FRANKFORT, KY – Attorney General Russell Coleman has 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.
To protect families in the Commonwealth and to uphold the law enacted by the General Assembly, General Coleman also sent the advisory to Kentucky chiefs of police, sheriffs and Commonwealth's and County Attorneys.
"The law is clear – gray machines and other games like them are illegal gambling devices that have no place in Kentucky," said Attorney General Coleman. "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."
In 2023, the General Assembly passed HB 594, sponsored by Representative Killian Timoney (R- Nicholasville) and House Speaker David Osborne (R- Prospect), to outlaw gray machines. Following a legal challenge, the Franklin Circuit Court ruled in favor of the Attorney General and upheld the General Assembly's ban in June of 2024. The Attorney General's Office continues to vigorously defend the law on appeal.
"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."
More than 500 of the new "risk-free play" gambling devices have appeared throughout the Commonwealth. The Attorney General's Advisory references Kentucky Supreme Court precedent to conclude these games' "element of chance" makes them clearly illegal under the law.
Read the Attorney General's Advisory.
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