Hanover County judge rules certain skill game machines are legal

HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- Are certain skill game machines actually legal in Virginia? At least one Hanover County judge thinks so.

That judge dismissing a case against a Hanover County business owner charged with possessing an illegal gambling device.

“The judge essentially decided that I’m not gonna find someone guilty of a crime when they didn’t know it was a crime,” 8News Legal Analyst Russ Stone said.

State Senator Bill Stanley, who represented the business owner in this case and also represents the company that makes the skill game machine in question, said the judge believed charges weren’t warranted because Virginia law only bans skill games that require “the insertion of a coin, currently, ticket, token, or similar object” to play. 

In this case, players had to give money to an attendant, who then activated the game with a code.

“When we write criminal laws, we want those people that may be subject to them to understand what is legal and what is not legal. And in this case, the judge even said, the way that it is written does not provide that clarity, and the ambiguity must be rendered in favor of the defendant,” Stanley told 8News.

Despite the ruling, Stone said skill games are not suddenly legal across Virginia. He added that the ruling only covers Hanover County, and judges in other jurisdictions may rule differently. 

“If you're in another county and you are engaging in this conduct, you certainly could face the possibility of criminal charges,” Stone said. 

Stone said if the General Assembly wants to avoid legal challenges in other jurisdictions, it can pass a law tweaking the statute to ensure these new types of skill games are also illegal.