State seizing 'coin pushers' at shops

And their customers hoping for a win may have been cheated, too.

The Arizona Department of Gaming has seized dozens of "coin pusher" machines from bars, convenience stores and other shops.

While the ones confiscated so far are in Maricopa County, there is evidence that the devices are in shops throughout the state, said state gaming Director Mark Brnovich. And they are there illegally.

The names of the shop owners were not released. Brnovich said it is possible they were duped.

"What we think is happening is someone is basically going around and pitching these to store owners, convenience-store owners, bar owners, small shops, telling them, 'There's no problem; they're legal,' " he said. "The store owners are taking the person's word on it and installing them and using them to make a profit."

Brnovich said state law does allow for amusement devices, even those where people can - but are not guaranteed to - win something. He called that "the Chuck E. Cheese exception," referring to the chain of pizza outlets that cater to families with various games that let customers win small prizes.

But Brnovich said this case is quite different from putting a quarter in a machine in hopes of clawing a stuffed animal.

These machines operate by a coin starting a "pusher" that shoves the coins in the machine, including the one just inserted. At some theoretical point, the new coin adds just enough so that a volley of coins at the front end falls into a hopper to be retrieved by the player.

State law makes any machine that awards cash illegal, Brnovich said. And merchandise prizes can't be worth more than $4.

Beyond that, he said state law makes the setting of a machine crucial to the question of its legality.

He said a device set up in an "amusement setting," such as a pizza parlor for families, has prizes "that are not offered to lure or separate players from their money." That's different from something set up at a bar, he said.

In any event, the fact that the pushers offer cash makes them off-limits no matter where they're located.

With many of the machines, it's not even like the customers got a fair shake, Brnovich added.

"It appears that these devices were not only illegal but that many patrons didn't even have a chance to win the prizes that were offered," he said.

The Attorney General's Office said the machines actually cheat customers because they have hidden compartments: Some of the coins that fall into the bin never make it to the customer but remain in the machine.

"These devices are a fraud on the public," Attorney General Terry Goddard said in a prepared statement.

"They are built cleverly to deceive the player into thinking that coins or other valuables are about to fall into the collection bin as winnings, but players can't see how they really work," the statement continued.

"These devices are a fraud on the public."

Terry Goddard

Arizona attorney general