Gaming machine ruling next week

A two-hour court hearing has ended in Walhalla, with a promise by the judge to decide the fate of Palmetto Skills machines seized this year in Oconee County. Not only does Magistrate Blake Norton have direct testimony to review, but a lengthy written case file that includes briefs by the South Carolina Attorney General and an attorney, representing the owners of machines. The owners of those machines want them back. The SCAG wants a ruling that the machines should be destroyed because they violate the state’s gambling laws. The machine owners’ contend they are machines that players are required to use skill to win, not chance.