As the debate over gambling continues in the state Legislature, a video by Gov. Bob Riley is providing churches a way to educate their members on current laws regarding electronic bingo gambling machines.
The five-minute video features the governor addressing the “plague” of electronic bingo gambling halls across Alabama. These “so-called electronic bingo machines” are nothing more than slot machines and Alabama law is “crystal clear” on the legality of slot machines, Riley said.
“In 2006, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that a slot machine is illegal in Alabama, no matter what it is called. Machines that look like, sound like and attract the same class of customers as conventional slot machines … are illegal in Alabama,” Riley said.
Joe Bob Mizzell, director of the office of Christian ethics and chaplaincy ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said the video was initiated by the governor to educate Alabamians on illegal gambling and the efforts of the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling, which was created in December 2008 to investigate what is happening with electronic bingo gambling across the state.
Mizzell’s office made 1,500 copies of the video in the form of a DVD and sent them out across the state. Large churches received copies, and each Alabama Baptist association received four copies to share with its smaller churches. The video is also available online at www.thealabamabaptist.org. (Go to the Anti-Gambling Resource Center icon in the lower left corner and click on the link “Alabama Governor Bob Riley speaks out against electronic bingo machines.”)
Churches can use the video anyway they want, Mizzell said. The idea is to help people understand what the governor is doing and why they should be opposed to the effort to expand gambling in the state.
James Sampley, pastor of First Baptist Church, Ashville, in St. Clair Baptist Association, said he used the video to prepare for the March 17 circuit court hearing about electronic bingo gambling in St. Clair County. He also used the information in Wednesday night prayer services at his church and passed copies of the video to other ministers in the county.
“The information in the video was invaluable to me in helping present the facts to the people,” Sampley said. “I am deeply appreciative to Gov. Riley for the stand he is taking.”
Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, said he, too, is grateful Alabama has a governor who is willing to stand on his convictions against gambling in the state. The video is one way to combat the millions of dollars gambling supporters are pouring into the state, he said.
“We can’t afford the television ads and direct-mail pieces the other side is putting out,” Godfrey said. “This video gives us something we can share and get our word out.”
Godfrey hopes churches will use the video during announcements before or after worship services or at other times when a lot of people are gathered. He said churches that fear a church-state conflict should not be concerned. “This is a moral issue, and it is time churches and pastors took a stand,” he said. “This is spiritual warfare at an intensified level like we’ve never seen in this state before.”
To obtain a copy of the DVD, contact your local associational office or call Mizzell at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 267.
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