Photo courtesy of Price City Police Department
PRICE, Utah — The owner of a business in Price may be in trouble with the law after agents seized 14 slot machines, hours after a new law went into effect essentially closing a potential loophole in the enforcement of the state’s no gambling law. On Wednesday, agents from the Carbon Metro Drug Task Force and officers from the Price City Police Department raided the Castle Country Hobby and Pawn and Laundromat where the slot machines and 3 coin pusher machines were confiscated.
The business, owned by Price resident Marty S. Robbins, was at the center of an investigation spanning many months, according to a press notice released on Wednesday. The release says owners of places of businesses that were in possession of gambling machines were warned of the new law, and that machines at the Price location were plugged in and appeared to be fully functional. However, police found the machines with “out of order” notices taped to the screens. The machines and an undisclosed amount of cash from some of the machines were seized.
The Carbon County Attorney’s Office will review police reports to determine what charges are appropriate to file. Gambling or possessing a gambling device is a Class B misdemeanor for a first offense.