Gambling with the law

Every few seconds, the woman clicks a button on the video gaming machine. Each push costs her $2.25 but offers chances to win up to $599. She pauses only long enough to see if she hit a jackpot before pushing the button again. She easily gambles $10 to $20 a minute.

The woman and others playing machines around her are not in a casino. They are in Utah, even though the state supposedly bans all gambling. On a lazy Wednesday afternoon, they are playing video bingo at the Riverdale Dinner and Bingo Club in Weber County. Similar bingo halls operate up and down the Wasatch Front.

It may look much like illegal slot machine gambling, but employees say legal loopholes allow it. They say the video bingo is free — so it isn't gambling — but they charge for snacks that come with "credits" to allow playing the electronic bingo. It is possible to pay hundreds of dollars for snacks and soft drinks to wager with the accompanying credits, and to cash out winnings.

Prosecutors and police statewide say they are looking closer at such bingo halls — and at poker clubs and at bars with video poker machines. They vowed at a press conference in April to crack down on any illegal gambling at such places.

Last week West Valley City charged the owner of a bingo hall with illegal gambling and is seeking to revoke his business license. The Utah Highway Patrol also seized video poker machines at three bars in Sanpete County this month and charged three people with offering illegal gambling. Some poker clubs have been pushed out of business recently, too.

Still, some police and prosecutors say Utah's gaming laws are murky, and they hesitate to charge gaming operations.

Here is a look at some of the organized types of wagering in Utah that take advantage of possible legal loopholes — or lack of law enforcement — to operate:

BINGO

How it works

It is a Friday night at the Southgate Social Club in Salt Lake County's Millcreek area. About 100 people sit quietly daubing ink on bingo cards as numbers are called. A hostess (and posted signs) say the bingo is free. But patrons pay $25 for a dinner — tonight that is a sausage on a roll with a side of potatoes — that likely would have cost only $2 or $3 elsewhere.

For that $25, they also receive a packet of bingo cards, with different cards for each scheduled game. Some buy more dinners for more packets and therefore more chances at winning. Some special games at the beginning and end of the night cost extra, a hostess says.