Gaming equipment bill passes Senate

By JIM MANN and JOHN STANG- The Daily Inter Lake

Legislation legalizing the possession of antique gambling equipment advanced Tuesday in the Montana Senate.

Senate Bill 540 was prompted by the state Gambling Division's confiscation of antique gambling devices at a Whitefish store last month.

The Business and Labor Committee bill, sponsored by Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, would allow possession of an antique gambling device for possession and not operation, with a retroactive provision for the Cowboy Cabin, the Whitefish store from which Gambling Division agents confiscated equipment.

The bill passed second reading on a 47-3 vote with no discussion. It allows a person who is not licensed to sell gambling equipment to sell three antique gambling devices a year.

"It's exciting to see the support of the Senate to be so overwhelming. It's just like the support of the people, said "Cowboy Ron" Turner, who owns the Cowboy Cabin with his wife, Eila.

When state gambling agents confiscated the store's antique gambling equipment in early February, Turner remembered that one agent told him that the only way he could recover the items would be because "the Legislature would have to pass a law or bill, and that's not going to happen."

The Turners' case received plenty of play in Western Montana media, plus stories in The Washington Times newspaper and a nationally syndicated radio show called "Deadline Live."

"I can't walk through a store or restaurant, or walk in the streets of Kalispell or Whitefish, without someone waving or honking at me,"' Turner said.

"We want to say 'thank you' to everyone who has been so supportive."