PINBALL MACHINES RECEIVE SPECIAL TREATMENT FROM POLICE, 1959

A clamp down on pinball machine operators was in full swing in Eastern Ontario in the spring of 1959. Twenty machines were seized with nine of them being confiscated. The purge started after several complaints about illegal gaming houses. Five electric pinball machines, estimated at a value of $4,000 were burnt at the Perth and Almonte dumps under the supervision of the Perth OPP detachment. Over $233 in nickels were removed from the coin boxes prior to the machines being smashed and burnt. In charge of the clamp-down was Constable D. Pierce an Corp. L. Gartner of the OPP Perth detachment. For the machines to be destroyed, thirty-one days had to elapse after an operator was convicted. The forfeited money was sent to the local magistrate who in turn would forward the money to the provincial treasure. Photo shows an O.P.P. constable smashing a pinball machine at the dump.