A bid to have gambling machines which were returned to a Front Street bar earlier this week brought back into custody of Police and Customs failed yesterday as hearings on gaming began in Supreme Court.

Lawyers from the Attorney General's Chambers appeared before Supreme Court Assistance Justice Archibald Warner in an attempt to regain possession of the machines which were confiscated from the The Beach bar two weeks ago but returned earlier this week.

The hearings were closed to the public, but lawyer Mark Pettingill - who is representing The Beach as well as a number of other establishments which operate the gambling machines - said the AG's bid had failed.

"The Beach will keep their machines," he said.

But hearings on the matter will continue next week and should it be determined that the gambling machines were improperly seized, Government may face lawsuits from a number of owners seeking to recoup hundreds of thousands in lost revenue, Mr. Pettingill said.

Hundreds of gambling machines were confiscated from establishments across the Island in a joint Customs and Police operation intended to crackdown on illegal parts which Customs believes the gambling houses may have been bringing into the Country illegally to keep the machines up in running.

When the machines were originally confiscated, Acting Collector of Customs Larry Conn told The Royal Gazette his department had noticed a number of consignments of spare parts being brought into the Island over the past year, which had been declared for use in video machines.

The suspicion is that the parts have been used in the gambling machines to keep them operational beyond the time frame in which Government sought to free the Island of them when it passed legislation prohibiting the importation of spare parts beyond 2001 and the machines altogether in 2004.

Owners were allowed to keep and operate machines brought to the Island before the legislation with the intention the units would eventually breakdown and become defunct.

But, according to Mr. Pettingill, the warrants executed under the Revenue Act 1898 in connection with gaming machines may have been unlawful.

He said the machines seized were all imported lawfully and the owners paid duty on the machines at that time.

And he said documents, personal computers and money which was also taken from many establishments should never have been touched.

The Supreme Court will consider this argument next week as hearings continue before Mr. Justice Warner.

Meanwhile, a number of other gambling establishments are hoping to successful mimic the legal action taken by The Beach in order to have their machines returned as soon as possible.

Fourteen machines were returned to The Beach early this week after Mr. Pettingill succeeded in obtaining an order for their return from Justice Warner on the grounds the seizure may have been illegal.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will consider similar applications from Mr. Pettingill for four other establishments which operate the machines.

"The Beach just got to the court first," Mr. Pettingill said.

And next Thursday the court is expected to determine whether the seizures were in fact illegally carried out.

If successful on behalf of his clients, Mr. Pettingill said he would expect all the machines to be returned and operational within the next ten days.