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St. Clair County — Argo: No gambling facility has opened yet in Argo, mainly because of the stay issued by the Alabama Supreme Court, which requires the county to wait for the decision of whether electronic bingo gambling is legal to be officially resolved. But in the meantime, Argo Mayor Paul Jennings is reviewing Jefferson County’s electronic bingo gambling laws because he wants to open a facility in the part of Argo that falls in that county.
Jennings said he has had several people interested in this option, including John McLeod and his Roadhouse Gaming Systems LLC — the group that has topped the list of gambling businesses expressing interest in Argo.
Jennings explained that Mike Caldwell, McLeod’s business partner, said he and McLeod are interested in opening a temporary building in Jefferson County while St. Clair County “sorts itself out,” noting they would pay $100 per device per month during the interim. “That would be $30,000 per month, because they plan to operate 3,000 machines,” he added.
Jennings said he plans to move forward with this option if the city attorney tells him “it is a legal thing and can be in Jefferson County.”
“If it is a legal way to help Argo with its debt, I’m going to proceed with our city attorney and at least present it to the council. I feel like that’s my duty,” he said.
Roadhouse Gaming Systems is the only business that has applied for an electronic bingo permit but it has not yet been issued, Jennings said. However, two licenses for amusement devices have been issued to individuals Karen Melvin and Billy Warren, he noted.
Walker County: Judge Robert Vance Jr. sees no end in sight to the Walker County electronic bingo gambling court case.
Although he recently ordered eight bingo halls operating with too few charity permits to cut their hours, Vance requested an opinion from Attorney General Troy King on July 7 on the legality of the county’s enabling legislation on bingo.
In a recent hearing, Vance said one of the parties suggested the act was in conflict with the state constitution. “Whenever the constitutionality of a statute is called into question, you must give notice to the attorney general’s office so it has the opportunity to weigh in and give its opinion. … Oftentimes the attorney general does not elect to intervene,” Vance said.
He added he “would not respond to the matter until [King] decided if his office would respond.” Still Vance said he is not sure what effect, if any, the legality of the act would have on the case or electronic bingo gambling in the county.
“The Walker County case, unlike some of the other (bingo) cases, is rather complex because of the sheer number of parties involved,” Vance said, referring to the hundreds of defendants including representatives from more than 300 charities receiving money from the area’s bingo facilities.
Bucky Rizzo, chairman of the Walker County Political Accountability Coalition, calls this latest move “another ploy by the bingo folks to slow this process down” and keep making money.
It is estimated that the more than 5,000 electronic bingo gambling machines in Walker County bring in more than $200 million yearly. After paying hundreds of dollars for copies of the charities’ permit applications, Rizzo said, “Probably 90 to 95 percent of the applications would not stand up in court as being qualified.
“They do not have adequate information to show that they have owned property for the past 60 months, which was one of the requirements of the constitutional amendment,” Rizzo said. “Some do not own property. … Also a number of them have not been charities for 60 months. … They are already supposed to be in place for 60 months before applying. There are duplicate applications for permits from the same organizations. You cannot have but one charity (application) from any given organization. … So, in our estimation, they are not legal.”
Still Vance told The Alabama Baptist “no determination has been made” on this matter.
“We are trying to get the case in a posture that we can make some of these decisions, but we are not at this point yet,” Vance said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — As a way to consistently monitor electronic bingo gambling issues across the state, The Alabama Baptist will provide updates such as these each week. (TAB)
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