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Pizzerias Vending Machine Actually Illegal Gambling

A vending machine which sat in a Captain's Pizza restaurant actually offered customers assorted items like cans of soup and money clips and darts, but Maryland's Court of Appeals said the machine is offering an illegal form of gambling.

The illegal coupons being given out had a detachable tab that customer could turn in to the restaurant to have a chance to win cash prizes as high as $200.

County prosecutor Joel Todd told the owner of the machine, FACE Trading Inc., that the company might be facing charges in the future because the machine violated Maryland's anti-gambling statutes. The company protested that its business model was legal, and selling of coupons that are used in drawings for cash prizes are mainly "incidental"

Todd said, "it had all the elements of illegal gambling namely that consideration is given for the chance to win a prize or reward,"

Judge John C. Eldridge wrote in his ruling "the product discounts provided for on the backs of the coupon cards that were being sold were merely pretexts for illegal gambling activities."

"The record in this case compels the conclusion that the Ad-Tab coupon card game was essentially an illegal gambling operation for cash prizes," Judge John C. Eldridge wrote.