Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-20
Gaming Stamp
Rush Follows
Slots Seizure

fees in Washington and Balti-
more expected to do a booming
business in Federal gambling tax
stamps today in the wake OF
confiscation by Federal agents in
Charles County yesterday OF
nearly 100 slot machines.
The stamps cost $3.50 apiece.
Federal law, which grew out OF
the Kefauver committee crime
Investigations Of 1852, requires
that owners of gaming devices
buy a stamp for each device. A
$40 Federal tax stamp is re-
Iouired for amusement devices
such as pinball machines.
| Agents in charge Of yesterdays
raids in Charles County said
there were many more one
armed bandits without tax
stamps in the county. but they
expect proprletors WILL optaln
them now in short order.
Stamp Line Forms
"They started lining up In
Baltimore yesterday afternoon as
soon as word Of the seizures got
around" said Herman E. Green
land, head of the intelligence di-
vision Of the Internal Revenue
Service in Baltimore.
/ Mr.. Greenland warned slot
machine operators in all four
Southern Maryland Counties
where they are legal-Calvert,
Charles, st. Marys and Anne
Arundel-that his agents will
seize all machines without the
required stamp.
once they are confiscated, he
said, they generally are de-
stroyed.
No arrests were made in yes
terday's raid, the largest ever
conducted by Internal Revenue
agents in this area.
Grand Jury Approves
The seizures in Charles County
which Mr.. Greenland called
"Maryland's little Las Vegas
came only a week after a grand
jury report gave the county a
clean bill Of health.
The grand jury. calling atten-
ton to unfavorable publicity the
county had received in metro
politan newspapers. said that
after a four-day investigation,
I'VE feel that publicity charging
low moral standards and fla
grant law violations is entirely
unfounded."
About 80 Federal tax agents,
using three trucks and several
passenger cars, took part in yes
terday's confiscations. The ma
chimes were taken from "a estab-
! lishments in Cobbs Island,
Faulkner, La Plata. Benedict,
Thompkinsville. Hughesville. Ma
son Springs. Pomonkey Indian
Head, Spring Hill. Waldorf and
Bel Alton.
Mr.. Greenland said the ma
chimes were all different shapes
and sizes, some of them so large
/ that 1t took five or six men to
lift them on and of the trucks.
Most were of the 25-cent variety,
he said. but there were also
many nickel. dime and dollar
machines.
The seizures started at 8 am,
he said. and 1t was about 9
O'Clock last night before all the
machines were unloaded in the
Treasury Department garage in
Baltimore.
Checking Since Thursday
The tax agents have beer
checking on Charles County es-
adjustments since last Thurs
day, Mr.. Greenland said, com.
pairing the number of machines
they observed in operation with
their records of tax stamps that
had been sold to Charles County
establishments.
Under Federal law. the ma
chine owners can contest the
seizure and have a hearing in
court or before the District Di-
rector of Internal Revenue, Mr.
Greenland said. But in most
cases. he added, the result is the
same-the machines are ordered
destroyed.
Last September. the Federal
Bureau of Investigation seized 48
slot machines in five locations
in st. Marys, Calvert and Prince
Georges Counties. Those ma
chimes were taken, however, be-
cause they had been transported
into Maryland from West Vir-
GINA in violation of another law
resulting from the Kefauver in
vestigation-this one prohibiting
interstate transportation OF
gaming devices.