Not even an FBI investigation could stop pro-gambling lawmakers in Alabama from attempting to legalize and expand slot machine gambling called electronic bingo.
As the legislative session neared its end April 22, gambling forces continued seeking support for Senate Bill (SB) 380, which Gov. Bob Riley calls the most corrupt piece of legislation he has ever seen. At press time, House members were expected to vote on the bill April 21.
Initially gambling opponents thought the bill’s progress would be stalled after FBI agents told several Statehouse leaders they were investigating corruption involved in the bill’s passage from the Senate on March 30.
Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little, D-Cullman; Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner, R-Birmingham; House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia; House Majority Leader Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hill; House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn; and Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr., D-Cullman, attended the April 1 meeting with FBI agents and two U.S. attorneys in Montgomery.
“They said they had substantial evidence that there was public corruption surrounding this bingo issue and it was an ongoing investigation,” Waggoner told The Alabama Baptist. “They didn’t tell us what they were looking at or who they were looking at. … I believe when the FBI says there is substantial evidence of public corruption, you have to put a lot of stock in what they say.”
Waggoner thought the bingo issue was “dead for this session,” but at press time gambling forces were not ready to throw in the towel.
SB 380 came out of the House Tourism and Travel Committee on April 13 and was ready for debate by the full House. But the bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, did not push for it to be debated by the House right away.
At press time, Black continued working to gather the 63 votes necessary to pass the bill.
“I think we will (have enough votes). We are still working on that,” he said at press time. “There is a lot of pulling and tugging by both sides. Any time you have a constitutional amendment requiring a supermajority, it is always a contentious issue.”
But Riley said the bill itself is the problem because it will “open the floodgates to corruption in this state.”
“What I want people to know is this is not an ‘up’ or ‘down’ vote on gambling,” Riley said.
“This is not a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote on gambling. If it was, I’m not too sure too many people would oppose it. But that’s not what it is. This is about a bill that is corrupt to the core.”
Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, said Alabama residents will lose if SB 380 passes.
“If the amendment fails in November, we will be right back where we are today with illegal gambling facilities operating and tying up the courts with cases while they continue to siphon money from the pockets of unsuspecting citizens who do not know that these machines are designed to take their hard-earned money,” he said. “It is a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ scenario for the gambling bosses.”
Since the beginning of the session, Riley, Godfrey and other gambling opponents warned Alabamians that gambling bosses would make a “strong push” to legalize their operations. Now at least one senator has reportedly said he was offered $250,000 for a ‘yes’ vote.
“I got a phone call from (Country Crossing lobbyist) Jarrod Massey asking me about the race and my views on bingo,” Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, told The Birmingham News. “Massey told me he had two clients who were deeply interested in seeing an electronic bingo bill pass the Senate and if I could see my way clear to support it, they were each prepared to give me a $125,000 campaign contribution. … Massey made it clear that if I committed to giving a yes vote for bingo, the checks would be in the mail. I’ll let the offer speak for itself.”
Riley said it’s “amazing” that some lawmakers would still bring this bill up.
“It’s not just the governor now that’s saying this bill is a corrupt bill,” he said. “Everyone that has anything to do with it seems to think it’s a corrupt bill. Yet they are still going to bring it up and vote on it.”
As it stands, SB 380 calls for a constitutional amendment and vote of the people to redefine bingo to include machines that perform the game without player interaction and allows an unlimited number of gambling operations around the state.
The bill requires at least a 25 percent tax on bingo revenue (the amount after payouts are given) but leaves it to legislators to decide whether to add license fees to bingo operations.
Introduced by Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, in the Senate, the bill also establishes a five-member gaming commission appointed under the heavy influence of the Senate. Unlike Bedford’s initial legislation, the bill does not repeal or affect any of the local constitutional amendments but does not require “bingo” operators to follow the amendments if their businesses are approved by the proposed gaming commission.
Rep. Jay Love, R-Montgomery, said no one has approached him about any changes to the bill. “It’s all been in the backroom,” he said.
Rep. Greg Canfield, R-Vestavia Hills, said, “The bill is surrounded by a cloud of corruption, and I think that this is a clear indicator that having the spread of gaming in the state of Alabama presents some very strong ethical challenges surrounding the establishment of the industry and how that industry spreads throughout the state.”
Godfrey said it’s more important than ever for Christians to contact their representatives and respectfully ask them to oppose SB 380.
“I know you are sick of hearing about ‘bingo’ and may want to ‘just let the people vote’ so you can settle this once and for all,” he said. “However that is exactly what the gambling bosses are wanting to happen.
“They want to make you weary concerning this issue. The citizens of Alabama who care about keeping our state a family-friendly place to live and raise a family need to understand that this issue will never go away.
“The states where casinos currently operate are struggling financially and all of them are now considering legislation to expand gambling in order to raise more revenues. However in those states, the gambling bosses completely control the legislative process. If we don’t stand up to the gambling bosses now, they will take control of our state to an even greater extent than they do today and we will never overcome their influence.”
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