Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A) Statement of Basis and Purpose:
It is a violation of Chapter 1345. of the Revised Code to
represent, either explicitly or implicitly, a skill-based amusement machine as
being legal when in fact it is illegal. Supplying an illegal slot machine while
representing it to a consumer to be a "skill-based amusement machine" is an
unfair and deceptive act or practice. Slot machines are defined by statute in
Chapter 2915. of the Revised Code and these definitions, set forth below, are
part of the basis for this rule defining an unfair and deceptive act or
practice in a consumer transaction:
(1) Division (A) of section
2915.02 of the Revised Code
prohibits, among other things, any person from acquiring, possessing,
controlling or operating any gambling device for the purpose of engaging in
gambling as defined in divisions (A)(1), (A)(2), (A)(3) or (A)(4) of section
2915.02 of the Revised Code;
(2) Divisions (F)(3) and (F)(4) of
section 2915.01 of the Revised Code
include within the definition of a gambling device, a "slot machine, or other
apparatus designed for use in connection with a game of chance" and "any
equipment, device, apparatus, or paraphernalia specially designed for gambling
purposes";
(3) Division (VV)(1) of
section 2915.01 of the Revised Code
defines a slot machine as "[a]ny mechanical, electronic, video, or digital
device that is capable of accepting anything of value, directly or indirectly,
from or on behalf of a player who gives the thing of value in the hope of gain,
the outcome of which is determined largely or wholly by chance; or [a]ny
mechanical, electronic, video, or digital device that is capable of accepting
anything of value, directly or indirectly, from or on behalf of a player to
conduct or dispense bingo or a scheme or game of chance";
(4) Division (VV)(2) of section
2915.01 of the Revised Code
declares that skill-based amusement machines are not slot machines;
(5) Section
2915.03 of the Revised Code
prohibits the owner, lessee, or anyone having custody, control, or supervision
of any premises from using or occupying the premises for gambling in violation
of section 2915.02 of the Revised Code or
recklessly permitting the premises to be used or occupied for gambling in
violation of section 2915.02 of the Revised Code.
(B) It shall be an
unfair and deceptive act or practice in connection with a consumer transaction
for a supplier to misrepresent that any mechanical or electronic game is a
skill-based amusement machine if it fails to meet the requirements of this
rule.
(C) It shall be an unfair
and deceptive act or practice in connection with a consumer transaction for a
supplier to:
(1) guarantee a return of any
percentage of consideration paid by any consumer to the machine's owner,
operator, distributor, manufacturer or any other party, other than the
consumer,
(2) fail to maintain
records that document the gross income and redeemable vouchers received and
issued by each skill-based amusement machine,
(3) fail to maintain records of the
redemption rate and inventory of the wholesale value of any merchandise prizes,
(4) fail to comply with any liquor
control regulation, any cease and desist order, any court order or other
applicable statutory or legal requirement,
(5) provide consumers with any information
related to any skill-based amusement machine that is incomplete, confusing, or
misleading, or
(6) fail to display
in plain view, in a single area on the premises where any skill-based amusement
game is played, all merchandise prizes for which redeemable vouchers obtained
by playing any such machine may be redeemed and the number of redeemable
vouchers required to obtain each merchandise prize.
(D) For the purpose of enforcing this rule,
the following terms shall be defined as follows:
(1) A "skill-based amusement machine" means a
mechanical or electronic game that rewards the player or players, if at all,
only with merchandise prizes or with redeemable vouchers redeemable only for
merchandise prizes, provided that,
(a) with
respect to rewards for playing this game:
(i)
any reward of redeemable vouchers is based solely on the player achieving the
object of the game or the player's score,
(ii) the wholesale value of a merchandise
prize awarded as a result of the single play of a machine does not exceed ten
dollars,
(iii) redeemable vouchers
awarded for any single play of a machine are not redeemable for a merchandise
prize with a wholesale value of more than ten dollars, and
(iv) redeemable vouchers are not redeemable
for a merchandise prize that has a wholesale value of more than ten dollars
times the fewest number of single plays necessary to accrue the redeemable
vouchers required to obtain that prize.
(b) The machine shall not be considered a
skill-based amusement machine if one or more of the following apply:
(i) the ability of any consumer to succeed at
the game is impacted by the number or ratio of prior wins to prior losses of
consumers playing that machine:
(ii) the outcome of the game can be
controlled by a source other than any consumer playing the game;
(iii) the success of any player is or may be
determined by a chance event which cannot be altered by player actions;
(iv) the ability of any consumer
to succeed at the game is impacted by game features not visible or known to the
reasonable consumer, or
(v) the
ability of consumer to succeed at the game is impacted by the exercise of skill
that no reasonable consumer could exercise.
(c) Other factors which may be considered to
determine if a mechanical or electronic game is skill-based include, but are
not limited to:
(i) the results of analysis
by any independent testing authority retained by the State to evaluate the
level of skill required for the consumers of a particular game to improve their
odds of winning;
(ii) whether the
game can be completed without physical interaction by the consumer. Depressing
buttons or other input devices is physical interaction for purposes of this
rule, however, merely activating the machine is not.
(2) A "reasonable consumer" shall
mean the first-time consumer of average levels of intelligence, physical and
mental skills, reaction time and dexterity.
(3) A "merchandise prize" is any item of
value but may not include:
(a) cash, gift
cards, or any equivalent thereof,
(b) plays on games of chance, state lottery
tickets, bingo, or instant bingo,
(c) firearms, tobacco, or alcoholic
beverages, or
(d) a redeemable
voucher which is redeemable for any of the items listed in sections (a), (b)
and (c) immediately above.
(4) A "redeemable voucher" is any ticket,
token, coupon, receipt, or other non-cash representation of value.
(5) A "supplier" shall include the
manufacturer, distributor, owner, lessor, lessee, or any other person or entity
which directly or indirectly facilitates a consumer transaction utilizing a
skill-based amusement machine.
(E) This rule is not intended to authorize
any new forms of gambling which are not already expressly permitted by Chapter
2915. of the Revised Code.
(F)
This rule is not intended to prohibit conduct in connection with gambling
expressly permitted by sections
2915.02,
2915.07,
2915.08,
2915.092 and
2915.12 of the Revised Code.
