CHAPTER 633

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 18.1-829, 18.1-880 and 18.1-331 of the
Code of Virginia, as amended, relating to punch boards, slot machines,
etc., so as to eliminate certain machines or devices from the definition
and scope of laws forbidding the manufacture, possession, sale or
use of slot machines.

(S 207]

Approved April 6, 1962

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 18.1-329, 18.1-830 and 18.1-331 of the Code of Virginia, as
amended, be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 18.1-329. If any person: (1) Keep or exhibit for sale or use, or be
concerned in interest in keeping or exhibiting for sale or use, any
(a) punch board or similar device of any kind or description, (b) slot
machine or similar device of any kind or character, or (c) other device
that operates on the nickel-in-the-slot principle, in the operation of which
any element of chance whatever may enter, or through and from which
it may be possible for one person to get any article of more value than
that which any other person could or would get, or through and from
which the article or thing vended is not the fair equivalent in value to
the coin required to operate such machine or device, or

(2) Permit any such punch board, slot machine or similar device
to be kept or exhibited for sale or use in his place of business or in any
other place in this State,

He shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and such punch board, slot
machine or other device shall be deemed a gaming apparatus and shall
be embraced within the provisions of §§ 19.1-84, 19.1-86 and 19.1-87,
insofar as such sections relate to gaming apparatus.
The possession of any such punch board, slot machine or other device
shall be prima facie evidence of the exhibition for sale or use thereof.

Any slot machine or device that operates on the nickel-in-the-slot
principle and which does not uniformly return to the customer in each
transaction the equivalent in value and kind of merchandise unaccom-
panied by coins, trade checks or other items of monetary value that it
returned in each preceding transaction shall be deemed to embody the
element of chance within the meaning of this section, even though the
machine or device be so constructed as to indicate in advance of each
transaction what it will dispense upon the deposit of the next coin or
slug * , provided that no machine or device which operates on the nickel-
in-the-slot principle and which returns to the user nothing more than
additional chances or rights to use such machine shall be deemed a punch
board, slot machine, similar device or other device within the meaning of
this section.

§ 18.1-330. No person shall: (1) Manufacture, own, store, keep,
possess, sell, rent, lease, let on shares, lend or give away, transport or
expose for sale or lease, offer to sell, rent, lease, let on shares, lend or
give away, permit the operation of, or permit to be placed, maintained,
used or kept in any room, space or building of any kind, public or quasi-
public or private, owned, leased or occupied by him or under his manage-
ment or control any slot machine or device as hereinafter defined; or,

(2) Make or permit to be made with any person any agreement,
express or implied or in any other way, with reference to any slot machine
or device, as hereinafter defined, pursuant to which the user thereof, as a
result of any element of chance or other unpredictable outcome, may
become entitled to receive any money, credit, allowance or thing of
value *, or to receive any check, slug, token or memorandum entitling the
holder to receive any money, credit, allowance or thing of value, whether
through such machine automatically or by delivery in any manner.

§ 18.1-331. Any machine, apparatus or device is a slot machine or
device within the provisions of the preceding section if it is one that is
adapted, or may readily be converted into one that is adapted, for use
in such a way that, as a result of the insertion of any piece of money or
coin or other object such machine or device is caused to operate or may
be operated, and by reason of any element of chance or of other outcome
of such operation unpredictable by him the user * may receive or become
entitled to receive any piece of money, credit, allowance or thing of
value, or any check, slug, token or memorandum, whether of value or
otherwise, which may be exchanged for any money, credit, allowance or
thing of value, or which may be given in trade *. Such machine, apparatus
or device is no less a slot machine or device within the provisions of the
preceding section if it indicates beforehand the definite result of one or
more operations but not of all operations.