And now the Miami New Times picks up our Maquinita story...

Newspapers...

Yesterday we talked about the Miami Herald breifly mentioning the "maquinita" story in one of their articles from last week and now the Miami New Times picks up our coverage of the maquinitas.  Our friend Francisco Alvarado went one step further than we did with regards to the expert witness report and analysis of the maquinitas in police custody, he actually reached out to the expert witness, D. Robert Sertell, and gave him a call regarding the report.  From the article...

You know those gambling maquinitas in convenience stores around Miami, Hialeah, Opa-locka, and Miami Gardens? Turns out Miguel Exposito was right and then some about the racket. Last year, Miami's then-police chief fell out of favor with Mayor Tomás Regalado when cops confiscated 105 "video amusement" machines from dozens of markets, cafeterias, and laundromats.
Exposito said the devices were being used for illegal gambling purposes. When Regalado allegedly tried to stop the raids, the top cop reported the mayor to the FBI for meddling in a criminal investigation. Eventually, Exposito was forced out. But three months before the chief's departure, a gambling machine expert hired by the Miami city attorney's office concluded the seizedmaquinitas were indeed for gambling purposes.
What's more, D. Robert Sertell -- a former slot machine mechanic for an Atlantic City casino -- found that many of them were rigged to make sure the user always lost. Sertell's findings were never made public until recently.
After reading about it on Mike Hatami's blog the Strawbuyer, Banana Republican contacted the gambling expert. Sertell said he spent three days in June 2011 analyzing the machines seized by Miami police officers. "They were designed and manufactured specifically for the purpose of gambling," he said. "It's a slam dunk."
Furthermore, Sertell continued, most of the maquinitas were designed to cheat the customer. He explained that the confiscated machines would not be allowed inside establishments where gambling is legal in Florida. He should know. He has inspected gambling machines for 15 years and has a contract with the state to keep an eye on slots.
If the maquinitas held by Miami police were in a casino, Sertell said, they "would get immediately shut down and whoever was responsible for them would be subject to punitive action."
Even though he was paid $5,221 by the city, no one asked him to provide a written report, Sertell said. He typed one up only after a former Miami police official recently requested a copy. He declined to name the official. (Hatami tells Banana Republican he obtained his copy from a concerned private citizen.)
However, the city might still call on Sertell to give testimony in an ongoing lawsuit filed by the owners of the maquinitas who want their machines back.
Regalado and City Attorney Julie Bru did not reply to four phone messages seeking comment. Ricardo Merida, the lawyer for the maquinitas owners, declined to comment because he had not read Sertell's report.
However, one of their clients, Miguel Gonzalez, scoffed at Sertell's assertions. "He doesn't know what he's talking about," said Gonzalez, who lost ten machines in the raid. "I'm just a hard worker trying to make a living for my family."

Nice!  Isn't it amazing that no matter who the machines are taken from, their line is always something along the lines of "I'm just a hard worker trying to make a living" or "We are not breaking the law, we are just providing entertainment for people who choose to eat a meal here", yet these are the same characters that'll brag about how much money they take in every week from these same machines that they know are rigged to screw the players.  Whatever.  At the very least we know that there's more people paying attention to this somewhat forgotten maquinita story now.

I'm going to attend an important court hearing this afternoon regarding former City of Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito and his termination from his post as police chief by the City of Miami commission last year. I'll update early this evening with the results.

The Herald kind of covers part of the maquinita story...

I was reading through the Herald the other day when I came across this article regarding former City of Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito...

Former Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito’s case to be heard in court
By David Ovalle
dovalle@MiamiHerald.comOusted Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito, seeking to get his job back, will get his day in court Thursday.
A panel of three Miami-Dade circuit judges will hear Exposito’s argument that the Miami City Commission wrongly fired him in September.
During his tenure, Exposito picked very public battles with elected officials and Mayor Tomás Regalado, whom he accused of being in bed with owners of video gaming machines that his department had targeted for seizure.
In March, three judges denied a move by city attorneys to throw out the appeal because Exposito had been scheduled to retire anyway when he was terminated.
Despite his ouster, Exposito, former Maj. Al Alvarez and Exposito’s personal attorney Ruben Chavez sat in on a civil hearing last week between the city and the video machine owners.
The owners have sued the city seeking return of more than 100 machines seized by Exposito’s police officers. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Diane Ward refused to throw out the suit, and now an evidentiary hearing will be scheduled.

