Nearly every week in 2010, bingo supporters and opponents took turns upping the ante in a gambling battle fought using the media, raids and standoffs across the state until all non-Indian gambling facilities were shut down. Even though voters and political candidates on both sides of the gambling issue seemed to fall silent during the election season regarding their future hopes for Alabama’s gambling empire, the war is still waging in the state’s courthouses.
But Attorney General Luther Strange may be ready to deliver Alabama’s slot machine-style gambling industry a death blow.
Less than one month after newly elected Gov. Robert Bentley dissolved the Task Force on Illegal Gambling leaving Strange to enforce the state’s gambling laws, Strange got to work trying to rid the state of Indian gambling.
On Feb. 11, Strange sent a four-page letter to the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) asking it to “make clear that Native American Indian tribes located in Alabama cannot engage in gambling activities that are patently illegal under Alabama law.” Currently the Poarch Band of Creek Indians operates three slot machine-style gambling casinos similar to the so-called “electronic bingo” gambling halls previously shut down by the task force.
Pledging to “fight public corruption” and “stop the secret deals and corruption behind illegal gambling,” Strange explained Alabama’s laws against lotteries, slot machines and other gambling devices in his letter.
“While several local constitutional amendments have authorized ‘charity bingo’ in certain Alabama counties, absolutely no amendment to the Alabama Constitution has authorized slot machines or other illegal gambling devices in any county,” Strange wrote. “Machines that accept cash or credit and then dispense cash value prizes based upon chance are slot machines under Alabama law and are not made legal by any bingo amendment. Likewise no local bingo rule, regulation or ordinance can legally authorize slot machines.”
Strange also included information from recent court rulings against the type of gambling offered by the Poarch Creek Indians at Wind Creek Casino and Hotel in Atmore, Creek Casino Wetumpka and Creek Casino Montgomery.
Robert McGhee, governmental relations adviser for the Poarch Creek, said this isn’t the first time the state has appealed to the NIGC to shut down the gambling operations, and he doesn’t expect any federal actions against the casinos.
“Our Indian gaming enterprises are regulated by the federal, not the state government through the [NIGC],” he said. “Bingo is legally played in the state, and under NIGC statutes, our enterprises are, indeed, legal to operate within Alabama.”
Strange disagrees. “The Commission should make clear that Native American Indian tribes located in Alabama cannot operate so-called ‘electronic bingo machines’ and other gambling devices which look like, sound like and attract the same class of customers as conventional slot machines, but play a six second game of ‘bingo’ in cyberspace using software that allows card-minders and auto daub features that are specifically designed to recreate a slot machine experience for the player with little to no human interaction,” Strange wrote.
“I would also ask that any regulations make clear that the mere fact that traditional bingo is allowed in certain parts of this state does not mean that ‘electronic bingo’ is legal on Indian lands in this state. … With the gambling interests constantly looking for loopholes and ambiguities to exploit, it is essential that this commission maintain a consistent and cohesive posture in enforcing and clarifying Native American Indian gambling laws in a way that clearly demarcates legal and illegal gambling activities.”
Strange also is tying up the loose ends left when the state’s gambling establishments shut down fearing task force raids.
On Feb. 11, Strange revoked a 2008 opinion from former Attorney General Troy King that was used as an impetus to include electronic bingo at Country Crossing, according to The Dothan Eagle.
The opinion was issued in response to questions about the definition of a bingo special permit holder as well as the issue of employees being paid in the operation of bingo games operated by nonprofit organizations.
King said bingo could be operated by the employees at Country Crossing, and its developer Ronnie Gilley could earn income from it.
And on Feb. 18, Strange’s office announced that “thousands of controversial gaming machines” would be removed from Alabama within 60 days from VictoryLand in Shorter, Country Crossing in Dothan and White Hall Entertainment Center in White Hall.
The announcement was made after Strange and “three of the country’s largest gaming machine manufacturers” — International Gaming Technology, Bally Technologies and Multimedia Games — reached an agreement allowing the companies a “window of opportunity” to remove their machines. According to Strange’s office, two other companies — Cadillac Jack and Hest Technology — said they already have removed their machines and equipment from the state.
In other news, the City of Kimberly officially ended its legal battle in mid-February when the police department destroyed about $1 million worth of gambling machines and parts at a Jefferson County landfill. (TAB)
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