A former FBI agent and gambling expert has said that gaming machines seized in Bermuda's waters last year were made for one purpose only - gambling.
"These devices were designed and manufactured for gambling," said William Holmes.
He was giving his expert opinion yesterday in the trial of George Kezas, 71, of Lilly Park, St. George's and Fermin Alfonso Reyes, 29, of Panama City, Panama.
They are charged with importing 100 of the machines on July 24 aboard the pleasure boat 'Niobe Corinthian', which berthed at Marginal Wharf in St. David's where police and Customs swooped to remove them.
Gambling machines are illegal in Bermuda.
Saying the machines worked on chance, as opposed to skill, Mr. Holmes added: "Some features are inherently present in gambling machines, not amusement devices such as 'Pac Man'."
He continued that electronic cards seized in the raid were of the type used only to operate gambling machines and were for the purpose of registering gains and losses on credit.
Mr. Holmes opened in court the four devices that he testified to examining and gave the court a tour of their insides and functions. In each case he identified the features used to attract users, play games, set a casino's take of proceeds, and control credit for payment.
One of the machines, he told magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo, contained an electronic record showing 67 games played and 33 won. He also set about debunking notions that the games can be played by skill, which, arguably, might mean they're not gambling devices because of the control a player would have to exercise over the machine.
Under cross-examination by barrister Kevin Bean, for Mr. Kezas, the consultant agreed that he had not connected the machines to computers at the Queen's Warehouse when he examined them and said that he was unable to operate certain features for lack of the necessary equipment. Almost all the machines were in 'demo' mode, he agreed, and not 'play' mode because they weren't being played at the time.
