Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #072 - 1981 - February [International Arcade Museum]
Does
the following article have a
familiar ring? We hear a resounding yes
from one, Paul Landsgaard, in Idaho.
Paul only too clearly remembers very
similar circumstances.
Editorially, we feel that hearing such
cases is a waste of taxpayers' money and
the court's time. With over half of the
states acknowledging the right to own
antique slot machines, it would seem that
the few remaining states could find it
advantageous
to
decriminalize
the
ownership of antique slot machines
before the vast majority of the machines
in their states find new homes in "'legal"
states.
The laws will only change if the
residents of the states initiate bills in their
legislatures. It may appear that we are
belaboring the point, but perhaps you
would feel that we are not if you talked
with Paul Landsgaard or Gregg Nickol.
Read on
by RICHARD ECKE
Tribune Staff Writer
Antique dealer Gregg Nickol
has the slot machine blues.
Great
him
Slot
Machine
Blues
Law
separates
collector
from
his
collection
of
one-armed
bandits.
the
Falls
police gave
blues
this
week
when they seized two antique slot
machines he was shipping to Texas.
They said such possession is illegal.
"I'm not a criminal," Nickol says.
To back up his argument, Nickol
claims:
• A
sheriff's
deputy
from
northcentral Montana sold him the
two slot machines this week.
• Scores of Great Falls residents,
including a number of prominent
ones, keep them in their homes.
• A sheriff's department in the
region keeps a slot machine in the
basement of the sheriff's office.
• Museum owners display them
openly around the state.
Great Falls police say they're not
buying Nickol's arguments. They say
it's always been their policy to seize
slot machines if they come across
them. If the law's not enforced in other
parts of the state, that's not their
problem.
They also say they'll be glad to
arrest Nickol if he comes to Great
Falls to claim the two antique slot
machines—a 5-cent Mills worth about
.com
m
:
u
$1,200
and a 50-cent Watling Rol-A-
e
rom -mus Top
f
worth perhaps several thousand
d
e
Submitted
dollars.
ade
oad .a by
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r
n
a
subscriber
w
Nickol told his story in an interview
o
w
D
w
w
at the Tribune Wednesday. He declin
/
/
from
:
ed to disclose where he was staying.
http
Montana.
A
Montana
native
who
runs
an
antique shop near Wichita, Kan., he
said he bought two antique slot
© FEBRUARY,
The International
Arcade Museum
1981
machines in Northcentral Montana
Tuesday
and
was
having
them
shipped to Texas when police seized
them at the Great Falls International
Airport.
He calls the seizure "unfair".
Up to this week, Nickol claims, he
was led to believe it was legal in
Montana to possess antique slot
machines that aren't used for gambl
ing purposes.
Nickol says he first came to Mon
tana in a hunt for antique slot
machines last year, and he says he
took pains to find out whether it's
legal to possess antique "one-armed
bandits." In fact, he says, he went
straight to the law.
For one thing, he says a represen
tative
of
the
Montana attorney
general's office told him that posses
sion of antique slot machines in the
state is legal if they're not used for
gambling. (A spokesman for the at
torney
general's office was not
available for comment.)
For another, he claims a city police
officer told him last year that posses
sion of antique slot machines was
legal.
"Captain (Timothy) Skinnertold me
that the laws did not apply to antique
slot machines," Nickol contends.
"I did not tell him that," Skinner
replies. "I told him it was illegal."
Another policeman who attended
the meeting verified Skinner's version
of the conversation.
In any case, Nickol raises three
issues that rest at the core of the G reat
Slot Machine Controversy:
First, is it legal to possess an an
tique slot machine that's not being
used for gambling purposes? Se
cond, is the law being enforced?
Third, should the law be changed if
such possession is illegal?
Is possession of an antique slot
machine a crime?
Montana law, Section 23-5-104,
says, "It shall be a misdemeanor and
punishable as hereinafter provided
for
any
person
to
use,
possess,
operate, keep or maintain for use or
operation or otherwise, anywhere
within the state of Montana, any slot
machine of any sort or kind what
soever."
The penalty for violating the law is a
fine of $100 to $1,000 and/or a jail
term of three months to one year.
Skinner
and
Police
Chief
Jack
Anderson say the law clearly makes
possession of even antique slot
machines illegal.
They said state law also requires
destruction of the machines.
"I don't know how you could
presume
they
wouldn't
be
Continued on page 22
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THE COIN SLOT — 21