The latter. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, who’s not averse to friendly wagers on 'Bama football games, has made an issue of shutting down the state’s charitable laws. Because of a quirk in Alabama’s constitution, the halls are legal in some counties, verboten in others. He has been trying to leverage the 2009 shutdown of a White Hall, Ala., bingo hall into a statewide fatwa on all facilities that offer electronic bingo.
In his Jan. 12 State of the State speech, Riley denounced electronic bingo machines as slot machines. Just days earlier, he had massed a strike force of lawmen on the border of Houston County, poised to attack at dawn the 1,700-machine Country Crossing bingo parlor. A court order, issued in the wee hours of the morning, staved off Riley’s raid. "This is not China or Russia where dictators declare something illegal one day and close the book on the case and we will not be bullied or strong-armed by anyone, up to and including the Governor," read a statement issued by Country Crossing.
"Electronic bingo machines resemble slot machines with their flashing lights and rapid play. Operators … say they are legal under Alabama's bingo laws because they compete against each other like players using paper bingo," reports ABC News.
"The bingo machines ... from the outside and to the player, are indistinguishable from slot machines played in Las Vegas and Biloxi casinos. Only an electronic bingo card displayed on a small portion of the screen shows any outward difference," elaborated The Birmingham News. "Bingo operators argue the difference is inside, and the machines are connected by servers allowing the players to play rapid-fire games of bingo against each other."
Law-enforcement officials hold that the machines, which they evidently played whilst undercover, do not meet all six criteria set forth by the Alabama Supreme Court to qualify as "bingo." (A good explanation of Alabama’s patchwork regulatory system – and Riley’s ethically questionable attempts to influence court rulings – can be found here.)
Riley also likes to cite a ruling that recently tossed e-bingo from Walker County. In that case, the judge wrote, "To simply drop money in an electronic machine, push a button to start a game, and passively stare at the machine for six seconds to see if you’ve won anything is not 'the game commonly known as bingo' ... Unlike traditional bingo, where players can see, hear and socialize with the other players, electronic bingo appears to be a much more solitary endeavor. A player does not know against whom he’s playing, focusing his attention on the video screen before him."
In Jefferson County, a judge went so far as to order the destruction of e-bingo machines, a tableau straight out of Walking Tall (the Joe Don Baker version). Alabama officials have even tried to interdict the shipment of bingo machines through the state, going so far as to call the Nevada Gaming Commission and threaten Silver State slot makers with charges of lawbreaking. The NGC sided with the bingo parlors.
But while Walker County, for instance, has a constitution that defines bingo as a game played on paper, Houston County – home of Country Crossing – does not. In other counties, e-bingo is allowed to countinue ... provided that is directly operated by the charity (like the VFW) it benefits, not farmed out to a third-party operator.
For all the gubernatorial opposition, e-bingo is unquestionably a growth industry in Alabama. VictoryLand, in Macon County, boasts America’s sixth-largest gaming floor. Its 6,400 machines are far more than any casino in Atlantic City and it just opened a 300-room hotel, The Oasis, where rooms start at $129/night.
Given this boom, Alabama legislators are getting onto the legalize-and-tax bandwagon. "Let’s understand that any scheme that will legalize slot machines under the pretext of generating new revenue is the biggest hustle in Alabama’s history," Riley huffed.
However, candidates to succeed him disagree, whether they’re on the left (Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks) or the right (Republican aspirant Bill Johnson). But should Judge Roy "Ten Commandments" Moore, the controversial and moralistic former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court (removed from office for violating judicial ethics), be elected Riley’s successor, expect this jihad against the evils of bingo to continue.
This just in ... On Jan. 20, the Tourism & Travel Committee of the Alabama House is scheduled to hold a hearing on proposed legislation that would clarify Country Crossing and Victoryland’s status. It would legalize any form of gambling that is also played on the state’s Native American reservations. Gov. Riley maintains that the machines are unconstitutional, period, and that the bill would have no effect. House GOP members are expected also to oppose it, but they’re in the minority.
Ironically, the proposed law is an inversion of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which mandates that states must permit Indian tribes any type of gambling that is available outside reservation lines. The Alabama bill’s sponsor intends to follow up by proposing a constitutional amendment to establish a state-level gambling commission, authorize gambling machines at specific locations and tax the proceeds. In these economically straitened times, that’s a formula states are finding more and more difficult to resist.
