New York Passes
Pin Ball Ban
CHICAGO-Attitude of ew York news-
papers offered some rays of hope to the
Coin Machine Industry here which had anx-
iously watched recent developments in the
nation's largest city in relation to pin ball.
The N. Y. City Council passed an ordinance
June 15, by a vote of 12 to 10, that out-
lawed the games, following a drive by the
city administration that had lasted for sev-
eral weeks.
When the police moves had first started,
newspaper reports gave encouragement to
the crusade. But when the council came to
final voting of the ban, and divided on strict-
ly party lines, newsp~pers began to poke
fun at the whole proceedings. The noise
and disorder that prevailed during an hour
as the council came to the vote gave the
newspapers something to write about.
The big newspapers gave the pin ball
ban first page space, the Times following
its usual course of conservative style. The
Herald-Tribune was not so conservative and
made its headline say support of the ban
was only half·hearted, that it was barely
squeezed through, etc.
On the day following the ban passage,
H-T took a strong editorial position against
the ban, saying the leaders against the
games had "failed to make out a thorough
case . . . It is the hasty and repressive
nature of this edict that concerns us. Surely
we ought to have more facts and discussion,
and possibly a little illumination of the
sudden horror of gambling in the City
Council's heart."
Newspapers were picturesque in report-
ing the scene during the hour in which the
ban was under discus ion and the efforts of
the majority to corral a missing vote needed
to get a majority. PM, the liberal daily
which had previously championed the pin
ball cause, literally spilled over in describ-
ing the crucial hour for pin ball.
"Frenzied City Council Bans Pin Ball
Games," the headline said. Newspapers con-
sidered the pin ball i sue important enough
to assign top reporters to the case and to
give them by-line stories. At least two of
the papers also sent out roving reporters
to see what was happening in the locations
over the city.
At press time for THE REVIEW, the issue
of what types of amusement games have
skill was in the courts and important legal
talent was discussing the question.
NEW YORK-Pin ball ban, passed by a
vote of 12 to 10 on strictly party lines, was
approved by City Council here June 15.
Ordinance is the proposal previously re-
ported in THE REVIEW (June, pp. 7-8)
which was requested by the city administra-
tion.
Bill is outright ban on pin ball, roll
downs, etc., and assails the machines as a
menace to health, morals, and welfare, and
makes possession or operation of the games
unlawful.
The bill arbitrarily defines a "gaming de·
vice" as "any machine or apparatus of the
type, design, class or construction common-
ly known as pin ball or bagatelle upon
which a game is played upon payment of
a fee, charge or other consideration directly
or indirectly."
Local trade sources immediately ex-
pressed the opinion that a court test will.be
instituted to test the law and determme
the line of demarcation between games of
"skill" and "chance". (At the time the bill
was pa sed, court proceedings were under
way before Supreme Court Justice Pecora
to test the legality of police seizures of
games last April. Since that date, games
operation in New York City, aside from ar-
11~
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cade equipment, has been virtually non-ex-
istant) .
In its final form, the law also classified
arcades as "common show" amusements
(which can be licensed at 50 per year) ;
and permitted charitable and religious
groups to operate common show amusements
without licenses.
Voting on the bill split along party lines,
with the 12 Democrats lining up solidly
for the measure. The 10 minority members
(who range politically all the way from Re-
publicans to a Communist) all opposed the
measure, taking the view that while some
licensing measure might be necessary, the
present bill was "loosely drawn". They con-
tended that the games should be controlled
rather than prohibited entirely.
Discussion and debate preceding passage
of the bill indicated that coin machine trade
groups had done a pretty good public re-
lations job in presenting their side of the
games story to the local legislators during
recent public hearings on the measure. For
example, one councilman, who voted for
the measure, objected to the bill's preamble
which he thought unjustly characterized
operators, di tributors and manufacturers as
"gamblers" and "racketeers".
Most of the speakers against the bill
argued that while the machines should be
banned in any establishment open to chil-
dren under 16, there was no valid objection
to their use in pool rooms, howling alleys,
and taverns, which bar minors. Another
point which came in for discussion was the
hardship the law might work upon veterans
who had invested their savings in pinball
routes. All these arguments were a direct
reflection of testimony presented by trade
spokesmen who had appeared to talk
against the bill at a May hearing.
Sole our note during the session came
from one councilman who raised the query
a to why pinballs could be outlawed while
"pokerino" was licensed. (Actually poker
tables, u ed in Broadway arcades and in
C:0ney I land are ~ot licensed, ~~t their
sItes are cia sed as common show amuse-
ments). While the general crackdown on
roll downs ha not extended to poker tables,
trade circles recalled that the games were
barred from the Broadway area during the
La Guardia administration.
Closeness of the 12·10 Council vote has
given some operators here the hope that a
court decision which might classify certain
machines as "Skill" games would bring
about some sort of licensing system for
"legal" equipment. However, in the interim,
the games business here is a t a virtual
standstill and has been hard hit. Most of the
equipment sold here before the ban was
marketed on conditional sales contracts,
and operators, cut off from locations, have
no income with which to meet payments.
Paper Treats Co in
Laundry Competition
NEW YORK-in one of its periodic re-
vews of various lines of business, the Wall
Street Journal included data on coin laun-
dry competition with standard laundries.
Costs are still rising for the standard
laundry and customers complain more
about prices they must pay. Soap is about
four times as high as before the war,
labor costs double, and equipment costs
much more.
Big laundries are beginning to admit
more frankly that coin laundries offer
competition. The home washer is the big-
gest competition of all, however.
Telecoin is mentioned as the biggest
coin laundry group. The firm is now said
to have 1200 Launderettes in 700 cities;
current reports say as many as 200 Laun·
derettes are in process of opening in dif-
ferent parts of the country.
COIN MACHINE REVIEW