'Cowboy Ron' and wife, Eila, testify in support of bill to legalize trade in antique gambling devices

Wearing buckskins and boots, "Cowboy" Ron Turner and his wife, Eila, told a Montana House committee why they think changes are due to a state law that allowed the Montana Gambling Division to confiscate antique gambling devices from their Whitefish store in January.

Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, sponsored a bill protect those who trade in antique gambling equipment. Jackson said that the Turners, along with their daughter and son-in-law, were highly effective.

"They did such a great job of speaking from the heart, I'm just really happy that they came over. They did a lot better than a couple of bureaucrats standing up there," Jackson said, referring to Gambling Division Administrator Gene Huntington, who is proposing amendments to the bill to make the state law even more restrictive.

In testifying before the House Business and Labor Committee, Jackson said, Ron Turner respectfully removed his broad-brimmed white cowboy hat and asked why anything in an antique business would have a connection with the gambling control division.

Eila Turner recounted for the committee what happened when agents entered their store, the Cowboy Cabin, on Jan. 31, confiscating several valuable antique gambling devices, including two roulette wheels, two 20th century punchboards, and a chuck-a-luck, a spinning cage with dice inside.

She told the committee "how traumatic it was to see these people come in and take their merchandise, without her knowing why and what she did wrong," Jackson said.

Jackson's Senate Bill 540 would amend the law and make it legal for a person to possess and display antique gambling devices more than 25 years old, and the person could sell as many as three such devices during a 12-month period without being licensed by the state.

He said Huntington proposes an amendment to SB 540 that would require owners of such devices to buy licenses - valid for three years - and would allow them to sell as many antique gambling devices as they want.

Jackson said he and the Turners have the same philosophical problem with Huntington's proposal.

"They don't want to come under the control of the Division of Gambling because they aren't involved in any gambling," Jackson said.

"I concluded my testimony by saying this is not about gambling," he said. "It's about antiques and restoring a little bit of freedom that's been taken away from us."

The state of Montana should be more trusting that the government doesn't need to be policing such people as the Turners, he added.

"If everybody has to get a license, this is not where we started," Jackson said. "The license would be more restrictive than it was when I introduced my bill."

The Montana Tavern Association also testified in support of Huntington's amendments. Jackson said Huntington and his backers referred to a federal law that prohibits transporting gambling equipment across state lines and presented his amendments as an "effort to protect the people who are buying these items by regulating them."

The committee likely will take action on the bill and proposed amendments by Friday. The bill passed the Senate on a 45-5 vote.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at [email protected]