Cowboy Ron, gaming machines reunited

Sin from the Old West has returned to the Cowboy Cabin in Whitefish.

That sin showed up unexpectedly last Friday as two ancient roulette wheels, two early 20th century punchboards and a chuck-a-luck. A chuck-a-luck is a small hourglass-shaped cage that spins - with three dice inside.

"Everything came back in the same condition as they went out," said "Cowboy Ron" Turner, who owns the Cowboy Cabin with his wife, Eila.

Also, a huge craps table, a blackjack table and a smallish craps tabletop - all from the 19th century - no longer are contraband at the Cowboy Cabin.

The confiscated items returned as unexpectedly as they had left.

People from the Gambling Investigation Bureau of the state Department of Justice showed up unannounced with the items last Friday, and asked the Turners where to put them.

"They said: 'The law has changed. We're returning these things,'" Turner said.

On the previous day, Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed a law that allows old-time gambling equipment to be sold strictly as antiques.

That was not the case Jan. 31, when state gambling agents entered the Cowboy Cabin to tell the Turners that selling any type of gambling equipment was illegal in Montana. They confiscated some items, and marked as evidence what could not be easily moved.

The Turners had been longtime Old West antique dealers from California who moved to Whitefish and opened the Cowboy Cabin in December. They were shocked because they had sold antique gambling equipment with no trouble in California and other states.

Their situation prompted some Flathead state legislators to push through a law allowing the sale of antique gambling equipment for nongambling purposes.

Larry Renman, district supervisor for the state bureau, delivered the machines back to Cowboy Cabin, according to The Associated Press.

"Personally," Renman said, "I never like to see a law created that absolves a person of a crime they committed. It was a very clear statute, and it's been in effect for a long time. What was lost in all this was that Mr. Turner violated the law."

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com