Pow’r Up phone chargers are turning Wisconsin gas stations into “gasinos,” according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which claims the cellphone charging kiosks actually are video gambling machines.
The Pow’r Up kiosks charge $1 per minute. For every dollar spent on charge time, a customer also receives 100 entries in a promotional game with a chance to win up to hundreds of dollars in cash prizes.
Jeremy Hahn of West Bend, Wisconsin, owner of Quick Charge Kiosk, has filed a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin, which has said the machines are illegal gambling. Hahn wants a judge to declare that they are legal since they offer a free-play option. However, receiving a free play requires filling out a form, mailing it in, waiting a week for a certificate for “one free entry” and redeeming it for $1 to use in the machine.
State Rep. Jeffrey Mursau said, “It seemed like a pretty complicated process just to get that dollar worth of time. I would say these machines are put in specifically for reasons other than charging your phone.”
Gambling addiction counselor Doug LaBelle agreed, noting, “There is something more than charging the phone going on.”
Chairman of the state’s Tribal Relations Committee, Mursau said Native American tribes have expressed concern about the Pow’r Up machines, since the tribes are supposed to have exclusive rights to video gaming in the state. He said so far tribes have ignored illegal video gambling machines in taverns and restaurants with Class B liquor licenses. “The tribes have said there is going to be a point in time when things go too far,” Mursau commented.
In 1999, Governor Tommy Thompson dramatically reduced the penalties for video gambling in bars and restaurants. In 2003, Governor Jim Doyle prohibited local police from enforcing the law. Today only the Wisconsin Department of Revenue can enforce video gambling in Class B establishments with five or fewer machines. The machines are illegal but not criminal. However, video gambling in gas stations is a crime. “It would be, at a minimum, a misdemeanor and it could be a felony if it’s determined to be commercial gambling,” LaBelle said.
Last summer, agents seized several Quick Charge Kiosks from two gas stations owned by Sukhdev Gill in the village of Belgium. “They just came in and they’re like, ‘We have a search warrant for these machines.’ They patted me down, just for some machines. If other stations can them in Ozaukee County, I should be able to have my machines in here.”
Ironically, Gill’s family operates a restaurant with five legal video gambling machines across the street from one of his gas stations. “The law should clear itself, and state what it is or what it isn’t,” Gill said.
A Wisconsin Department of Justice spokesman explained the decision regarding removing the charging machines from gas stations is up to local law enforcement. DOJ agents will assist if asked.
While Hahn’s lawsuit against the state is pending in Milwaukee County, his Quick Charge Kiosks remain in operation in several locations. Hahn’s father, Lester Hahn, was convicted of commercial gambling in 1997 for supplying video poker machines to bars. His case set a legal precedent in Wisconsin for what defines a gambling machine, and now Jeremy Hahn is citing his father’s case to try to win his own.
Lorri Pickens, spokesperson for Citizens Against Expanded Gambling, said Hahn “thinks he’s found a loophole” that could legalize the machines. She said that “absolutely” would lead to a significant expansion of gambling in Wisconsin.
