Bingo: 60 Instant Bingo Machines Seized From Hall

Bars, restaurants and other facilities removed or unplugged the bingo machines after the Maryland attorney general's office said in March that many of the bingo devices, which resemble slot bingo machines, violated state law.

ADF Bingo Hall in Mechanicsville was the only establishment where the bingo devices had continued to operate, Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R) said. But by 1 p.m. yesterday, officials with the St. Mary's County Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the FBI had confiscated the bingo machines and loaded them onto a tractor-trailer.

Cameron said after the opinion was issued that a mass seizure of the bingo devices was possible. He declined to provide details yesterday about why he considers the bingo hall's machines illegal.

"There's a bigger picture here," he said. "The point is, the law is more than about the bingo machines."

Cameron declined to say whether he was referring to the portion of the opinion that limited the number of bingo machines at a single location.

"She was waiting for them to come by so she could demonstrate how these bingo machines were legal," Breslo said. "That never happened, and without notice, they just showed up and hauled these bingo machines away."

Cameron denied that the woman had called his office.

The state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, held in 2001 that instant bingo devices could be legal if their mechanism of operation does not include the element of chance, separating them from bingo slot machines, which many are designed to resemble.

Rowe wrote that instant bingo machines loaded with preprinted tickets displaying winning or losing combinations are legal under some circumstances. Theoretically, she wrote, the preprinted tickets could be removed from the bingo machine and sold manually.

Breslo said yesterday that all the machines at the bingo hall used preprinted cards.

Although state law says a nonprofit organization can operate no more than five bingo gaming devices on a daily basis, Breslo said he considers the number at the bingo hall within the law. "I am confident that on the number of bingo machines issue, we are compliant," he said.

In some situations, St. Mary's has long permitted bingo gaming devices if the proceeds go to a nonprofit organization. Since last year, when the bingo devices began to appear in large numbers, some local volunteer fire departments, churches and other groups were buoyed by the funding. The bingo hall is rented mainly to local Catholic schools and churches for fundraisers.

In this year's legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that would ban all instant bingo machines. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has said he will sign the bill, which would take effect July 1.