to shut down machines like Tic Tac Fruit that depend on chance but require a certain level of skill. Lawmakers said the update was needed because machines took advantage of a law that banned machines based largely or wholly on chance.

Strickland signed the legislation just one day after he issued an emergency executive order declaring the cash-paying video gaming machines illegal gambling devices and ordering them shut down.

At the time of his order, Strickland asked the General Assembly to quickly pass a bill outlawing the machines so the state can stand up to legal challenges. Legislators took action the next day.

The new law will not apply to darts, billiards and bowling, but lawmakers disagreed over what kind of impact overall the law would have on the gaming industry.

“The people of Ohio have spoken with a clear voice on this issue time and time again,” Strickland said. “They do not want an expansion of gambling in their state. I appreciate the General Assembly taking quick action to get these machines out of our state and out of our communities.”