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Bessemer Cut-off: Electronic bingo gambling supporters had hoped to prove new machines planned for Fairfield facilities were legal, but the district attorney’s office is not convinced.
Bill Veitch, chief assistant to Bessemer Cut-off Division District Attorney Arthur Green, said he does not believe a recent demonstration of “adapted” machines successfully proved they meet the Alabama Supreme Court’s new bingo definition.
“We looked at some new versions of the same type of machines,” Veitch recently told The Alabama Baptist. “I think what I saw were slot machines that shouted ‘bingo’ and played loud, obnoxious music. They are slot machines and you can’t get me to call them bingo.”
He does not consider himself an authority on the machines’ intricate functions. Still Veitch compared the machines he saw in Fairfield to those seen in casinos in other states and said he knows a slot machine when he sees one.
“I’m not an expert (on these machines) anymore than I’m an expert on a computer or cell phone,” Veitch said. “But I know how to get my e-mail, and I know if I dial a number, it will ring. It’s one of those things you just know. … It’s a slot machine … (and) you can’t play even a legal game on an illegal device.”
Like many others, Veitch is awaiting Jefferson County Circuit Judge Eugene Verin’s decision about the legality of the games in the Bessemer Cut-off, a separate political subdivision of Jefferson County. Although the ruling — expected to be delivered in January — should settle the area’s bingo question, some Bessemer City Council members are not stalling their plans to expand bingo in the area.
In a Dec. 15 regular meeting, Council Member Louise Alexander asked Mayor Edward May the status of paper bingo permit applications she said the city’s “clients” had filed.
May said he had no knowledge of any such permits being filed although his office is responsible for approving bingo applications. As of Dec. 16, a revenue department employee said the office had not received any bingo permit applications.
Jefferson County: Charities sponsoring so-called electronic bingo gambling operations in Jefferson County will have to follow the sheriff’s rules and settle their differences with the district attorney in court, according to a Dec. 14 circuit court ruling.
After Sheriff Mike Hale issued bingo rules for Jefferson County limiting the number of charities and playing time for each facility, about 15 charities sued him questioning his authority to do so. But Circuit Court Judge Caryl Privett said Hale’s actions and the local bingo act authorizing him are valid.
In the same lawsuit, the charities also sought a temporary restraining order against District Attorney Brandon Falls since he ordered electronic bingo gambling facilities in the area to shut down by Nov. 1. But Privett said the Court “does not have the authority to enjoin or interfere with law enforcement.”
“The issuance of the notice, while not required prior to the District Attorney’s taking legal action to enforce the law, is certainly in aid of such action,” Privett said in her order. “The proper forum to test the District Attorney’s interpretation of the laws relating to bingo operations is in cases brought by the District Attorney enforcing such laws.”
Falls told The Alabama Baptist he is happy with Privett’s ruling especially since “there have been other judges around the state who have stopped or slowed down law enforcement from enforcing the law.”
Currently Falls said he is not aware of any electronic bingo gambling facilities operating in his district. His office will be in court again in March for a trial involving the Roebuck electronic bingo gambling facility, which was raided in August.
EDITOR’S NOTE — As a way to consistently monitor electronic bingo gambling issues across the state, The Alabama Baptist provides updates such as these each week.
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