Opinion ID: 1777946
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Use of the Term Video Terminal Game

Text: According to the text of the proposed amendment, ballot title, and popular name, the proposed amendment authorizes video terminal games. The popular name does not give a definition for the term video terminal games. The ballot title, however, defines video terminal gaming as follows: AN ELECTRONIC VIDEO GAME THAT, UPON INSERTION OF TWENTY-FIVE CENT COINS, PROVIDES CREDITS TO PLAY OR SIMULATE THE PLAY OF AUTHORIZED GAMES AND THAT ISSUES A PAY SLIP TO A WINNING PLAYER THAT MAY BE REDEEMED FOR CASH[.] Prior to this definition, the ballot title states that THE GAMES OF BINGO, KENO AND POKER ARE INITIALLY AUTHORIZED TO BE PLAYED ON THE VIDEO TERMINALS[.] Petitioners contend that to the extent the term video terminal games refers to what are more commonly known as slot machines, the language of the term is misleading. Petitioners argue that the voters will not realize that video terminal games are slot machines. Respondent and Intervenor neither admit nor deny that the term video terminal games includes slot machines. Rather, they rely on the definition in the ballot title to clear up any misleading tendencies, and Intervenor argues further that Petitioners have not explained how slot machines differ from bingo, keno, and poker. Intervenor thus ignores the problem. We are not concerned with the difference here. Quite to the contrary, we are concerned with the similarity and whether voters will be able to recognize that similarity. Specifically, our concern is whether voters will be able to determine that the term video terminal games describes what are more commonly known as slot machines. Petitioners rely on Christian Civic Action Comm. v. McCuen, 318 Ark. 241, 884 S.W.2d 605, where this court held that the term additional racetrack wagering was a euphemism for casino-style gambling that rendered the ballot title misleading and insufficient. Here, Petitioner argues, in essence, that the less-offensive term video terminal games is a euphemism for the more distasteful term slot machines. The term video terminal games is misleading and tinged with partisan coloring because it does not evoke images or thoughts of gambling in any respect. Any possible enlightenment from the ballot title's definition is diluted by the strategic placement of the definition midway through the lengthy ballot title. Quite simply, the term video terminal games summons absolutely no connotation of currently illegal gambling, while the term slot machine does. To include the term video terminal games in an amendment that uses words such as lottery, bingo, and raffles, the latter three of which connote games of chance or gambling, while the first does not, is to tinge the term video terminal games with partisan coloring. While voters may be able to discern that the term video terminal games means slot machines, they should not be forced to guess the meaning of a proposed amendment to their state's constitution. The very purpose of the ballot title is to convey a fair and impartial understanding of the proposal. To call slot machines video terminal games, which connotes a present-day video game such as Nintendo or Sega Genesis, is anything but fair and impartial. Consequently, we conclude that the use of the term video terminal games creates a fatally misleading tendency in the popular name and ballot title and tinges them with partisan coloring.