In the article Mr. Ovalle briefly mentions a hearing that I attended for a case filed by the maquinita owners in order to get a hundred or so machines back that are in police custody.

Despite his ouster, Exposito, former Maj. Al Alvarez and Exposito’s personal attorney Ruben Chavez sat in on a civil hearing last week between the city and the video machine owners.
The owners have sued the city seeking return of more than 100 machines seized by Exposito’s police officers. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Diane Ward refused to throw out the suit, and now an evidentiary hearing will be scheduled.

It was at this hearing that I finally got a chance to speak to the city attorney who's assigned to this case, George Wysong, about the city not paying the expert witness they had hired in order to examine the machines that they had in custody.  Mr. Wysong's explanation was that he wasn't going to rely on the expert testimony to win the case but instead was relying on a series of laws that basically stated that since the machines were contraband, the city had no obligation to return them to their owners.  He quoted case law from the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church case where the police had seized the followers marijuana and then didn't return it after the church members sued for replevin, once again the theory is that since the marijuana was illegal, the police couldn't return it to its owners.  


Mr. Wysong's theory kind of makes sense in this instance but Judge Diane Ward wanted more, essentially she wanted an expert to determine whether or not the machines in custody were illegal and therefore asked both sides, the maquinita owners and the City of Miami to hire experts to determine whether or not the machines in custody are indeed illegal.  That brings us back to the expert witness report that the city wouldn't pay for, perhaps if the city was armed with the report for this hearing, Judge Ward would have gone ahead and thrown out the maquinita owners replevin lawsuit.  No big deal I guess, the expert that the City of Miami had hired has already examined the one hundred and four machines in question, now it's up to the maquinita owners to hire an expert to examine the machines in custody.  Considering that each of these machines is worth anywhere from three to five thousand dollars, I doubt the owners will walk away from several hundred thousand dollars worth of gaming equipment, legal or not, now it becomes a case of expert witness vs. expert witness and to see who makes a more compelling argument as to the legality of these machines.


The funniest part of this whole encounter?  I asked City of Miami attorney George Wysong whether or not the city was going to pay the expert now for his report to which he responded...

"why when I can download it from your website for free?"

I have to hand it to Mr. Wysong, that was some funny shit!

The expert analysis of the maquinitas...

Now that we've had a chance to look over the expert witness's analysis of the illegal gaming machines (AKA maquinitas) that were seized by the City of Miami PD in the maquinita raids under then police chief Miguel Exposito's reign, what conclusions can we draw?  The expert witness, D. Robert Sertell, examined all the different types and brands of machines and came to similar conclusions for the different machines.  Through various types of analysis, whether through video analysis, physical analysis of the machines electronics, photo analysis, or analysis of the algorithms that the machine runs on, without a doubt the findings were the same, take this excerpt from the report for example...

As the string of icons spins in front of the player, the pressing of the skill stop button causes the last icon to morph, or change into a different symbol than the one which is supposed to be displayed.  This morphing permits the machine's computer to defeat any attempt at skill, and to deliver an outcome that was chosen in advance by the computer.  Not only is this machine designed and manufactured specifically for the purpose of gambling; it is also designed to cheat the customer.

So not only are these machines designed "specifically for the purposes of gambling" but they're also designed to fuck the poor guy that's dumping his money into them!  Say what you want about casino's but at least legal gambling machines are highly regulated and are designed to be at least somewhat fair to the player, with the maquinitas it's all about fucking the customer as the owner of the machines can adjust how often the machines allow the player to win!  Again, from the report...

