Automatic Age

December, 1939
Wisconsin Regulates All
Cigarette Venders
Madison, Wis.— Under regulations
issued November 12th by State
Treasurer John M. Smith, every
owner or operator o f cigarette vend­
ing machine® must register the num­
ber and location o f each machine.
This will help promote a uniform
system o f collecting the tax on to­
bacco products as adopted by the
1938 legislature.
Registration
of
all
cigarette
venders must also include the name
of the owner or operator, as well as
that o f the person owning the
premises where the machine is lo­
cated. If the machines are without
numbers, owners or operators are
required to affix numbers to them.
Operators are required to secure a
$50 wholesale permit, and no firm,
person or corporation engaged in the
retail sales o f tobacco products is
permitted to buy such products ex­
cept from a manufacturer or whole­
saler who has a permit from the
State Treasurer. Manufacturers and
wholesalers located within the state
as well as out-of-state manufacturers
must secure permits to do business.
The permits expire July 1 o f each
year.
Coin-Ball Games Licensed
in Michigan Town
Wayne, Mich.— An ordinance plac­
ing stringent regulations on the op­
eration o f pin-ball games in Wayne
calls fo r the licensing o f each ma­
chine in operation, the establishment
where a machine is located, and the
licensing o f the agent or distributor.
A clause was incorporated in the
ordinance outlawing the operation of
any pay-off machines and declaring
those games legal which are to be
operated only fo r entertainment. No
license will be issued for a machine
which is judged capable o f being con­
verted into a gambling device.
AUTOMATIC AGE
Penalties fo r any violation o f the
provisions of the regulation were set
at $100 fine or 90* days sentence or
both.
The Police Department was
also empowered to seize and destroy
all unlicensed machines or machines
which violate any provision o f the
act.
License fees for legal operation of
the pin-ball games were set at $2
a year for each machine and $2 a
year fo r the establishment where the
machines are operated.
A fee o f
$25 a year was also imposed fo r a
license to act as an agent or distribu­
tor fo r such machines. In addition,
all licensed machines must display
numbered tags.
South Carolina Machine
Tax In Effect
Columbia, S. C.— Dr. Walter G.
Query, chairman o f the state tax
commission announced that machines
on which the state license tax had
not been paid would be confiscated by
the commission’s agents.
A t the recent session o f the general
assembly there was enacted into law
a bill imposing a tax on these ma­
chines. Many operators o f business
places where are placed such ma­
chines have paid the tax, but many
others have not, Dr. Query said. The
tax now due covers the fiscal year
which started July 1 and will end
June 30, 1940.
. The place o f business which has
music-producing or game machines
which have coin slots must pay a
license tax o f $15 a year for each
machine.
For machines "vending
any article to be purchased from ”
© International Arcade Museum
85
(such as cigaret machines) the tax
is $10 a year, but machines (such as
peanut and chewing gum machines)
where less than five cents goes into
the slot are exempted.
Small pool tables also come under
the provisions o f the new act. A pool
or billiard table measuring not more
than 3 1-2 feet wide and 7 feet long,
whether operated by a slot or other­
wise, now carries a tax o f $10 per
table.
Bowling alleys also are affected.
The license tax on them is $5 per
alley.
Amusement Games Ruled
Legal in Houston
Houston, Texas. — The city legal
department has ruled that pinball
games which do not pay off in money,
tokens or free plays are not gambling
devices, and should not be confiscated
or destroyed unless there is p roof
that the machine is used fo r gambling
purposes.
The ruling was made at the request
o f Police Chief L. C. Brown fo r in­
structions to the police force, who
asked whether it was a misdemeanor
or a felony to keep a pinball machine.
City Attorney Sewal Myer in his rul­
ing stated:
“ A person who rents any premises
to another fo r the purpose o f keep­
ing a gambling device also will be
prosecuted on a felony charge. It is
a misdemeanor fo r any person to per­
mit intermittent playing o f a gam ­
bling device on premises which he
owns or controls and is subject to a
fine o f not less than $25 nor more
than $100 fo r breaking this ordinance.
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