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ORDINANCE No.2/;2 ('
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO, STATE OF
CALIFORNIA, PROHIBITING THE POSSESSION, USE OR OPERATION OF ANY
PINBALL MACHINE, MARBLE MACHINE OR OTHER SIMILAR DEVICE WITHIN
THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO" DECLARING SUCH MACHINES AND DEVICES
TO BE A NUISANCE, PROVIDING FOR THE CONFISCATION AND ABATEMENT
THEREOF AND MAKING THE VIOLATION THEREOF PUNISHABLE AS A MISDE-
MEAN OR .
THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL (F' THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION ONE: DECLARATION OF POLICY. It is the policy
~.. and purpose of the Mayor and CommonGouncil of the City of San
9 Bernardino,' in accordance wi th'the policy of the State of ca1if-
10 j ornia, rigidly to suppress, prohibit and prevent gambling and
11 gaming in all their.for,ms, and by its ordinances to support and
12 supplement the provisions of the Constitution and Statutes of
13 the State of California and the Charter of the City of San Ber-
14 nardino dealing therewith. The Mayor and Common Council declares
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that this ordinance is adopted in,confor,mity with this policy and
as an exercise of the police power of the City under the Consti-
tution and Statutes of California and the City Charter.
The provisions of this ordinance are not intended to con-
f1ict with, but shall supplement all laws of the State of Calif-
ornia, prohibiting lotteries, gaming, or gambling and these pro-
visions must be invoked by all law enforcement officers whose
duty it is to enforce the laws of the State of California against
lotteries, gaming or gambling, when by operation of this ordinance
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the use, ownership or possession, as defined in Section Three
hereof, of any such game or mechanical device or contrivance is
prohibited by this ordinance but might not be prohibited by the
laws of the state of California.
SECTION TWO: FINDINGS. In enacting this ordinance, the
Mayor and Common Council of the City of San Bernardino hereby
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determine and declare that within the City of San Bernardino
are maintained certain devices described in Section Three
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hereof, which are capable of and are being used for gambling
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1 purposes; that the Grand Jury of the County of San Bernardino,
2 regularly drawn and impaneled for the year 1955, did find, and
3 after an independent comprehensive investigation conducted by
4 the Attorney General of the State of California of the operation
5 of pinball machines and other similar devices, situated in the
6 City of San Bernardino and the County of San Bernardino, official-
7 ly reported:
(a) That throughout San Bernardino County and the City
of San Bernardino, machines of the .type described
in Section Three hereof are numerous and are oper-
ating in general violation of the gambling laws of
the state of California;
(b) That of tne merchants interviewed ~uring the invest-
igation, 90..4 percent admitted making payoffs;
(c) That the proceeds from the machines were divided
fifty-fifty between the pinball machine owners
and the merchants upon whose premises the machines
were installed;
(dl That the. wide-spread use of these machines makes
enforcement of the laws against gambling by law
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enforceme~t officers impracticsl;
(e) That the operation"of these machines constitutes a
serious menace to good government;
that said Grand Jury recommended the immediate adoption of ordi-
nances banning such machines as public nuisances; thap the Mayor .
and Common Council further find that as a practical matter,
because of the difficulty of obtaining evidence to support crim-
inal charges, to control the operation of these machines and
devices so that they will be operated in compliance with laws
and ordinances against gambling when the machines are allowed to
operate as amusement devices is impossible and beyond the power
of law enforcement officersp and further find that such machines
constitute a public nuisance and should be abated.
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1 Their operation encourages idleness and awakens, stimu-
2 lates and promotes the gambling tendencies of children and others,
3 results in some players losing money in such quantities that their
4 innocent families want for the necessities of life, and tends to
5 in~~ease the burden of public relief on the taxpayers, and these
6 devioes should be sUPPr'essed. and prohibited in the interest of
7 the public peaoe, health, safety, morals and general welfare of
8 the people of this City.
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9 SECTION THREE: DEFINITIONS. The phrases pinball maohine
10 and mar'ble maohine as used in this ordinanoe mean any maohine,
11 oontrivanoe, applianoe, appar'atus, meohanioal or' eleotronio
12 devioe having a playing board or surfaoe studded with pins, plugs,
13 buffer's, trips, switohes, springs and/or holes, and a ball or
14 mar'ble whioh may be released, propelled, thrown, or rolled upon
15 the said playing surfaoe in suoh manner that the ball winds its
16 way along and aoross the playing surfaoe and during or at the
17 end of its oourse may fall into one of the holes Or' may hit upon
18 any of the pins, plugs, buffers, springs, trips or switohes,
19 giving the player' a soo~e or other winning or losing result from
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the operation of suoh maohine, Whioh indioates a probable or
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21 possible return to the winning player, and whi~h is adapted or
22 may readily be a~apted for use in suoh a way that as the result
23 of the payment of a oonsideration Whether by the insertion of
24 any pieoe of money, ooin, token or other objeot, or otherwise,
25 suoh maohine or devioe is caused to operate or may be operated,
26 and, dependent on any outcome of suoh operation not absolutely
27 prediotable by the player or user, whether determined by any
28 element of ohanoe or by strength or skill, the player may reoeive
29 or beoome entitled to receive any money, oredit, free game,
30 allowanoe or thing or representative of value Whatsoever, or any
31 token or memorandum whioh may be exohanged for any thereof, or
32 the user may seoure additional chanoes, privileges or rights to
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1 use such machine or device, irrespective of whetherit may., apart
a from any element of chance or other outcome of operation not ab-
3 solutely predictable, also sell, deliver, or present some mer-
4 chandise, indication of weight, entertainment or other thing of
5 value. The terms pinball machine and marble machine also include
6 all other similar devices and contrivances of any kind whatsoever.
