• Font Size    

WJZ.COM Editor's Picks

Great NFL Hair
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Comptroller's Office Auditing Video Bingo Machines

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +   
Feb 26, 2008 7:14 am US/Eastern

Comptroller's Office Auditing Video Bingo Machines

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) ― State Comptroller Peter Franchot's office is sending auditors to St. Mary's County to determine if video bingo machines in the county's bars and restaurants are in compliance with state law.

The county allows the machines to be operated by nonprofit organizations. The machine owners and the bars and restaurants are allowed to keep a portion of the receipts to cover expenses.

The state attorney general has ruled that the machines are legal, but profits are subject to the state's admissions and amusement tax. In a letter Monday to legislative leaders, Franchot said the business is ripe for corruption.

Lobbyist Bruce Bereano represents a company with 80 machines in the county and says the tax applies only to for-profit gambling devices, not those operated by nonprofit groups.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

WJZ.COM's Most Popular Slideshows

© MMIX, CBS Corporation. All Rights Reserved.