AG issues warning
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has issued new legal guidance to prosecutors and law enforcement to help crack down on “skill-based” gaming machines.
The devices, also known as “gray machines,” have proliferated throughout Kentucky and over 600 are operational throughout the state in locations such as gas stations and bars.
The machines’ skill component involves asking the player to identify winning paylines on a slot machine by tapping on the correct symbols in order, rather than it taking place automatically as in a traditional machine.
There is no safe harbor in Kentucky’s gambling laws for this kind of game.”
However, the machines were outlawed in Kentucky last year in HB 594, and a legal challenge ended in July 2024 when a judge upheld the ban. “There is no safe harbor in Kentucky’s gambling laws for this kind of game,” Coleman stated.
No gray areas
Although sports betting was opened up in Kentucky last year, most forms of casino gambling remain banned, with very specific exceptions for lotteries and sweepstakes games.
Prominent Technologies, a leading manufacturer of skill-based gaming machines, in an attempt to comply with the new law, adjusted their machines to inform the player on whether the next game will win or lose money.
However, Coleman denied that this removes the element of chance from the games, saying: “The game lures the player into continuing to play on the chance that the next game play will result in a win worth more than he will have to pay for the current play.”
Authorities drag their heels
After the guidance was issued, Prominent Technologies attorney Bob Heleringer confirmed the company would disconnect their machines by a set deadline.
However, authorities have been slow to act on the ruling, with hundreds of machines still operational and only a small number of warning notices given out by the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Coleman’s advice told state and county prosecutors: “You and your office are free to investigate and prosecute any violations of the Commonwealth’s gambling laws, including the laws related to gray machines.”
“We are prepared to provide whatever assistance your office may need if your investigation or prosecution of illegal gray machines is challenged in court or results in additional constitutional challenges to the law or litigation against your office.”