[VLM]

The situation is crazier yet more logical than it appears.

How do you prove someone once showed you a fake ID? Well, back in the $1 per shot polaroid / kodak instamatic era, you didn't. So the fake ID owner got away with it and bar owner got punished, which is the only reason bars cared about carefully checking fake IDs.

Now with a machine the bar has a fighting chance in court, the police verbally claim the bar served an underage patron, and the police provide a person residing in the city who is underage, but there is nothing in common between those two people, your honor here is a copy of the patron's license clearly showing he's 22 at that time and there's no legal record of my patron ever having been charged with a fake ID infraction and my patron is not the same person as the supposed police witness, so, your honor I request you dismiss the case K thx bye.

There is also the 3rd party to blame, if a bouncer knows some punk who gets drunk and starts fights, oh so sorry your ID failed the scan, now go away. "No point arguing with me, buddy, you need a better fake ID, yell at the guy who sold it to you".

[moftz]

A lot of bars in my college town are starting to require two forms of ID before they let you in. One must be a driver's license but the other can be your student ID card or a credit card. I'm sure it would be easy to fake our student ID cards but for the most part, this rule works well. Some bars are known for letting in minors. Their bouncers are inexperienced or just don't care. Every now and then those bars get a fine and they put someone experienced out front and give them a UV flashlight. That guy will collect enough fake IDs until the bar isn't making enough money so they will bring the first bouncers out and rake in more money from the underaged patrons until they get another fine.

I've seen people get let in using the worst fake IDs I've ever seen and I've seen people rejected using real IDs. It all depends on the bouncer's experience and how much the bar owner cares about not letting in underaged people.