Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman on Wednesday sent legal guidance to Kentucky prosecutors and law enforcement clarifying the illegality of certain gambling devices, including both gray machines and so-called “risk-free play” games.
The guidance was sent to police chiefs, sheriffs and commonwealth’s and county attorneys and stated that gray machines “are illegal gambling devices that have no place in Kentucky.”
“Along with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners across Kentucky, we will uphold the law as passed by our commonwealth’s policymakers in the General Assembly,” Coleman said.
In 2023, the General Assembly passed HB 594, sponsored by Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Nicholasville, and House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, that outlaws gray machines.
Following a legal challenge, the Franklin Circuit Court ruled in favor of the attorney general and, in June 2024, upheld the General Assembly’s ban.
“You and your office are free to investigate and prosecute any violations of the Commonwealth’s gambling laws, including the laws related to ‘gray machines,’” the advisory to law enforcement and prosecutors reads. “[W]e are prepared to provide whatever assistance your office may need if your investigation or prosecution of illegal ‘gray machines’ is challenged in court or results in additional constitutional challenges to the law or litigation against your office.”
Read the attorney general’s advisory.
(Photo: Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
