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Houston County: In less than two weeks, Houston County will have a 1,700-machine electronic bingo gambling facility, according to developers of Country Crossing, the county’s 400-acre country music “entertainment destination.”
Since construction plans were announced earlier this year, many county and state leaders have supported the project but opposed its plan to bring 24–7 casino-style electronic bingo gambling to the Wiregrass area. Yet Country Crossing’s official blog site has announced the project’s first phase is on schedule to open by Dec. 1.
Recently the Dothan Eagle reported that Gov. Bob Riley’s office tried to “block” a shipment of electronic bingo gambling machines destined for Country Crossing but added that Riley’s press secretary, Todd Stacy, said any calls made were not specific to the Houston County project.
“Our legal office has been in communication with state gaming commissions throughout the country about the continued shipment of illegal slot machines to various locations in Alabama,” Stacy reportedly said. “It’s a statewide issue. Contrary to what some seem to believe, the world … does not revolve around … Country Crossing.”
Legislature: With all the talk of a hard-hitting gambling push planned for the 2010 legislative session, Gov. Bob Riley is getting a jump-start on reaching out to legislators and asking them to “let the law stand so we can enforce it.”
Riley issued a letter in response to a letter legislators received from Randy Brinson, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, stating an Alabama Supreme Court ruling would not affect the state’s “Indian casinos.”
Riley’s letter pointed out that only the Legislature can change state law to legalize slot machines and casinos and as far as creating a “monopoly for the Indians” with electronic bingo gambling, that is beyond the state government’s control.
“Having suffered the crippling blow of three major judicial defeats in a row, organized gambling interests and their allies have launched a massive new misinformation campaign,” Riley told legislators in a letter dated Oct. 30. “Their lies are part of a desperate, last-ditch attempt to con you into doing what respected Alabama judges have properly refused to do — legalize full-blown slot-machine gambling in Alabama and call it ‘bingo.’”
Riley continued, “My intent is to enforce the anti-gambling laws on the books today everywhere in Alabama. I strongly urge you not to change them. When we have proven our determination to combat illegal gambling in our state, then the federal government will have to address this issue at Indian casinos.”
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