Back in fall of 2005 – the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Vice Squad raided and closed a game room that was operating slot machines. The room was supposedly allowing the customers to play these glorified slot machines for tickets – and then they could change the tickets in for cash. This, by definition, is considered a slot machine. The game room owner is taking them to court, as they claim that the machines are games of skill – not of chance that that is the difference between their games and those of the slot machine genre. 

The suit is still waiting for the courts to decide, but in the meantime, another twenty or so rooms have opened. They are gambling that the courts will find their version of the slot machines legal, and thus will be able to keep operating. Suzanne Jenkins, Jacksonville City Councilwoman, is opposed to the slot machines, no matter what you call them. "During the time that we're waiting for the court case to go through, they've continued to open these. Banking on that even if they don't get the judgment they want which is to be legal, during that time they're making a lot of money," said Jenkins.

She says that just because you are calling them a game of skill instead of chance, that it is still illegal – and slot machine and all gambling is illegal in their county. 

The owners of the slot machines say that it just isn’t true. That the more you play, the better you get at the games, and if they were just slot machines that would not be true. They also say that they don’t give out cash, they give out VISA cards that people can use however they want. Jenkins and other opponents say that is just semantics.

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