Are “skill stop” or “cherry master” machines legal?
As with other potential illegal gaming devices, a few rules show that these machines can generally be considered illegal gambling devices under the Kansas criminal statutes and “gray machines” under the Expanded Lottery Act. Under the criminal statutes, a “gambling device” includes machines that are “designed, manufactured or altered primarily for use in connection with gambling, and (i) which when operated may deliver, as the result of chance, any money or property, or (ii) by the operation of which a person may become entitled to receive, as the result of chance, any money or property.” K.S.A. 21-4302(d)(1)(B). Devices that use tokens for wagers may fit into the gambling device definition. Id. at (d)(1)(D). And the fact that a prize is not automatically paid by the device does not change its gambling device status. Id. Separately, under the Expanded Lottery Act, a gray machine is “any mechanical, electro-mechanical or electronic device, capable of being used for gambling, that is: (1
