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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.3871 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:19990407 Primary Sponsor:Sandifer All Sponsors:Sandifer, Beck, Cato, Easterday, Emory, Gilham, Hamilton, Haskins, Leach, Littlejohn, Martin, Mason, Meacham-Richardson, Riser, Rodgers, Sharpe, R. Smith, Trotter, Vaughn, Webb and Wilkins Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\gjk\20474htc99.doc Residing Body:House Current Committee:Ways and Means Committee 30 HWM Subject:Elections, Referendum, Video poker gambling, Lottery, Coin-operated devices, Gambling History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ House 19990407 Introduced, read first time, 30 HWM referred to Committee Versions of This Bill
TO PROVIDE FOR A STATEWIDE REFERENDUM ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1999, TO DETERMINE IF THE QUALIFIED ELECTORS OF THE STATE FAVOR KEEPING VIDEO POKER GAMBLING LEGAL AND TO MAKE VIDEO POKER GAMBLING ILLEGAL IF A MAJORITY "NO" VOTE IS CERTIFIED ON THAT QUESTION, TO IMPOSE A MACHINE LICENSE TAX SURCHARGE OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS A MACHINE TO DEFRAY THE EXPENSES OF THE REFERENDUM, AND TO ACCOMPLISH THE PURPOSE OF MAKING VIDEO POKER GAMBLING ILLEGAL UNDER THAT CIRCUMSTANCE BY AMENDING SECTIONS 12-21-2710, AS AMENDED, 12-21-2712, 12-21-2720, AS AMENDED, AND 12-21-2726, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO COIN-OPERATED MACHINES OR DEVICES, SO AS TO EXTEND THE PROHIBITION ON SLOT MACHINES AND OTHER MACHINES OR DEVICES PERTAINING TO GAMES OF CHANCE TO VIDEO GAMES WITH A FREE PLAY FEATURE OR ANY OTHER COIN-OPERATED MACHINE OR DEVICE USED FOR GAMBLING, TO EXTEND THE SEIZURE AND DESTRUCTION PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO GAMES OF CHANCE TO THESE EXPANDED PROHIBITIONS, TO CONFORM EXISTING LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR COIN-OPERATED MACHINES AND DEVICES TO THESE EXPANDED PROHIBITIONS AND TO DELETE REFERENCES TO PROVISIONS OF LAW REPEALED BY THIS SECTION; TO AMEND SECTION 12-54-40, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO TAX CRIMES AND PENALTIES, SO AS TO DELETE THE OFFENSE OF OPERATING AN UNMETERED VIDEO GAME WITH A FREE PLAY FEATURE; TO AMEND SECTIONS 16-19-40 AND 16-19-50, RELATING TO THE OFFENSE OF GAMBLING, SO AS TO EXTEND THESE OFFENSES SPECIFICALLY TO PLAYING OR MAINTAINING ANY LICENSED COIN-OPERATED MACHINE OR DEVICE USED FOR GAMBLING PURPOSES; TO REPEAL SECTIONS 12-21-2703, 16-19-60, AND ARTICLE 20, CHAPTER 21 OF TITLE 12, RELATING RESPECTIVELY TO THE RETAIL LICENSE REQUIREMENT FOR A LOCATION WITH VIDEO GAMES WITH A FREE PLAY FEATURE, THE EXEMPTION OF VIDEO GAMES WITH A FREE PLAY FEATURE FROM THE GAMBLING OFFENSES, AND THE VIDEO GAMES MACHINES ACT.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The State Election Commission shall conduct a statewide referendum on Tuesday, November 2, 1999, to determine if the qualified electors of the State favor keeping video poker gambling legal. The state election laws apply to this referendum, mutatis mutandis. The commission shall canvass the results of the referendum and certify the results to the General Assembly, the director of the Department of Revenue, and the Code Commissioner. The referendum question must read as follows:
"Do you favor keeping video poker gambling legal?
SECTION 2. In lieu of the schedule of the notice requirements provided pursuant to Section 7-13-35 of the 1976 Code, the State Election Commission shall provide the notices required by that section on dates four weeks and two weeks respectively before the date of the referendum provided by this Part I.
SECTION 3. (A) The referendum required by this question must be conducted by the State Election Commission using funds appropriated to it for its operations in the annual general appropriations act for fiscal year 1999-2000, the surcharge license tax imposed pursuant to this Part, and any other funds available to the commission regardless of the purpose of their appropriation.
(B) There is imposed a license tax surcharge of one hundred dollars a machine for each machine licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720(A)(3) of the 1976 Code as of July 1, 1999, due and payable to the Department of Revenue on or before August 1, 1999. Failure to remit the surcharge in a timely manner is deemed failure to pay the license tax imposed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720(A)(3) of the 1976 Code. The revenues from this surcharge are appropriated to the State Election Commission to defray the expenses of the referendum required by this part.
SECTION 1. Section 12-21-2710 of the 1976 Code, as amended by Act 155 of 1997, is further amended to read:
"Section 12-21-2710. It is unlawful for any person to keep on his premises or operate or permit to be kept on his premises or operated within this State any vending or slot machine, or any video game machine with a free play feature operated by a slot in which is deposited a coin or thing of value, or other device operated by a slot in which is deposited a coin or thing of value for the play of poker, blackjack, keno, lotto, bingo, or craps, or any machine or device licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720 and used for gambling or any punch board, pull board, or other device pertaining to games of chance of whatever name or kind, including those machines, boards, or other devices that display different pictures, words, or symbols, at different plays or different numbers, whether in words or figures or, which deposit tokens or coins at regular intervals or in varying numbers to the player or in the machine, but the provisions of this section do not extend to coin-operated nonpayout pin tables, in-line pin games, and video games with free play feature which meet the technical requirements provided for in Section 12-21-2782 and Section 12-21-2783, or to automatic weighing, measuring, musical, and vending machines which are constructed as to give a certain uniform and fair return in value for each coin deposited and in which there is no element of chance.
Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for a period of not more than one year, or both."
SECTION 2. Section 12-21-2712 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 12-21-2712. Any vending or slot machine, punch board, or other device pertaining to games of chance prohibited by Section 12-21-2710 must be seized by any officer of the law law enforcement officer and at once taken before any magistrate of the county in which the machine, board, or device is seized who shall immediately examine it, and if he is satisfied that it is in violation of Section 12-21-2710 or any other law of this State, he shall direct that it be immediately destroyed."
SECTION 3. (A) Section 12-21-2720(A)(3) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Section 148, Act 181 of 1993, is further amended to read:
"(3) a machine of the nonpayout type, or in-line pin game, or video game with free play feature operated by a slot in which is deposited a coin or thing of value except machines of the nonpayout pin table type with levers or 'flippers' operated by the player by which the course of the balls may be altered or changed."
(B) Section 12-21-2720(C) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 145 of 1995, is further amended to read:
"(C) The owner or operator of any coin-operated device which is exempt from Section 16-19-60 and is subject to licensing under Section 12-21-2720(A)(3) and which has multi-player stations, shall purchase a separate license for each such station and any such multi-player station counts as a machine when determining the number of machines authorized for licensure under Section 12-21-2804(A)."
(C) Section 12-21-2720 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 155 of 1997, is further amended by deleting subsections (E) and (F) which read:
"(E) The department shall not issue a license for the operation of a video game with a free play feature which is located or intended to be located on a watercraft or vessel plying the territorial waters of this State.
(F) Four hundred dollars of the four thousand dollar license fee imposed in subsection (A) may be retained by the department and expended in budgeted operations for the implementation and ongoing operation of the monitoring system required by law or in other programs and services as the director may determine necessary and appropriate."
SECTION 4. Section 12-21-2726 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 164 of 1993, is further amended to read:
"Section 12-21-2726. Every person who maintains for use or permits the use of, on a place or premises occupied by him, a machine subject to the license imposed by this article by way of proof of licensing must have a current license displayed conspicuously on the front of the machine. Except for the provisions of Sections 12-21-2774 and 12-21-2776, each machine licensed pursuant to this section must be operated in a stand-alone fashion and may not be linked in any way to another coin-operated machine or device."
SECTION 5. Section 12-54-40 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 387 of 1998, is further amended by deleting subsection (M) which reads:
"(M) A machine owner or distributor, as defined in Article 20, Chapter 21 of this title, who allows or causes a machine to be operated without a metering device, or who wilfully places a machine on location or who wilfully allows or causes a machine to be operated with a metering device that does not accurately record the information required under Article 20, Chapter 21 of this title is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than ten years, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence, and in addition may be fined not more than twenty-five thousand dollars."
SECTION 6. Section 16-19-40 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 16-19-40. If any person shall play at any tavern, inn, store for the retailing of spirituous liquors or in any house used as a place of gaming, barn, kitchen, stable or other outhouse, street, highway, open wood, race field or open place at (a) any game with cards or dice, (b) any gaming table, commonly called A, B, C, or E, O, or any gaming table known or distinguished by any other letters or by any figures, (c) any roley-poley table, (d) rouge et noir, (e) any faro bank or (f) any other table or bank of the same or the like kind under any denomination whatsoever or (g) any machine or device licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720 and used for gambling purposes, except the games of billiards, bowls, backgammon, chess, draughts or whist when there is no betting on any such game of billiards, bowls, backgammon, chess, draughts or whist, or shall bet on the sides or hands of such as do game, upon being convicted thereof, before any magistrate, shall be imprisoned for a period of not over thirty days or shall suffer a fine of fined not over one hundred dollars, and every person so keeping such tavern, inn, retail store, public place or house used as a place for gaming or such other house shall, upon being convicted thereof, upon indictment, be imprisoned for a period not exceeding twelve months and forfeit a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars, for each and every offense."
SECTION 7. Section 16-19-50 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 16-19-50. Any person who shall set up, keep or use any (a) gaming table, commonly called A, B, C, or E, O, or any gaming table known or distinguished by any other letters or by any figures, (b) roley-poley table, (c) table to play at rouge et noir, (d) faro bank or (e) any other gaming table or bank of the like kind or of any other kind for the purpose of gaming, or (f) any machine or device licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720 and used for gambling purposes except the games of billiards, bowls, chess, draughts and backgammon, upon being convicted thereof, upon indictment, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars and not less than two hundred dollars."
SECTION 8. Sections 12-21-2703 and 16-19-60 and Article 20, Chapter 21 of Title 12, all of the 1976 Code, are repealed.
SECTION 9. Upon the effective date of this Part II, the Department of Revenue, upon application, shall issue prorated refunds of the license tax paid on machines licensed pursuant to Section 12-21-2720(A)(3) of the 1976 Code.
SECTION 1. Part I of this act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
SECTION 2. Part II of this act takes effect on June 30, 2000, but Part II does not take effect unless a majority "no" vote is certified by the State Election Commission on the question as contained in Part I of this act.
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