Al’s Phone Card Sales Sues Jefferson County

Allen Owen has filed a suit against Jefferson County that claims the city has gone above and beyond what is their legal right to do. He is fighting to keep his slot machines in his store, as the ordinance that the City Council just passed makes it illegal for him to do so. The police are planning on seizing the slot machines at his place of business, so he has filed a temporary restraining order to hold them off until he has finished with his court case.

Owen operated Al’s Phone Card Sales up until the city made what he does illegal. People would come in to buy a phone card for $5. They then took this card and put it into a machine very much like a slot machine, to see if they had won. Each card had 500 sweepstakes chances on it. They then were able to see if they had won money or more phone minutes. The City Council determined this was a type of gambling and outlawed them.

A Jefferson County circuit judge said that since there is no chance involved and that the cards were programmed before the person bought them, that that they were legal.

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