Hold on to your wallets, Argo residents. Town Council members recently passed an ordinance allowing 24/7 electronic bingo gambling.
The 4–2 vote occurred just one day after council members appointed Herschel Phillips to the seat vacated by Jamey Curlee, one of three council members who fought to keep Argo bingo-free.
“This has been the most controversial issue in the history of Argo,” Mayor Paul Jennings said. “I see no other alternative. … We have made no major headway to alleviate the financial problems. … I know if this doesn’t work, the blame will be placed on me.”
After residents voted against allowing electronic bingo gambling in a nonbinding referendum April 21, Jennings said he would not continue pursuing it as a solution to the town’s money woes. But when rumors surfaced about bingo operators establishing facilities without the town’s approval, Councilman Steve Medori requested Jennings produce an ordinance limiting and restricting electronic bingo gambling.
However, when Jennings presented his ordinance June 1 at the regularly scheduled town hall meeting, Medori quickly said it was not what he had asked for.
“It (the ordinance) sounds like it was copied from the Ashville ordinance (the first city in St. Clair County to legalize electronic bingo) … penned by gambling operators,” Medori said. “I asked for an ordinance that would … hopefully prevent bingo from happening in Argo. Instead what we’ve got here is just the opposite. … The last thing we want do is open Pandora’s box without making sure we have a lid for the box.”
Before the ordinance passed June 2, Medori presented amendments asking for no Sunday bingo, limited facility hours, no felons as permit holders, preapproved advertising and promotional displays and no compensation or benefits for town officials and employees. None of his requests were approved.
“I think we are sorely mismatched if we expect to keep a control on this,” Medori said. “The money they are thinking about saying they are going to pay us is close to the annual budget of Argo. Who do you think is going to run this town that we all love and want the best for? Little ol’ Argo with its part-time attorney or this 800-pound gorilla with money coming out its ears?”
Phillip Nelson, who also petitioned for the vacant council seat, said the proposed amendments would have “given Argo citizens some assurance that potential corruption would be taken seriously.”
“It says a lot that the pro-bingo mayor and councilmen were unwilling to even state publicly that they had not and would not take compensation or gifts from the bingo operators,” Nelson said.
Councilman Phillips said the town had no other choice but to approve the 15-page ordinance, which allows electronic bingo that would bring in $850,000 each year.
“This thing has never been about bingo,” he said. “This whole deal is about saving the town and saving our emergency services. … Bingo is one of the very, very few solutions to the problem. There [are] differences of opinion and I understand. I just can’t sit by and let the [Fire and Police departments] go away.”
After the meeting, Argo resident Randy Melvin admitted working in partnership with Roadhouse Gaming Systems LLC, the company he said plans to open an electronic bingo facility with 1,500–2,500 machines.
Melvin said he is selling 15 acres “give or take” to Roadhouse. He owns 300 acres, most of which is outside Argo town limits.
“There will be just one facility,” Melvin said. “We will break ground within 30 days. … Argo does have a chain on that ‘gorilla.’ Only one facility can come here. They will … give the city of Argo $1 million to get on our feet. We’ve got to do what’s best for the city. … Without a vision, the people perish. I wouldn’t be behind it otherwise, most likely.”
But Nelson still believes corruption will follow if electronic bingo is allowed in Argo.
“Despite the ‘no’ vote, overwhelming e-mails and calls, these men went against the majority of Argo,” Nelson said. “They have forever damaged their credibility in the eyes of many Argo citizens, and any future decisions they make will be questioned.”
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