Criminal Violations; Investigations; Seizure and Confiscation of Machines; Repossession; Sealing of Machines

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. State Government
  4. Lottery for Education
  5. Bona Fide Coin Operated Amusement Machines
  6. General Provisions
  7. Criminal Violations; Investigations; Seizure and Confiscation of Machines; Repossession; Sealing of Machines

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  1. If any owner or operator of any bona fide coin operated amusement machine in this state shall violate any provision of this article or any rule and regulation promulgated under this article, the corporation may investigate the violation and may seek sanctions, including late fees of $50.00 for failure to pay timely permit sticker fees, $125.00 for failure to pay timely the master license fee, suspension or revocation of a license, seizure of equipment, interest penalty, and debarment for repeat offenders.
  2. No person other than an owner shall intentionally remove a current permit sticker from a bona fide coin operated amusement machine or from the location where the machine is located. Any person who violates this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
  3. A person who owns or operates bona fide coin operated amusement machines without a current master license or without a permit sticker on display shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
  4. A person who knowingly makes a material false statement on any application or renewal application for a master license or permit sticker under this article by fraud, misrepresentation, or subterfuge or makes a material false entry on any book, record, or report which is compiled, maintained, or submitted to the corporation pursuant to the provisions of this article is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years, a fine not to exceed $25,000.00, or both.
  5. Any bona fide coin operated amusement machine not having the required master license or permit stickers may be seized and confiscated by the corporation's agents or employees and sold at public auction after 30 days' advertisement. Upon payment of the license required, the corporation may return any property so seized and confiscated and compromise any fee or penalty assessed. The owner from whom the bona fide coin operated amusement machine is seized may, at any time within ten days after the seizure, repossess the property by filing with the corporation a bond, in cash or executed by a surety company authorized to do business in this state, in double amount of the tax and penalties due. Within 30 days after the bond has been filed, the owner must bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to have the seizure set aside; otherwise, the bond so filed shall be declared forfeited to the corporation.
  6. The chief executive officer or an authorized representative thereof may seal in a manner that will prevent its full operation any such bona fide coin operated amusement machine that is in commercial use available to the public for play whose master license or sticker under this article has been suspended or revoked, upon which the fee has not been paid, or that is not registered with the corporation under this article. Whoever shall break the seal affixed by the chief executive officer or an authorized representative thereof without the chief executive officer's approval or whoever shall provide in commercial use available to the public for play any such bona fide coin operated amusement machine after the seal has been broken without the chief executive officer's approval or whoever shall remove any bona fide coin operated amusement machine from its location after the same has been sealed by the chief executive officer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. The corporation shall charge a fee of $75.00 for the release of any bona fide coin operated amusement machine which is sealed. The fee shall be paid to the corporation.

(Code 1981, §48-17-13, enacted by Ga. L. 1992, p. 1521, § 3; Code 1981, §50-27-82, as redesignated by Ga. L. 2013, p. 37, § 1-1/HB 487.)

The 2013 amendment, effective April 10, 2013, redesignated former Code Section 48-17-13 as present Code Section 50-27-82; throughout this Code section, substituted "corporation" or "chief executive officer" for "commissioner" and substituted "article" for "chapter"; substituted "permit sticker" for "tax sticker" in the first sentence of subsection (b); rewrote subsection (d), which read: "A person who knowingly secures or attempts to secure a master license or permit sticker under this chapter by fraud, misrepresentation, or subterfuge is guilty of a felony."; deleted former subsection (e), which read: "Any person who knowingly uses a sticker for the purpose of engaging in unlawful gambling shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."; redesignated former subsections (f) and (g) as present subsections (e) and (f), respectively; in the first sentence of subsection (e), substituted "corporation's agents" for "commissioner or his agents" in the first sentence, substituted "any fee" for "any tax" in the second sentence, and substituted "shall be" for "must be" in the last sentence; and, in subsection (f), substituted "representative thereof" for "representative of the commissioner" in the first and second sentences, and, in the second sentence, substituted "the seal" for "said seal" near the middle, and inserted "its" near the end.

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2013, p. 37, § 3-1/HB 487, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that: "(b) If any section of this Act is determined to be unconstitutional by a final decision of an appellate court of competent jurisdiction or by the trial court of competent jurisdiction if no appeal is made, with the exception of subsection (g) of Code Section 50-27-78 and Section 2-1 of this Act, this Act shall stand repealed by operation of law.

"(c) This Act is not intended to and shall not be construed to affect the legality of the repair, transport, possession, or use of otherwise prohibited gambling devices on maritime vessels within the jurisdiction of the State of Georgia. To the extent that such repair, transport, possession, or use was lawful prior to the enactment of this Act, it shall not be made illegal by this Act; and to the extent that such repair, transport, possession, or use was prohibited prior to the enactment of this Act, it shall remain prohibited." As of July 2020, no such decision has been issued.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Cited in Ga. Lottery Corp. v. Tabletop Media, LLC, 346 Ga. App. 498, 816 S.E.2d 438 (2018), cert. denied, No. S18C1520, 2019 Ga. LEXIS 175 (Ga. 2019).


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