Sunday, January 21, 2007

A lawmaker who supports efforts to legalize and regulate video gambling
machines in taverns and bars says he will not push such legislation this
year - but that doesn't mean the issue is dead. Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort
Wayne, says regulating and taxing illegal video gambling machines, sometimes
called ''Cherry Masters,'' could generate $200 million in tax revenue for
the state. But there was not enough consensus among lawmakers and others on
the bill, Moses said, so he wants to send the issue to a legislative study
committee instead. ''I don't have a majority of people who say they think
that this is a good idea,'' Moses said. ''I have people who are quite
willing to listen, and I have many more than that who are willing to tell me
how to spend the money. But I have no consensus.'' House Speaker Pat Bauer,
D-South Bend, has called legalizing video poker machines a ''long shot'' for
passing the Legislature this session. ''They would be virtually everywhere,
on every city block, and that is a huge problem that I don't think people
fully understand,'' Bauer said last week. ''You triple the gambling you
already have.''
Supporters of the legislation aren't giving up hope that something will pass
this year. ''There's always the possibility,'' said Senate Appropriations
Chairman Robert Meeks, R-LaGrange. ''The session is long and there's a lot
of opportunities.'' Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said
the status quo is unacceptable. He said the state needs to do something this
year - either step up enforcement to truly eliminate the machines or
regulate and tax them. ''They're proliferating like cockroaches. They're
everywhere and there are more of them every day, it seems like,'' Long said.
''It needs to be handled. I don't think we should wink at illegal gambling
any longer. Let's decide what to do with them once and for all.'' The state
has 20,000 to 30,000 illegal video gambling machines, Moses estimated.
Supporters say regulating machines would reduce their numbers while keeping
them in adult establishments such as bars and taverns, instead of places
like convenience stores that children could enter.

The Indiana State Excise Police, the law enforcement division of the Alcohol
and Tobacco Commission, has cracked down on illegal gambling machines in
bars and taverns in recent years. But that has only driven the machines to
other places, like back rooms in gas stations or even the backs of
tractor-trailers, Meeks said.

''It's like prohibition when it just went underground and the only people
who were making profits were the underworld,'' Meeks said. ''By legalizing
them, you limit the number that's available, limit who can play them and can
limit the payout. Besides that, they're taxed. This is a dark crime and it
ought to be regulated, taxed and brought out into the light.''

The Indiana Licensed Beverage Association echoes those comments and has
tried to drum up support to legalize the machines. Executive Director Brad
Klopfenstein said he is still hoping for a bill this session that would
regulate the machines.

''This is a better chance than we've had in the past,'' he said. ''If the
worst thing that happens is we get a study committee, that's still progress.
But we certainly would like to see something go this time around.''

Moses noted that no proposal is truly dead until the legislative session
ends without it passing.