7 , The term "person" includes co;rporations, companies, asso-
8 ciations, firms and partnerships.
9 SECTION FOUR: It is unlawful within the corporate limits
10 of the City of San Bernardino for any person to manufacture, own,
11 store, keep, possess, sell, rent,. lease, let on shares, lend or
12 give away or permit the operation of or permit to be placed,
13 maintained, used or kept in any room, space or building owned,
14 leased or occupied by him or under his management or control,
15 any pinball or marble machine or device as hereinbefore defined
16 or to make or permit to be. made wi th any person any agreement wi th
17 ref'erence to any such machine or device, pursuant to which the
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user thereof, ss a result of any element of chance or other out-
come unpredictable to him, may become entitled to receive any
money, credit, allowance, or thing of value or additional chance
or right to use such machine or device, or to receive any check,
slug, token or memorandmn entitling the holder to receive any
money, credit, allowance or thing of value.
SECTION FIVE: The mere possession or control, either as
owner, lessee, agent, employee, mortgagor, or otherwise of sny
pinball machine or marble machine, contrivanoe, appliance or
mechanioal device as def'ined in Section Three hereof, is hereby
prohibited and penalized by the provisions of this ordinance,
whether or not the mere possession or oontrol, either as owner,
lessee. agent, employee, mortgagor or otherwi se, of any pinball
machine or marble machine, contrivance, appliance or mechanical
device as defined in Section Three hereof, might be an infraction
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of the laws of the state of California against lotteries, gaming
or gambling. Mere possession of such machine, contrivance or
device is illegal and renders such machine or contrivance subject
to confiscation as provided in Section Six hereof.
It is unlawful for any person to have in his possession
or under his control, either as owner, lessee, agent, employee,
mortgagor or otherwise. or to permit to be placed, maintained or
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kept in any room, space, enclosure or building owned, leased or
occupied by him, or under his management or control, whether for
use or operation or for storage, bailment, safekeeping or deposit
only, any pinball machine or marble machine, appliance or elec-
trical or mechanical device, as described in Section Three hereof.
SECTION SIX: In addition to any other remedy provided
by law any machine, contrivance, appliance or mechanical device
hereinbefore described may be seized by any of the officers
designated by Section 335 of the Penal Cdde of the State of Cal-
ifornia. A notice of intention summarily to destroy such machine
or device must thereupon be posted in a conspicuous place upon
the premises in or upon which such machine or device was seized.
Such machine or device shall be held by such officer for thirty
(30) days after such posting, and if no action is commenced to
recover possession of such machine or device, within such time,
the same shall be summarily destroyed by such officer. If such
machine or device is held by the court, in any civil or criminal
aotion, to be in violation of this ordinance the same shall be
summarily destroyed by such officer immediately after the decision
of the court has become final.
Any and all money seized in or in connection with such
machine or device, immediately after such machine or device has
been so destroyed, is to be paid into the Treasury of the City
of San Bernardino to the credit of the General Fund. ^
SECTION SEVEN: EXEMPTIONS. It is expressly provided,
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however, that this ordinance shall not apply to music machines,
weighing machines and machines which vend cigarettes, candy, ice
cream, beverages and the like upon which there is deposited an
exact consideration, and in which in every case the customer
obtains that which he purchases and in which he is able to predict
in advance exactly what he will obtain for the consideration paid
or deposited by him.
SECTION EIGHT: If any section, subsection, sentence,
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clause or phrase of. this ordinance is for any reason held to
be unconstitutional, the Mayor and Common Council of the City
of San Bernardino hereby declare that it would have passed this
ordinance irrespective of the fact that anyone or more sections,
subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases thereof be declared
unconstitutional.
SECTION NZNE: All ordinances or parts of ordinances in
conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
SECTION TEN: PENALTIES. Any person violating any of
the provisions of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor, and shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine not
exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment
not exceeding six months or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION ELEVEN: This ordinance shall go into effect and
become operative thirty (30) days from the time of its final
passage and its approval by the Mayor and prior thereto shall be
published for three consecutive days, exclusive of holidays, in
the San Bernardino Evening Telegram, a newspaper of general cir-
culation in the City of San Bernardino.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing ordinance was duly
adopted by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of San Ber-
day of
at a AEfNC{.;,A-- meeting thereof held on the
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AYES:
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Approved 8S to form:
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I hereby approve the foregoing ordinance this
,I 1956
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Mayor
City Attorney
FILED
JUIJ G ,::Job
JACK T. FEL,Oi'. \,:;y Clerk
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