Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro has scheduled a news conference today to explain the police seizure Thursday of numerous sweepstakes machines, which were approved for use in bars but are now considered alleged gambling devices.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office would not comment Thursday on why police raided six establishments when the Honolulu Liquor Commission had approved the devices for use in liquor establishments.
Vice officers raided all six locations of Winner’z Zone, a chain of arcades, seizing Products Direct Sweepstakes machines as alleged gambling machines.
A police spokeswoman said she did not think anyone was arrested in connection with the raids.
The manager of the Pearl City location said all the Products Direct Sweepstakes machines were taken, but the arcades remain open for business.
The Winner’z Zone owner did not return calls to the Star-Advertiser.
Matt Matsunaga, attorney for PJY Enterprises, the exclusive Hawaii distributor of the Products Direct Sweepstakes machines, said these are not gambling machines as defined by Hawaii state law and are more like the McDonald’s restaurants’ Monopoly sweepstakes game.
He said the Liquor Commission approved them because it found they were not gambling devices and fail to meet all three legal requirements to be considered gambling: Participants must pay to play; it must be a game of chance; and there must be a payout.
Matsunaga said for a $1 coupon, a player receives 100 entries into the sweepstakes, but anyone can mail in a card and play the sweepstakes for free.
The coupon also provides a discount redeemable on a website where various products can be purchased.
A participant can play poker, keno or some other game and the player can hit an “instant reveal” button for the outcome without playing. Odds of winning are predetermined but the outcomes are not, Matsunaga said.
Matsunaga said sweepstakes winners do win cash, but it’s capped at a certain level.
———
Star-Advertiser reporter Gordon Pang contributed to this report.
———
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said the outcomes of the games on the devices are predetermined. The odds are predetermined, but each outcome is a result of chance.
