This time Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor spoke clearly. His words left no room for misunderstanding. On March 6, 2002, Pryor issued an opinion which declared, “All forms of slot machines, including electronic and video gambling machines, are illegal under state law.” The opinion came in response to an inquiry from Winston County Sheriff Ed Townsend who asked “Are the gambling machines in the state of Alabama legal or illegal?”
Townsend’s confusion, and the confusion of the rest of Alabama, is understandable. In April 2001, the Alabama Supreme Court issued an advisory opinion which said, “It is difficult to conceive of any situation where video games of the kind described in Senate Bill (S.B.) 257 would not be considered a lottery under Section 65 because there are no objective and ascertainable criteria a player can use that would demonstrate the exercise of any material skill. But we specifically find that video games of the sort described in S.B. 257 are unconstitutional because chance is the dominant factor in those games, and no amount of skill will ever determine the outcome of a video game where the machine is programmed to win. S.B. 257 would not meet the test for either the American Rule or English Rule.”
That opinion seemed clear enough. State leaders predicted the end of mushrooming video arcades within weeks. In July that prediction seemed on track. In Jefferson County, Judge Wayne Thorn ruled video arcade games unconstitutional and Sheriff Jim Woodward set about closing down all the arcade gambling sites. Several other counties followed suit. It looked like Alabama was slamming the door on video gambling.
Then the doubletalk began. On Aug. 17, 2001, Attorney General Pryor issued an opinion in a civil suit in which he said video gambling machines were legal under Alabama law. The opinion implied that Judge Thorn’s ruling applied only to the 32 machines actually before him at the time of the case. Video gambling machines would have to be examined individually to see if they failed to meet state standards.
Further, Pryor’s statement cautioned law enforcement officials about cracking down on video gambling. The opinion said closing the video gambling arcades could be “risky.”
The impact of Pryor’s opinion was dramatic. Trucks that only days earlier had carted the gambling machines out of state now brought them back. Not only did the closed gambling sites reopen, they spread their life-sucking tentacles into new neighborhoods and communities.
It seemed that Alabama would have to wait for a lawsuit to work its way through the court system all the way to the state Supreme Court before relief could be found.
Pryor defended himself from attacks by anti-gambling forces. He argued that his opinion had been misunderstood. He held news conferences claiming gambling interests and newspapers were misleading the public over what he said. Standing in front of microphones, he repeated that games that are determined by chance are illegal in Alabama.
Still, law enforcement officials could not get away from the implication that each machine had to be examined individually and Pryor’s warning about “risky” enforcement. At the very least, Pryor’s opinion breathed new life back into video gambling in Alabama.
Anti-gambling forces also remember that in 1999, Pryor argued that approving a lottery in Alabama would not open the door to casino gambling.
Anti-lottery forces had a hard time accepting that position. Anti-gambling forces pointed out that the lottery amendment to the Alabama constitution would eliminate the constitutional prohibition against gambling. That would leave the Alabama Legislature free to pass whatever gambling laws it chose.
That is exactly what happened in Mississippi. Voters there repealed the barrier to a state lottery only to find casinos rushing through the opened door once the barrier to gambling was removed. Mississippi still does not have a state lottery.
It is no secret that Pryor has been catching flack for the confusion he created over legalized gambling in Alabama. This most recent opinion should help eliminate that confusion. It is hard to misunderstand “All forms of slot machines, including electronic and video gambling machines, are illegal under state law.”
Once again arcades are closing. Hopefully this time they will stay closed.
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