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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Ind. Law - More on: Cases from Indiana and Kentucky of citizens suing to recoup gambling losses

Updating yesterday's ILB entry about the two pending lawsuits -- today there is only one.

"Cherry Master bettor loses courtroom gamble" is the headline to this story by Kara Hull in today's Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Some quotes:

ALBION – A Wolcottville woman’s attempt to recoup $6,000 she said she lost gambling at a Kendallville business was denied by a Noble County judge Tuesday.

Nettie Hart, 69, filed a small-claims lawsuit in Noble County in March against Mike Bowers, the owner of bait and tackle store Sportsman’s Paradise, 629 W. North St. in Kendallville.

In her complaint, Hart said she never won the 80 percent payback the video gambling machines, known as Cherry Masters, advertised. The store keeps several of the illegal machines in a back room. * * *

Noble Superior II Judge Michael Kramer said in his decision during a court hearing Tuesday the advertisement on the machines didn’t serve as a contract, and the business wasn’t liable for her losses.

Kramer attempted to use a state gambling-debts-and-losses statute to recoup the money Hart lost 180 days before she filed the March lawsuit, but couldn’t award her anything because Hart said Tuesday she couldn’t remember how much she had lost during that time.

It was “quite a bit,” she said, and probably more than the $6,000 she was hoping to get back.

The statute, which was last used in a decision in the late 1800s, could have allowed Kramer to award Hart a portion of what she lost gambling, he said.

“I can’t enter a judgment just for ‘quite a bit,’ ” Kramer said before making a ruling Tuesday in favor of Sportsman’s Paradise. * * *

The Noble County Prosecutor’s Office can file charges against businesses like Sportsman’s Paradise for having the illegal gambling machines.

Kendallville Police Chief Rob Wiley – who just recently found out about the machines in the bait shop – said his department hasn’t cited the business because they rely on the state excise police to handle Cherry Masters.

Saying Tuesday that finding the machines aren’t a “priority” for his officers, Wiley said he would have to talk with the prosecutor about how best to enforce the law when it comes to cracking down on the gambling devices.

The department hasn’t had any “significant reports” or complaints about machines in the city, he said.

The statute referenced by Judge Kramer is now codified at IC 34-16-1. (Unfortuately, the online version of the Indiana Code gives no information about when the law originally was enacted.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 31, 2006 06:05 AM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions | Indiana Law