{"id":74778,"date":"2018-04-08T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=74778"},"modified":"2018-04-07T10:30:13","modified_gmt":"2018-04-07T17:30:13","slug":"denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Skill Games Arcade Police Raid Lands Colorado Industry President in Slammer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are skill games harmless, or are they gambling, simply camouflaged?\u00a0That\u2019s the question being posed in the wake of police raids which landed a Denver, Colorado<\/a> resident Tammy Garamova in jail, accused of involvement in an illegal gambling operation.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cGame
Are “game of skill” parlors that host arcade games that award cash prizes illegal? Colorado Skill Games and Entertainment Association President Tammy Garamova argues not, but cops arrested her anyway. (Image : CBS Denver)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Garamova is the president of the newly formed Colorado Skill Games and Entertainment Association (CSGEA). She also owns three \u201cgame of skill\u201d parlors which were recently raided by Denver police. Her cash and equipment seized, Garamova was then arrested and spent five days in jail, according to Denver\u2019s 9 News.<\/p>\n

She says the \u201cadult arcade\u201d games she operates are no different from those at Chuck E. Cheese, but Denver police disagree, and now she\u2019s also facing potential felony charges.<\/p>\n

‘Most Miserable Experience of My Life’<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Needless to say, it wasn’t Garamova’s best week.<\/p>\n

“Well, of course, I’m frightened,” said Garamova. “I’m frightened for my children. I’m frightened for my family. I can’t believe that this is happening,\u201d the industry association leader told media.<\/span><\/p>\n

Denver police raided two other similar arcades in October of last year. One of those cases has already gone to court and been thrown out. Garamova asserts that\u2019s because these parlors aren\u2019t actually doing anything illegal. The only distinction between their model and Chuck E. Cheese\u2019s, she argues, is that players get cash prizes instead of toys for winning.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s convinced that arcades like hers are exempt from gambling laws, citing state statutes concerning contests of skill, speed, strength, and endurance. Her view is that players can control the outcome of the game to a certain degree, just as in fantasy sports, which was made legal in Colorado in 2016.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Better players are going to make more money, and that makes it a skill game<\/a>, not gambling, says Garamova.<\/p>\n

According to the local Denver CBS affiliate, at least one of her colleagues believes the police raids amount to a shakedown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this as an effort to do the bidding of big casinos and shut down these small businesses by being bullies, even though the businesses are perfectly legal, said Chris Howes, CSGEA’s executive director.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Are Adult Arcades Illegal or Not?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Garamova argues that if what she was doing was really illegal, then Colorado lawmakers wouldn\u2019t be pursuing House Bill 1234. She has publicly testified against the new bill, which intends to clarify that arcade games with cash payouts are indeed illegal in the state. It\u2019s a bold-faced contradiction, according to the accused.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we trying to create a new law if the games are already illegal? Those ideas are conflicting,\u201d asks Garamova.<\/p>\n

\n

Of the eight other similar raids in the state, none have been successfully prosecuted. In one 2016 case, the judge found that the laws being used to prosecute were \u201cunconstitutionally vague.\u201d Yet despite the lack of convictions, none of the business owners have had their cash and equipment returned.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Until House Bill 1234 bill is passed, Garamova says she and her fellow arcade operators should get their assets back. So far, there\u2019s no indication of that happening.<\/p>\n

And while three people were arrested in last week\u2019s raids, no formal charges have been made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are skill games harmless, or are they gambling, simply camouflaged?\u00a0That\u2019s the question being posed in the wake of police raids which landed a Denver, Colorado resident Tammy Garamova in jail, accused of involvement in an illegal gambling operation. Garamova is the president of the newly formed Colorado Skill Games and Entertainment Association (CSGEA). She also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":74781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60,13,61,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDenver Skill Games Arcade Raid Lands Colorado Industry President in Jail<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The legality of game of skill games arcades is under the microscope in Colorado after another round of police raids put the woman who heads up the state's skill games group in jail.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Denver Skill Games Arcade Raid Lands Colorado Industry President in Jail\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The legality of game of skill games arcades is under the microscope in Colorado after another round of police raids put the woman who heads up the state's skill games group in jail.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-08T16:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-07T17:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_1394-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/\",\"name\":\"Denver Skill Games Arcade Raid Lands Colorado Industry President in Jail\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_1394-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-08T16:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-07T17:30:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The legality of game of skill games arcades is under the microscope in Colorado after another round of police raids put the woman who heads up the state's skill games group in jail.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-skill-games-arcade-raid-lands-colorado-industry-president-in-jail\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_1394-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_1394-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"Are arcade games that award cash prizes illegal? 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