The Florida Supreme Court recently “determined that it should decline to accept jurisdiction” regarding a lower court ruling that pre-reveal games are illegal slot machines, and “ordered that the petition for review is denied.” The court added, “No motion for rehearing will be entertained,” meaning the unanimous decision given last year by a 1st District Court of Appeal panel will remain the law of the land.
The case began when Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation agents a pre-reveal game in a Jacksonville sports bar. They told the proprietor the machine was an “illegal gambling device.” The bar owner sued, and Circuit Court Judge John Cooper ruled the games are not illegal slots. However, he changed his mind following a hearing where Seminole Tribe attorney Barry Richard explained the machines violate the tribe’s exclusive right to offer slot machines outside South Florida. Cooper said he had “gotten it wrong the first time.” He said he based his reversal on learning how the pre-reveal games actually are played, calling them an “illegal gaming scheme designed to circumvent gambling prohibitions.”
In the last legislative session, state Rep. Scott Plakon sponsored a bill outlawing the games which passed the House and died in the Senate.
