Topeka ? Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline is telling bar and club owners to get rid of a certain kind of gambling machine or face prosecution.

Many of the devices have copies of a 1997 attorney general’s opinion taped to them, apparently to convince players the machines are lawful, Kline said.

But according to the attorney general, the machines are the equivalent of electronic slot machines, which are illegal everywhere in Kansas except the four American Indian casinos. And, he said, the legal opinion by former Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall is being misconstrued simply to mislead patrons.

Kline’s office declined to release details about a state investigation into the machines, but said they had been placed “in many establishments across Kansas.”

Riley and Kearney county officials, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Department of Revenue’s Alcoholic Beverage Control division and the Kansas Lottery have been involved in the investigation, he said.

About 60 of the machines have been confiscated in the past two years, according to Peter Bodyk of the Alcoholic Beverage Control division. He said the machines were taken when agents came upon them as part of their normal enforcement of liquor regulations.

Kline said he had notified clubs, restaurants, bars and truck stops, warning them to get rid of the machines or face possible felony and misdemeanor charges.

The machines accept money for pre-paid phone cards that allow for a certain number of minutes of long-distance telephone service, he said. But the machines also offer points on an electronic scoreboard. The patron can wager the points, possibly winning cash, prizes or coupons for merchandise from the establishment, according to the attorney general’s office.

The 1997 opinion by Stovall allowed the use of a machine that issued phone cards and scratch-off tickets. A winning scratch-off ticket could be redeemed for prizes, but the establishment also had to offer free tickets to people who did not buy the phone card.

Kline said such a device was more like a vending machine, while the new machines are gambling devices because they allow people to wager their points for a potential payout.