Because of its newer design, Golden Treasure Island employs an on-screen menu by which the operator can set the payout percentage.  The manual describes a procedure whereby the operator must first enter the password and then proceed to a menu screen called "SETUP".  Once within that setup screen, the manual shows the operator how to enter the "WIN RATE" mode.  The Win Rate screen permits the operator to select from among 6 different percentage choices.  This is the equivalent of having the operator utilize a dip switch for this purpose; simply a more modern technique.  The existence of such an arrangement, generally called reflexive percentaging, whereby the operator may command the computer to deliver a specific payout percentage to the customer, and may change it by simply flipping some switch levers, or by making an on screen menu selection, is proof that the game's outcome is determined by the computer, and that skill plays NO ROLE in whether the player wins or loses.  

OK, I think we've already established that the machines are a joke and that they're designed to fuck the people playing them, but here's where it gets better...

In a legal gambling jurisdiction, such as Nevada, New Jersey, or Mississippi, the discovery of a reflexive percentaging scheme in an acknowledged slot machine, would cause Gaming Inspectors to turn that machine off immediately, and would result in fines and disciplinary action for the casino responsible.

LOL WTF!  How do you like them apples!  Even if the "maquinita" in question were in a legal casino, because of the way they are designed, THEY WOULD STILL BE ILLEGAL!

And the final nail in the coffin...

The three elements of gambling are present in these machines.  I believe that each of these machines is a gambling device because (A) consideration is present in that the customer is required to pay something in order to play the game; (B) chance is present in that the customer is not able to actually predict or control the outcome of the game, the outcome of these games is determined overwhelmingly by chance; and (C) reward is present in that the customer may become entitled to receive something of value as a result of the outcome of the game.

So what have we learned from this report?  We now have an expert that confirms that the maquinitas are nothing more than slot machines (DUH) and the icing on the cake?  Even if these maquinitas were in a legal casino, because of the way the operator can manipulate the payouts, THEY'RE STILL FUCKING ILLEGAL!  So what happened to City of Miami mayor Tomas Regalado's assertions that these machines were for amusement purposes only?  We now know in fact that they're nothing more than illegal gaming machines whose sole purpose is to fuck the poor folks who play them and to line the pockets of the owners with tax free cash.

What's most upsetting about this mess is that the tax payers are still footing the bill for defending the city against the lawsuits brought forth by the machine owners and that we're still paying for storing the confiscated machines while the litigation is ongoing.  To add insult to injury, there hasn't been a single high level arrest regarding these machines, it seems to me everyone arrested to date has been a lowly store clerk or store owner that's gotten away with a slap on the wrist, add to that the way the powers that be at the city attorney's office tried to hide this report by not paying for it and you have taste of the shit sandwich that the Regalado administration is trying to shove down the taxpayers throat.

Maquinitas, games of skill or games of chance?

If you believe the shit the City of Miami feeds us, then the gaming machines at the center of the shit ultimately ended with the firing of the city's police chief, are nothing more than games that the players can win based on their "skills" and are therefore perfectly legal.


Last time we left off with talking about the expert witness's report regarding these gaming machines and how the current powers that be over at the City of Miami did whatever they could to keep the expert's report from ever seeing the light of day.  As we mentioned, a private citizen dug into their own pocket, paid for the report then sent it over to us.  Now, before we look at the report, remember that according to Florida statute 849.16:

(1)  Any machine or device is a slot machine or device within the provisions of this chapter if it is one that is adapted for use in such a way that, as a result of the insertion of any piece of money, coin, or other object, such machine or device is caused to operate or may be operated and if the user, by reason of any element of chance or of any other outcome of such operation unpredictable by him or her, may:
(a)  Receive or become entitled to receive any piece of money, credit, allowance, or thing of value, or any check, slug, token, or memorandum, whether of value or otherwise, which may be exchanged for any money, credit, allowance, or thing of value or which may be given in trade; or
(b)  Secure additional chances or rights to use such machine, apparatus, or device, even though it may, in addition to any element of chance or unpredictable outcome of such operation, also sell, deliver, or present some merchandise, indication of weight, entertainment, or other thing of value.

So what it comes down to is very simple, is the games outcome determined by the computer or is the outcome determined by the "skills" of the player?  Take a look at the report and see what the expert says...
Maquinita Expert Report by Bob Sertell

Anyone surprised by what the expert found?  We'll discuss the details of this report in depth next time...