In re an Omega Brand: Double Up Queens or Better, Five Card Draw, Electronic Poker Machine, Serial No. 5265

676 S.W.2d 292, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4021
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 28, 1984
DocketNo. 47362
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 676 S.W.2d 292 (In re an Omega Brand: Double Up Queens or Better, Five Card Draw, Electronic Poker Machine, Serial No. 5265) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re an Omega Brand: Double Up Queens or Better, Five Card Draw, Electronic Poker Machine, Serial No. 5265, 676 S.W.2d 292, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4021 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinions

STEPHAN, Judge.

Robert Stephan, the owner of a video machine used for gambling, appeals from an order entered by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis declaring the machine forfeited to the state. We affirm.

In March, 1982, appellant contracted with Rena Shoults, owner of the tavern Rena’s Den, to place a video poker machine in her tavern. On July 20, 1982, St. Louis Police Detective Raymond Gibson went to Rena’s Den, where he observed the machine which was activated by placing quarters into the coin slot. Detective Gibson watched two men, Anthony Shaver and another named Bill, play the machine. Upon winning forty replays, they informed the barmaid, Marsha Davis; she told them that she would have to get approval from the tavern owner to pay them. Mr. Shaver then spoke with the owner, Ms. Shoults, and he returned to the barmaid to inform her that it was all right for her to pay them. The barmaid then gave Shaver two five dollar bills and pushed a button behind the bar which removed the forty free replays from the video poker machine.

Detective Gibson returned to Rena’s Den on July 23, 1982, at which time he observed Ms. Shoults remove money from the poker machine and place it in a cigar box. Gibson then played the machine and, after $15.00 worth of play, amassed forty replays and so informed the barmaid, Marsha Davis. At her request, Anthony Shaver went upstairs to get approval from Rena Shoults. Shaver returned, conferred with Marsha, and gave Gibson ten dollars from the cash register. Marsha then used the “knock off” button under the bar to remove the forty replays from the machine. Detective Gibson, with other officers, seized the video poker machine and arrested Harry Shoults, Rena Shoults, Marsha Davis, and Anthony Shaver.

The four defendants were charged with misdemeanors and pleaded not guilty. They agreed, however, to submit the question of their guilt to the court on the police reports made of the incidents which were treated as a stipulation of facts. Each was found guilty and given a suspended imposition of sentence. In three of the four eases, the state filed an ancillary motion [294]*294for forfeiture of the video game machine in accordance with § 572.120, RSMo 1978. The investigation detailed in the police reports revealed that the owner of the machine, appellant Robert Stephan, would regularly visit the tavern and inspect the record keeping mechanisms in the machine. By so doing, he could determine how many games were “knocked off” and, thus, the amount paid out by the tavern owner. That amount was then deducted from the amount of money in the machine and returned to the tavern owner; the balance was then divided equally between the tavern owner and appellant.

Appellant testified, however, that he did not know that cash payoffs were being made by the tavern owner, that he had cautioned against such practices, and under the terms of his rental contract with the tavern owner such conduct was prohibited. He admitted that he visited the tavern weekly, but that he simply removed the cash from the machine so as to split it with the tavern owner as provided in the contract. The trial court, nevertheless, ordered forfeiture of the machine to the state.

Appellant’s basic contentions are that the trial court erred in ordering the forfeiture because the machine is not a gambling device and, in any event, there is no evidence that he was aware of how the machine was being used.

A “gambling device” is defined statutorily as being “any device, machine, paraphernalia or equipment that is used or usable in the playing phases of any gambling activity, whether that activity consists of gambling between persons or gambling by a person with a machine.” § 572.010(5), RSMo 1978 (Emphasis added). A necessary ingredient of gambling, however, is “an agreement or understanding that he [the player] will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.” § 572.010(4), RSMo 1978. That same subsection concludes with the provision, “nor does gambling include playing an amusement device that confers only an immediate right of replay not exchangeable for something of value; ...” The foregoing is but a legislative articulation of earlier judicial determinations that a free replay won on a pinball machine, in itself, is not something of value; and the mere playing of such machines does not constitute gambling. State v. One “Jack and Jill” Pinball Machine, 224 S.W.2d 854 (Mo.App.1949); Masters v. Kansas City, 294 S.W.2d 366 (Mo.App.1956). In the instant case, however, the ten dollar pay-offs in exchange for the player’s surrendering forty replays, all of which was facilitated by the “knock-off” button, cause the machine to be a “gambling device.”

Similarly, we reject appellant’s arguments that the game is not one of chance, but of skill. This on the strength of the definition of “contest of chance” found in § 572.010(3): “... any contest, game, gaming scheme or gaming device in which the outcome depends in a material degree upon an element of chance, notwithstanding that the skill of the contestants may also be a factor therein; ...” The game as described by the police reports, as well as the testimony of the officers, the operations manager of machine’s manufacturer, and appellant himself is essentially five card, draw poker, based on a standard fifty-two card deck programmed into a computer to appear at random on a screen. A pair of “Queens or better” is required to win. Play is initiated by the insertion of one or more quarters, at which time five cards appear on the screen. Insertion of more than one quarter increases the number of replays to be awarded for a winning hand. The player may discard any or all of the cards by pressing a button, whereupon replacements are received. At that point, it is determined whether the player has won or lost, wins being rewarded by free replays. There is a measure of skill involved in deciding which cards to hold or discard and in weighing the probabilities of drawing better cards. We have no difficulty in determining, however, that “the outcome depends in a material degree upon an element of chance,” as that phrase is used in the statute quoted above.

Appellant’s argument that his ignorance of the payoffs prevents forfeiture of the machine overlooks the fact that the motions for forfeiture were filed in the misdemeanor cases which, in turn, were submitted on the police reports as stipulations of fact. As indicated above, the reports clearly indicate that appellant did have knowledge of the payoffs, and the trial court was certainly not bound by his later testimony to the contrary. A stipulation of fact dispenses with proof of the matters stipulated. Furniture Forwarders of St. Louis, Inc. v. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company, [295]*295393 F.2d 537, 538 (8th Cir.1968). Having stipulated to facts, a party waives his right to any subsequent contention to the contrary. Sears, Roebuck and Co., v. Hupert, 352 S.W.2d 382, 385 (Mo.App.1961). When the stipulation was made, the res involved here was before the court, through its owner and counsel, just as surely as the defendants. Had appellant’s trial counsel, who also represented the misdemeanor defendants, limited the scope of the stipulation to the expected testimony of the writers of the reports, evidence of appellant’s knowledge would arguably be hearsay.

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Bluebook (online)
676 S.W.2d 292, 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 4021, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-an-omega-brand-double-up-queens-or-better-five-card-draw-moctapp-1984.