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Dog tracks: Alabama counties and municipalities are not alone in fighting courtroom battles over electronic bingo gambling. One of the state’s dog tracks also is involved in litigation concerning its electronic bingo gambling business. But instead of focusing on the legality of electronic gambling, its fight deals with eliminating competition and the alleged rigging of electronic bingo gambling machines.
For years, Greenetrack has been the sole provider of electronic bingo gambling in Greene County. So when a Las Vegas-based company began taking steps to open Sidetrack, a 58,000-square-foot electronic bingo gambling facility less than a mile away, Greenetrack leaders began a legal battle that has lasted more than a year, according to The Tuscaloosa News.
At the heart of the matter is Sidetrack’s sewage and drainage system, which Greenetrack and Greene County officials said has “damaged nearby County Road 208 and the natural drainage of the area,” according to the News.
As of September 2009, Sidetrack was reportedly attempting to get an on-site sewer construction permit, which was tied up because the facility did not have a way to dispose of waste. Greenetrack is believed to have purchased much of the property necessary for the system to be built.
Sidetrack’s Birmingham-based attorney, Bubba Grimsley, told the News, “This isn’t about torn-up road; this isn’t about silt; this isn’t about a sewer system. This is about one man (Luther Winn Jr., president and CEO of Greenetrack) who thinks he owns Greene County, and he’s … bent on making sure no one comes in and rains on his parade called Greenetrack.”
But Greenetrack’s legal woes don’t stop there. In a separate case, Greenetrack was sued recently by a Eutaw resident who claims it rigged electronic bingo gambling machines to allow former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford to win more than $20,000. Langford told The Birmingham News he believes this case was timed to affect his federal criminal trial for bribery. He is accused of winning $50,000 in the same manner at VictoryLand in Macon County. Both cases are ongoing.
Birmingham: Birmingham City Council members may have voted Oct. 27 to repeal an electronic bingo gambling ordinance, but the issue is far from settled. Several council members plan to ask Alabama legislators for an electronic bingo gambling amendment to legalize the activity and give the city access to the “revenue” it creates.
“We have lost tons of revenue,” said Carole Smitherman, who was president of the council before becoming acting mayor recently. “I would like for us to make ourselves a committee of one to go to Montgomery before the Legislature starts and ask our legislators to give us a constitutional amendment so that we can do this in the proper way and put it on the June ballot.”
Smitherman is married to state Sen. Rodger Smitherman, who has argued extensively for expanding electronic bingo gambling across the state. Before the council voted, City Councilor Joel Montgomery called attention to its previous action.
“I want everyone in the city of Birmingham to pay close attention to the vote,” said Montgomery, who sponsored the electronic gambling ordinance. “The majority of members of this council voted for that (ordinance), and now we are going to repeal it.”
Smitherman and councilors Steven Hoyt, Maxine Parker, Roderick Royal and Valerie Abbott voted to repeal the electronic bingo gambling ordinance and reinstate the city’s “traditional bingo” ordinance. Councilors Johnathan Austin and James “Jay” Roberson abstained. Councilor Carol Duncan was not present. Montgomery did not vote.
Montgomery, who had asked the council on several occasions to approve the large number of bingo permit applications submitted to the city, also discredited any effect Judge Robert S. Vance’s ruling may have on Jefferson County’s bingo plans.
“There are 17 other counties in this state right now who are playing electronic bingo as we speak whose citizens and school systems are benefiting from the revenues from electronic bingo,” Montgomery said.
Royal disagreed. “To say that [Vance’s ruling] doesn’t have implications here for Jefferson County or other places over the state is outrageous,” he said.
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