Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #072 - 1981 - February [International Arcade Museum]
Slot Machine Blues
Continued from page 21
(destroyed),"
Anderson
said.
Currently, the machines are sitting
inside an evidence room at the police
department. Anderson says he ex
pects the machines will soon be turn
ed over the Cascade County Attorney
J. Fred Courdeau.
Is the Montana law being enforced?
Nickol gives a resounding "no"
answer.
In fact, he claims, law officers are
the most helpful in finding him slot
machines in Montana.
He says one northcentral Montana
sheriffs office, which he won't name,
has a slot machine in the basement.
He says he repaired it for them about
three months ago. A deputy with that
department
sold
him
the
two
machines Tuesday that later were
seized, Nickol claims.
Based on his knowledge of the
Great Falls area, he claims about 400
local residents keep slot machines in
their
basements,
adding
that
museums in Forsyth, Zortman and
Virginia City openly display slot
machines.
He also says advertisements in dai
ly newspapers, including the Tribune,
as well as weekly shoppers, oc
casionally offer to buy or sell slot
machines, he says. As to that, police
detective Sgt. Jack L. Macek says he
would be glad to receive information
about
persons
possessing
slot
machines, although he says placing
an ad may not be illegal. He says
police would have to catch the dealer
with the merchandise.
Even though he says lawmen have
done little to actively enforce the law,
Nickol says he doesn't think city
police purposely set out to seize his
machines this week. He calls the
seizure a "fluke" and suggests the
seizure was probably an accident.
For one thing, he
says a
representative of
the Montana
attorney general's
office told him that
possession of
antique slot
machines in the
state is legal if
they're not used for
gambling. (A
spokesman for the
attorney general's
offices was not
available for
comment.)
For another he
claims a city police
officer told him last
year that
possession of
antique slot
machines was legal.
"Captain (Timothy)
Skinner told me that
the laws did not
apply to antique slot
machines," Nickol
contends.
"I did not tell him
om
.c that"
Skinner
m
:
u
m
e
o
s
r
u
f
replies. "I told him it
ded cade-m
a
o
l
r
that to pay
shipping. That
was illegal."
own for w the
w.a
raised D suspicions.
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On Tuesday, Nickol bought the
machines after a Texas business
associate, Dallas antique dealer Tom
Kunkle, wired him the money. Nickol
says he took the machines to the
airport in a box addressed to The
Brass Register, an antique shop
Kunkle runs. The machines were to be
shipped by Frontier Airlines via
Denver to Dallas.
As it turned out, an armed robbery
had recently taken place in town.
Nickol had a lot of cash with him that
he uses in his business—and he used
:/
http
Also, he says, he was not "dressed
like a rich person" that day. He also
told employees at the airport he had
an antique shotgun for sale.
© The
Arcade
Museum
22 International
— THE COIN
SLOT
City police confirm that his ready
cash and offer to sell a shotgun
prompted law officers to be in
terested. Airport security was called
in and later city police seized the
machines.
Nickol denies he was trying to pre
tend the slot machines were cash
registers. Police said so this week, but
Nickol says confusion apparently
arose
when
he
addressed
the
machines to The Brass Register an
tique shop in Dallas.
Chief Anderson agrees that locfl
lawmen don't comb the city looking
for
slot
machines
in
people's
basements, saying policemen don't
have "the ability or the inclination" to
devote ti me and energy to the pu rsu it.
On the other hand, police will seize
machines when alerted, he says.
Macek says police are responsible for
enforcing the law, adding he could
not ignore the call from the airport
security.
Skinner says the last seizure of a
slot machine came seven to 10 years
ago, when police investigating a
reported
burglary found
a slot
machine in the basement of a house.
He says police seized the machine
and arrested the owner.
Should the law be changed?
Clearly "yes," Nickol argues.
"It's like some of these laws that you
can't tie a horse on main street or spit
on the sidewalk," he says.
Skinner says he's sympathetic to
Nickol's problem and suggests the
law could be altered to atlow posses
sion of antique slot machines. Ander
son says he's not sure if the law
should be changed.
According to The Coin Slot, a
Denver publication devoted to slot
machines, 30 states have laws which
allow persons to possess antique slot
machines. Montana, Idaho and North
Dakota are not among them, however.
The Coin Slot cited recent prices that
showed one machine selling at auc
tion for $47,500.
Nickol says the federal Johnson Act
of 1950, which prohibited interstate
transportation of slot machines, was
recently revised to allow transporta
tion of antique slot machines. He says
the provision took effect July 1.
In summary, city police are sticking
to their guns and say they must
enforce the law. They say if someone
comes to claim the machines, he or
she will be arrested. Then a judge will
have to decide what to do with the
machines, they say.
Nickol
says
he
has
made
arrangements for bail if need be, but
hints at other ways his attorneys and
attorneys for Kunkle may be able to
retrieve the antiques.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
FEBRUARY, 1981